The following is a roundup of news and notable developments in electrical engineering and computer or information technology reported during September 2009.  Items are excerpted from news releases generated by research universities and government agencies. Highlighted topics include:

1. Research Contradicts Myth of High Engineering Dropout Rate

2. Input Sought on Update to National Aeronautics R&D Plan

3. DOE Awards $377M To 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers

4. Nanoparticle “Inks” Show Potential For Low Cost, Printable Solar Cells

5. Research Advances Prospects for Low Cost Plastic Solar Cells

6. Frequency Converter Enables Ultra-High Sensitivity Infrared Spectrometry

7. Ultrathin LEDS Create New Classes of Lighting and Display Systems

8. NIST Issues Best Practice Guidelines For Acquiring Biometric Data with Mobile ID Devices

9. New Technique Allows Highly Sensitive Tracking of Computer Network Delays

10. 'Rich Interaction' Approach Envisions Computers that Can Learn and Adapt

11. Sandwiching Technique Promises Advances in Molecular Electronics

12. Nuclear Fusion Research Used to Advance Computer Chips

13. New Plastic Semiconductor Allows Transmission of Both Positive and Negative Charges

14. New Microchip Can Performs 1,000 Chemical Reactions At Once

15. Nano and Bioelectronics Combined in New Hybrid Platform

16. Managing Disasters with High-Tech Imaging Could Save Lives

17. DOE-Automotive Partnership To Develop High-Performance Wireless Sensor Networks

18. Tiny ''MEMS' Devices to Filter, Amplify Electronic Signals

19. New Method of “Cloaking” Developed

20. New Nanolaser Opens Doors to Future Optical Computers and Technologies

21. Harvard Team To Develop Small-scale Mobile Robotic Devices

1.  Research Contradicts Myth of High Engineering Dropout Rate

Research done at Purdue University suggests that, contrary to popular belief, engineering does not have a higher dropout rate than other majors and women do just as well as men.  The research also shows that hardly any students switch to engineering from other majors, pointing to a potential strategy for increasing the number of U.S. engineering graduates.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/pu-rfc080409.php

2.  Input Sought on Update to National Aeronautics R&D Plan

The Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee (ASTS) of the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Committee on Technology is inviting public input to the biennial update to the National Plan for Aeronautics Research and Development and Related Infrastructure (“National Plan”).   White papers are invited and encouraged from those individuals who may want to provide information for consideration during the biennial update to the National Plan. Of particular interest is aeronautics R&D information that may be used during consideration of the biennial update to enhance the national aeronautics R&D challenges, goals, and objectives currently contained in the Plan and related to: mobility; national security and homeland defense; aviation safety; and energy and the environment. White papers will be accepted through September 10, 2009. 

For more information, see: http://www.ostp.gov/aeroplans.

3.  DOE Awards $377M To 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers

On 6 August, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the delivery of $377 million in funding for 46 new multi-million-dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) located at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the nation. 

EFRC researchers will take advantage of new capabilities in nanotechnology, high-intensity light sources, neutron scattering sources, supercomputing, and other advanced instrumentation, much of it developed with DOE Office of Science support over the past decade, in an effort to lay the scientific groundwork for fundamental advances in solar energy, biofuels, transportation, energy efficiency, electricity storage and transmission, clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear energy.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/ddoe-da080609.php

4.  Nanoparticle “Inks” Show Potential For Low Cost, Printable Solar Cells

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin working on a low-cost, nanomaterials solution to photovoltaics – or solar cell – manufacturing recently published a proof-of-concept in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.  Using “inks” made of light-absorbing nanoparticle, they showed that solar collectors can be created using a roll-to-roll printing process on a plastic substrate or stainless steel.  Because they are semi-transparent, the inks could potentially be applied to windows allowing them to function as solar cells and the prospect of being able to paint the “inks” onto a rooftop or building is not far-fetched.

