Engineering Magazine: Fall 2024

CARNEGIE MELLON ENGINEERING

About the cover

OUR AI POWERED ROBOTS MIMIC NATURAL ORGANISMS AND DO NOT DISTURB SEA LIFE. THEY OPERATE WITHOUT MOTORS AND MOVE AND SENSE SILENTLY, WITHOUT CREATING NOISE OR ACOUSTIC TRACES.

SOFTBOTIC SYSTEMS ARE IDEAL FOR TRACKING THE HEALTH AND QUALITY OF WATER AND HAVE BEEN USED BY NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC AGENCIES. THEY CAN ALSO BE MADE BIODEGRADABLE TO ELIMINATE WASTE AND PROTECT THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.

LEARN MORE AT SOFTBOTICS.ORG

6 THRIVING ENTREPRENEURS

26

TINY QR CODE CARRIES INFRARED INFO

TRAINING WELDERS WITH EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

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MILESTONE IN NONINVASIVE BCI PERFORMANCE

19 MATERIALS TO WITHSTAND EXTREME STRESS 20 NEW DEVICE TO MEASURE SULFURIC ACID IN AIR

NANOPARTICLES FOR PREGNANCY-SAFE TREATMENTS 25 DNA ARMOR PROTECTS REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

30 HOME-HELPER ROBOTS

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QUANTIFYING BARRIERS TO SEQUESTRATION WELLS 40 PATHOGENS: OUT OF SIGHT, TOP OF MIND

32 MILL 19 GROWS DIGITAL BACKBONE 36

REDUCING EV BATTERY SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTIONS

NANO-AGRICULTURE FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY 44 THE BELONGING CENTER OPENS 46 NSF CAREER AWARDS 48

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STUDENTS THINK HOLISTICALLY ABOUT ENVIRONMENT

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AMATEUR RADIO FOR ASPIRING PROFESSIONALS

56

AWARD-WINNING SCHOLARS

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CELEBRATING ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT

66 REMEMBERING JERRY COHON

CARNEGIE MELLON ENGINEERING Fall 2024 magazine

EDITOR Sherry Stokes (DC ’07)

DESIGNER Tim Kelly (A ’05, HNZ ’14)

ILLUSTRATIONS Karl Huber

The start of the fall term has led me to reflect on the College’s commitment to provide students with impactful educational experiences. Our worldclass curriculum demonstrates our ability to anticipate new directions in engineering education, and as part of the College’s Strategic Plan, we have significantly expanded efforts to teach engineering students how entrepreneurism applies to them. In this issue, you will see how the College is building a thriving entrepreneurial culture that benefits faculty and students and society at large.

Entrepreneurism represents the successful commercialization of innovation. In the College’s labs, researchers are addressing problems and creating novel technologies that may someday transfer to market. Researchers in mechanical engineering are working with Meta to devise wearable sensing technology that makes computerbased tasks more accessible to people with different motor abilities. In chemical engineering, researchers are collaborating with Aerosol Dynamics, Inc. to develop a small, more affordable device that measures ambient sulfuric acid in the air.

Economics, which is inextricably linked with entrepreneurship, is always a consideration for engineers. Supply chain disruptions can send shock waves through the economy. College experts are

investigating how to reduce disruptions in the EV battery supply chain, and their findings could serve as a great resource for policymakers.

The students are accomplishing much, too, both inside and outside of the classroom, and they are enjoying themselves in the process. In the Introduction to Amateur Radio course, students get hands-on experience with radio technology and opportunities to explore it as a public service and technical experimentation. In another course, students gather in a community garden to learn about contaminants in water supplies. Later, the students run lab tests so they can understand the processes that control how contaminants move.

As you have probably realized, there is an incredible amount of research and student activities underway in the College. These are truly exciting times. If you can visit campus for Homecoming on November 1-2, you will see much of this in action.

