Further Findings

John Goodenough and Steven Chu at the Enrico Fermi award ceremony on Jan. 12, 2010.

It was the first day of the spring 2010 semester and two students were in John Goodenough’s office conferring about experiments and research papers. On Goodenough’s desk were papers he was to referee. Later, there were classes to teach.

Of course, it was a career of such tasks and a lot of work in the lab that made Goodenough the toast of the town in Washington, D.C.,
Read More …

Steven Chu and John Goodenough

John Goodenough, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the Fermi Prize at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Here are a couple of photos from the ceremony. Others are available at the Department of Energy Web site.

The award recognizes Goodenough “For his lasting contributions to materials science and technology, especially the science underlying lithium-ion batteries.”

Goodenough shared the award with Siegfried S. Hecker of Stanford University.

Goodenough developed materials critical to the development of lightweight and rechargeable
Read More …

John Goodenough

John Goodenough, whose work led to the lithium ion battery off of which your laptop is running right now if it’s not plugged in, was interviewed by Eric Berger, who covers science for the Houston Chronicle.

Goodenough, a professor of mechanical engineering, recently won the Enrico Fermi Prize.

Check out the Q&A at Berger’s SciGuy blog.

The Science & Engineering Apprenticeship Program at the university’s Applied Research Laboratories (ARL:UT) is a competitive program for graduating seniors from primarily Austin area high schools. The apprentices receive hands-on experience in laboratory research and development projects during the summer before they begin college.

Twenty one students are participating in the program this summer–16 at ARL:UT and five at the university’s Institute for Advanced Technology.

Two of the apprentices have shared their summer experiences with Further Findings. First up is Jay Kapoor. We’ll hear from
Read More …

While KEYE-Channel 42 interviewed Prof. James Tunnell about his optical skin cancer probe, Further Findings also had video equipment rolling.

Here is a clip of Tunnell explaining how the probe might work.

Ron Oliveira and James Tunnell

The skin cancer probe being developed in James Tunnell’s lab was featured on KEYE-TV-Channel 42 on the 10 p.m. newscast on July 20, 2009. KEYE’s Ron Oliveira went to Tunnell’s lab in the Biomedical Engineering building to interview Tunnell and Naras Rajaran, one of the graduate students working on the project.

See the video from KEYE.

The optical probe is designed to determine of a spot on the skin is benign or cancerous. If it’s not benign, the spot
Read More …

Byron Tapley, head of the GRACE mission

The collision of two satellites 500 miles above the Earth created more than 600 pieces of debris and sent shock waves through satellite operators around the world.

We asked Byron Tapley, director of the Center for Space Research in the Cockrell School of Engineering, if there’s concern about the GRACE mission.

GRACE stands for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. It is a joint operation of NASA and the German Center for Air and Space Flight. Tapley is
Read More …

Adela Ben-Yakar, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is featured in an article in the December 2008 edition of Wired magazine and on the magazine’s Web site.

She is developing laser microscalpels that would be able to excise a cancerous cell without damaging neighboring cells.

We wrote about her work for a Campus Cameo in the Playbook program distributed at Longhorn football games. It was in the Oct. 25 edition (the Oklahoma State game). For those of you who
Read More …