For more information, see: http://www.engr.utexas.edu/news/articles/200908101750/index.cfm

5.  Research Advances Prospects for Low Cost Plastic Solar Cells

Researchers the world over are striving to develop organic solar cells that can be produced easily and inexpensively as thin films that could be widely used to generate electricity.  The goal is to develop cells made from low-cost plastics that will transform at least 10 percent of the sunlight that they absorb into usable electricity and can be easily manufactured.

DOE and NSF-funded researchers at the University of Washington have helped advance that effort by developing a way to make images of tiny bubbles and channels, roughly 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, inside plastic solar cells. These bubbles and channels form within the polymers as they are being created in a baking process, called annealing, that is used to improve the materials' performance.  The researchers were able to measure directly how much current each tiny bubble and channel carries, thus developing an understanding of exactly how a solar cell converts light into electricity.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uow-ptc080409.php.

6.  Frequency Converter Enables Ultra-High Sensitivity Infrared Spectrometry

In what may prove to be a major development for scientists in fields ranging from forensics to quantum communications, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new, highly sensitive, low-cost technique for measuring light in the near-infrared range. The technique can measure the spectrum of the specific wavelengths of near infrared light used widely in telecommunications as well as the very weak infrared light at single-photon levels given off by fragile biomaterials and nanomaterials. They described their results in a recent issue of Optics Express.

For more information, see:  http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2009_0825.htm#nir

7.  Ultrathin LEDS Create New Classes of Lighting and Display Systems

With funding from the Ford Motor Co., the National Science Foundation and the U. S. Department of Energy, researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new process for creating ultrathin, ultrasmall inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and assembling them into large arrays offers new classes of lighting and display systems with interesting properties, such as see-through construction and mechanical flexibility, that would be impossible to achieve with existing technologies.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uoia-ulc081709.php

8.  NIST Issues Best Practice Guidelines For Acquiring Biometric Data with Mobile ID Devices

A new publication that recommends best practices for the next generation of portable biometric acquisition devices—Mobile ID—has been published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Devices that gather, process and transmit an individual’s biometric data—fingerprints, facial and iris images—for identification are proliferating. Previous work on standards for these biometric devices has focused primarily on getting different stationary and desktop systems with hardwired processing pathways to work together in an interoperable manner. But a new generation of small, portable and versatile biometric devices are raising new issues for interoperability.

The new mobile biometric devices allow first responders, police, the military and criminal justice organizations to collect biometric data with a handheld device on a street corner or in a remote area and then wirelessly send it to be compared to other samples on watch lists and databases in near real-time. Identities can be determined quickly without having to take a subject to a central facility to collect his or her biometrics, which is not always possible.

The guidelines are available at http://fingerprint.nist.gov/mobileid/MobileID-BPRS-20090825-V100.pdf

9.  New Technique Allows Highly Sensitive Tracking of Computer Network Delays

Computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego and Purdue University have developed an inexpensive solution for diagnosing networking delays in data center networks as short as tens of millionths of seconds -- delays that can lead to multimillion dollar losses for investment banks running automatic stock trading systems.

For more information, see: http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=878

10.  'Rich Interaction' Approach Envisions Computers that Can Learn and Adapt

Oregon State University computer scientists are pioneering the concept of "rich interaction" – computers that are designed to communicate with, learn from and get to know you better as a person.  The idea behind this "meaningful" interaction is one of the latest advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, in which a computer doesn't just try to learn from its own experiences, it listens to the user, tries to combine what it "hears" with its internal reasoning, and changes its program as a result.

Many advanced learning systems used in computers begin learning the moment they are delivered to an end user's desktop in an effort to customize themselves to the end user. Systems like this are the basis of spam filters on personal computers, e-mail sorting, product recommendation – "If you liked this book, here's another one you might find interesting."  A lot of these systems are based on word statistics, set rules, similarities, and other such approaches. But even the most advanced systems only allow a user to tell the computer something is right or wrong. The user is never asked to explain what the real problem is.

“We want to develop algorithms that will allow the end user to ask the computer why it did something, read its response, and then explain why that was a mistake," said Weng-Keen Wong, an OSU assistant professor of computer science. "Ideally, the computer will consider the response and change its programming to perform better in the future. It's like debugging a program."