Sincerely,

William H. Sanders

Dr. William D. and Nancy W. Strecker Dean, College of Engineering

From the dean

Picture to left: Dean Sanders with Ariane Shimirwa (MSIT ‘24).

THE STUDENTS ARE BACK, AND CAMPUS IS BUSTLING WITH ACTIVITY!

Thriving entrepreneurs

When Carnegie Mellon engineers solve problems, they create new knowledge and technology— they innovate. The culture in the college encourages innovation, along with entrepreneurism. Entrepreneurism is more than invention or starting a business. Entrepreneurs take risks by evaluating new markets. They then go on to create and commercialize things that hopefully people want. Creations that are adopted generate value, and the enterprises that successfully bring to market novel ideas or products make our lives better and strengthen our economy.

As part of the college’s strategic plan, we acknowledge that the evolution of higher education for engineers necessitates that new mindsets are critical for future leaders. We teach students to understand the implications of their work, so they will practice engineering with ethical entrepreneurial and economic contexts in mind.

No longer relegated to business programs, the college offers courses and even a major that focuses on entrepreneurism from an engineering perspective. Wholly committed to expanding our entrepreneurial viewpoints, we are broadening our infrastructure to support faculty and student researchers as they leverage their ideas and pursue licensing opportunities or found new companies.

The focus on economic development is part of our mission at all our locations, and the capacity for faculty and students to share ideas and conduct research with peers throughout our global enterprise ensures the continuity of the college’s entrepreneurial values. In the college’s programs in Africa and Portugal, faculty and students are addressing problems inherent to those regions, and they, too, are starting companies.

Innovation is a natural outcome of engineering research, and entrepreneurism drives discoveries to market. Entrepreneurism plays an important role in higher education, and we are devoting the time and the resources to ensure that our graduates know how to create enterprises that deliver the innovations that the world is waiting for.

ENTREPRENEURS IN ACTION

Faculty and student startups

Universities serve important roles in entrepreneurial ecosystems. When researchers in the college create intellectual property, our culture supports their efforts to found startups. If these early-stage companies are successful, new products will come to market and make innovations found at Carnegie Mellon part of our lives.

Advanced Optronics Inc.,

is commercializing medical sensor technology developed in the College of Engineering. The company’s micro-scale sensors enable real-time AI guidance for surgeons to increase their success rates in delicate procedures, starting with cochlear implantation. Co-founded by Maysam Chamanzar, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Jay Reddy (ECE ‘21), Advanced Optronics Inc. has raised investment from Pittsburgh institutional investors and has received grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation to commercialize their revolutionary technology.

Lifeware Labs

was founded by Carmel Majidi and Phil LeDuc, mechanical engineering professors with extensive expertise in Softbotics. This startup focuses on wearable sensing patches for wireless, real-time monitoring of health vitals. Their product, ProPatch™, is a pocket-size patient monitor for emergency situations.

PROPATCH™ DELIVERS ADVANCED MEDICAL MONITORING, INCLUDING MACHINE LEARNING-DRIVEN HEMORRHAGE DETECTION, IN AN INCREDIBLY COMPACT PACKAGE. THIS INNOVATION BRINGS MEDICAL CARE TO FAR-FORWARD, AUSTERE ENVIRONMENTS, SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING PREHOSPITAL SURVIVABILITY.”

Phil LeDuc Mechanical engineering professor

NUMBER OF PATENTS ISSUED OUT OF ENGINEERING:

50 FY 2023

48 FY 2022

54 FY 2021

NUMBER OF LICENSES OUT OF ENGINEERING:

25 FY 2023

43 FY 2022

39 FY 2021

Peoples Energy Analytics

is modernizing the way the energy industry supports its customers by providing scalable and low-cost solutions for utility customer analysis and outreach. These solutions identify abnormal

S Course teaches what it takes EDUCATING ENTREPRENEURS

olving technical problems is the aim of every engineer. Whether electrical, computer, biomedical, or mechanical, engineers develop innovative and complex solutions to complex problems. But to be a truly competent engineer, one must take an entrepreneurial approach and identify the problem that needs to be solved before creating a solution.