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/osu-im081909.php

11.  Sandwiching Technique Promises Advances in Molecular Electronics

A team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland has found a simple method of sandwiching organic molecules between silicon and metal, two materials fundamental to electronic components. By doing so, the team may have overcome one of the principal obstacles in creating switches made from individual molecules, which represent perhaps the ultimate in miniaturization for the electronics industry.

The idea of using molecules as switches has been around for years, carrying the promise of components that can be produced cheaply in huge numbers, perform faster as a group than their larger silicon brethren, and use only a tiny fraction of their energy.  However,  the overall concept has been stuck on drawing boards in large part because organic molecules are delicate and tend to be damaged irreparably when subjected to one particularly stressful step in the chip-building process: attaching them to electrical contacts.  In this case, however, the first-ever use of an imprinting machine finally made it possible to assemble the ingredients effectively.

For more information, see: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2009_0825.htm#flipchip

12.  Nuclear Fusion Research Used to Advance Computer Chips

Researchers at Purdue University and the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory are adapting the same methods used in fusion-energy research to create extremely thin plasma beams for a new class of "nanolithography" required to make future computer chips.

Current technology uses ultraviolet light to create the fine features in computer chips in a process called photolithography, which involves projecting the image of a mask onto a light-sensitive material, then chemically etching the resulting pattern.   The new plasma-based lithography under development generates "extreme ultraviolet" light having a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers, less than one-tenth the size of current lithography.   Researchers are working to improve the efficiency of two techniques for producing the plasma: One approach uses a laser and the other "discharge-produced" method uses an electric current.

For more information, see: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2009b/090818HassaneinPlasma.html

13.  New Plastic Semiconductor Allows Transmission of Both Positive and Negative Charges

An organic polymer circuit that transports both positive and negative charges has been developed by researchers at the University of Washington by solution casting of a newly developed  plastic semiconducting material.

About 30 years ago it was discovered that some plastics, or polymers, can conduct electricity. Since then researchers have been working to make them more efficient. Organic, or carbon-based, electronics are now used in such things as laptop computers, car audio systems and mp3 players.  Until now, however, circuits built with organic materials have allowed only one type of charge to move through them.  Making a working organic circuit required carefully layering two complicated patterns on top of one another.

The UW research team developed an organic molecule that works to transport both positive and negative charges and used the new material to build a transistor designed in the same way as a silicon model.  Electrons moved five to eight times faster through the UW device than in any other such polymer transistor. The new circuit generated a voltage gain two to five times greater than previously seen in a polymer circuit. This new material would allow organic transistors and other information-processing devices to be built more simply, in a way that is more similar to how inorganic circuits are now made.

For more information, see: http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=51503

14.  New Microchip Can Performs 1,000 Chemical Reactions At Once

UCLA researchers have developed technology to simultaneously perform more than a thousand chemical reactions on a stamp-size, PC-controlled microchip, which could accelerate the identification of potential drug candidates for treating diseases like cancer.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uoc--nmt080309.php.

15.  Nano and Bioelectronics Combined in New Hybrid Platform

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have devised a versatile hybrid platform that uses lipid-coated nanowires to build prototype bionanoelectronic devices, an innovation that could enhance biosensing and diagnostic tools, advance neural prosthetics such as cochlear implants, and could even increase the efficiency of future computers.

While modern communication devices rely on electric fields and currents to carry the flow of information, biological systems are much more complex. They use an arsenal of membrane receptors, channels and pumps to control signal transduction that is unmatched by even the most powerful computers.