The Entrepreneurial Engineering Project (18-655) course in the electrical and computer engineering department aims to do just that.

Taught by Jim Bain, associate department head for academic affairs and professor of electrical and computer engineering, this newer course encourages undergraduate and master’s students to work with an external investment partner to develop exploratory designs of systems for a wide range of applications.

“This course is about making opportunities for students to interact with companies to learn what they need,” says Bain. “Engineers usually focus on the sophisticated technology needed to solve problems. This course teaches students to develop a solution before the technology. To have a problem-centric approach.”

The course pairs student groups with vetted external venture companies in hopes of identifying needs within their current structure. After forming an idea and talking with a company’s employees, the student groups propose a solution, create a mock-up, and present their ideas to the companies. Following completion of the course, the partners and students can independently explore seed funding and/or licensing of successful ideas and projects. Grades are assigned by the faculty instructor based on novelty and creativity of the project, engineering process, and weekly progress, not the ultimate success or failure of the project idea or originally proposed solution.

“We want students to learn that they must listen to clients instead of jumping to solutions,” says Bain. “And it is okay to make mistakes.”

“Taking the course prepared me to start my company because it gave me the time and frameworks to do the necessary exploratory work—i.e., customer discovery and problem formulation,” explains Maximillian Obasiolu

(ENG 23, ETIM ’23), founder and CEO of LeadIn Record Co., an on-demand vinyl record manufacturing company. “Too many startups and engineers are quick to build solutions to problems that don’t exist. Professor Bain’s class made sure we avoided this common pitfall.”

While this entrepreneurial mindset is not a new one, university courses on this topic are usually reserved for business majors. Creating an entrepreneurship course specifically for engineering students is a vital offering that will enrich the field in the years to come.

“This class is a resource for sourcing and recruiting talent, especially since it pre-selects for people with entrepreneurial interests,” says

Obasiolu. “Most of CMU’s entrepreneurial groups are in the Tepper School of Business or School of Computer Science. Now the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the College of Engineering have a community for it.”

“We are encouraging students to fall in love with the problem and not the solution,” says Bain.

Entry into the course is by invitation from the instructor (typically advised by the external investment partners). Student teams are invited based on the alignment of their skill sets and experience with a set of posted projects. Teams may be invited based on a pitch of their own ideas and its alignment with external investor interest.

CREATING AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP MAJOR SPECIFICALLY FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS IS A VITAL OFFERING THAT WILL ENRICH THE FIELD.”

Engineering Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

This fall, 40 students enrolled in the popular Engineering Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (EDIE) additional major. The program provides undergraduate students with the know-how to innovate products around technology and deliver economically viable solutions for present and future realworld challenges. Students learn formal engineering innovation and design methods and acquire the entrepreneurial skills and tools needed to create and manage successful businesses and organizations, with particular emphasis on translating and integrating technologies into products, services, and venture solutions.

The program is offered by the Integrated Innovation Institute, which has been teaching graduate students the tried-and-true methodologies to innovating products and services for many years.

How CMU Portugal primes startups WORLDWIDE ENTREPRENEURS CMU

When the Carnegie Mellon Portugal program launched in 2006, its charge was to lead Portugal to the forefront of research and higher education in information and communication technologies. CMU Portugal forged relationships with Portuguese universities and a few Portuguese companies and maximized connections with Carnegie Mellon researchers in Pittsburgh. A thriving ecosystem formed that melded advanced research with worldclass graduate education.

After five years, as the program’s first phase wound down, “we observed that the Portuguese faculty were eager to launch startups. Their attitude was, ‘if the CMU faculty in Pittsburgh can do this, why can’t we?’ ” says José M. F. Moura, the CMU founding director of the CMU Portugal Program.