While earlier research has attempted to integrate biological systems with microelectronics, none have gotten to the point of seamless material-level incorporation. To create the bionanoelectronic platform the LLNL team turned to lipid membranes, which are ubiquitous in biological cells. These membranes form a stable, self-healing,and virtually impenetrable barrier to ions and small molecules.  The team showed that by changing the gate voltage of the device, they can open and close the membrane pores electronically.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/dlnl-ntc081009.php

16.  Managing Disasters with High-Tech Imaging Could Save Lives

Improving disaster response is one of the goals of the Information Products Laboratory for Emergency Response, a new partnership between Rochester Institute of Technology and the University at Buffalo. The collaboration will foster research to improve disaster mitigation planning, real-time response and recovery efforts, and to create potential business opportunities for industry. The incubator is being funded by a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

For  more information, see: http://www.rit.edu/news/?r=46947

17.  DOE-Automotive Partnership To Develop High-Performance Wireless Sensor Networks

The US Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with the United States Council for Automotive Research LLC to develop a new platform for short range wireless sensors networks that will help the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration meet security and reliability needs in NNSA facilities, and can also be adopted for use by the automatic industry..

Both the automotive industry and the NNSA have needs for wireless sensors that are reliable, secure, high speed and able to resist interference from existing systems.  In the automotive industry, for example, replacing hard-wired body shop robots with wireless-controlled robots would be a prime application area for a new secure, wireless sensor network.  This agreement between a DOE laboratory and USCAR to produce a single, agreed-upon platform will broaden the customer base for resulting sensor designs, making it more attractive for developers to design hardware that meets the NNSA requirements.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/drnl-sat082509.php

18.  Tiny 'MEMS' Devices to Filter, Amplify Electronic Signals

Researchers at Purdue University are developing a new class of tiny mechanical devices containing vibrating, hair-thin structures that could be used to filter electronic signals in cell phones and for other more exotic applications.

Because the devices, called resonators, vibrate in specific patterns, they are able to cancel out signals having certain frequencies and allow others to pass. The result is a new type of "band-pass" filter, a component commonly used in electronics to permit some signals to pass through a cell phone's circuitry while blocking others, said Jeffrey Rhoads, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.

Such filters are critical for cell phones and other portable electronics because they allow devices to process signals with minimal interference and maximum transmission efficiency. The new technology represents a potential way to further miniaturize band-pass filters while improving their performance and reducing power use.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/pu-td081009.php

19.  New Method of “Cloaking” Developed

University of Utah mathematicians have developed a new cloaking method that someday might shield submarines from sonar, planes from radar, buildings from earthquakes, and oil rigs and coastal structures from tsunamis.

"We have shown that it is numerically possible to cloak objects of any shape that lie outside the cloaking devices, not just from single-frequency waves, but from actual pulses generated by a multi-frequency source," says Graeme Milton, a distinguished professor of mathematics at the University of Utah.

"It's a brand new method of cloaking," Milton adds. "It is two-dimensional, but we believe it can be extended easily to three dimensions, meaning real objects could be cloaked. It's called active cloaking, which means it uses devices that actively generate electromagnetic fields rather than being composed of 'metamaterials' [exotic metallic substances] that passively shield objects from passing electromagnetic waves."

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uou-anc081409.php.

20.  New Nanolaser Opens Doors to Future Optical Computers and Technologies

Researchers have created the tiniest laser since its invention nearly 50 years ago, paving the way for a host of innovations, including superfast computers that use light instead of electrons to process information, advanced sensors and imaging.

Called a "spaser," the new device is the first of its kind to emit visible light, it represents a critical component for possible future technologies based on "nanophotonic" circuitry, said Vladimir Shalaev, the Robert and Anne Burnett Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University.

Optical circuits require a laser-light source, but current lasers can't be made small enough to integrate them into electronic chips. Now researchers have overcome this obstacle, harnessing clouds of electrons called "surface plasmons," instead of the photons that make up light, to create the tiny spasers.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/pu-nnk081409.php.

21.  Harvard Team To Develop Small-scale Mobile Robotic Devices

A multidisciplinary team of computer scientists, engineers, and biologists at Harvard received a $10M Expeditions in Computing grant from the National Science Foundation to develop small-scale mobile robotic devices. Inspired by the biology of a bee and the insect's hive behavior, the researchers aim to push advances in miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources; spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic "smart" sensors; and refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent machines.

For more information, see: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/hu-hrt081209.php.

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