“We supported that idea. And when we established Phase 2 of the program, we added an additional goal of fostering entrepreneurship and innovation,” explains Moura.

The program encouraged Portuguese faculty and students to tap into Carnegie Mellon’s entrepreneurial culture and services offered in Pittsburgh. The CMU Portugal program explored ways to support researchers. For example, with intellectual property (IP) as the driver, administrators from partnering Portuguese institutions were invited to CMU Portugal, where they shadowed representatives from CMU’s Center for Technology Transfer. Together they explored topics such as IP protection, marketing, and launching innovative startups. But beyond all this, it was the CMU entrepreneurial spirit and practice that paid off.

One of the first startups to come out of the program, Feedzai, is worth over $1 billion today. Mambu, another unicorn startup, is the result of a research project on microfinancing developed by three master’s students studying human-computer interaction. Veniam and Unbabel are two other very successful startups with valuations in the hundreds of millions of dollars. To date, 12 startups have been created under the scope of the program.

To keep the momentum going, “we wanted a program for early-phase startups. These are companies that got started because they had a technical idea, but they needed to learn how to write a business plan or how to pitch to a VC, and so forth. So, we launched, with the help of the Project Olympus at CMU, this program called inRes,” says Moura.

CMU Portugal issued a call for startups to apply, and companies were selected. Representatives from these companies were trained for a month in Portugal and then they’d travel to CMU in Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley for an intensive program in which they attended workshops and pitched customers and VCs.

The inRes program hit a hiatus with advent of COVID, which led CMU Portugal to rethink its approach for fostering startups. Focus shifted to a series of Large-Scale Collaborative Projects led by national companies and carried out in partnership with Portuguese institutions, universities, and Carnegie Mellon.

“What was different is that we were working with established companies, and the research was suggested by problems that they needed to pursue to remain competitive in the global market,” explains Moura. “These projects provided learning experiences for students and faculty and the results exceeded everything that we could have imagined.”

As a result of the epidemic, the European Union launched programs to restart economies in European countries.

“In Portugal, CMU Portugal was a catalyst for creating a few consortia of large companies, startups, and research centers and universities that put together successful proposals combining research and innovation for reconstruction funding,” says Moura.

“Being attentive to entrepreneurship and industry is a big success story of this program,” says Moura. He adds that CMU is now negotiating Phase 4 of the program, and the Portuguese Minister of Science and Technology will decide if the CMU Portugal continues to serve the country’s needs. Undoubtedly, the program’s capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship will be a major factor in this decision.

C

arnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, sited in the epicenter of tech innovation, connects CMU’s distinctive technology education programs to Silicon Valley’s influential business community. All its master’s degree programs leverage Silicon Valley’s lauded entrepreneurial ecosystem to offer superior education and access to internships and jobs, along with opportunities for new startups. A great number of local tech companies, large and small, have a cadre of Carnegie Mellon alumni in leadership positions. Many other companies in Silicon Valley have been founded by CMU alumni. Students have opportunities to engage with CMU alumni and benefit from their experience.

For aspiring industry leaders, the San Francisco Bay Area is the perfect place to further technology and management skills and build valuable relationships. Well trained and well connected, students assume pivotal roles in shaping the future of the software and technology industries.

Startup hub CMU-Africaat

Pictured above: CMU-Africa Industry Innovation Lab incubatee and alumni startup, HOVA AI, secured second place at the 2023 Hanga Pitchfest in Kigali, Rwanda. The company, cofounded by Arsene Muhire (MSIT '23), provides real-time sales, inventory, and customer behavior data, as well as predictive analytics for small and medium-sized businesses in Africa. The win came with a $20,000 USD prize.

The Industry Innovation Lab (IIL) is a technology-focused startup hub at Carnegie Mellon University Africa. The IIL supports startups that are developing and commercializing technologyenabled products that address well-defined market opportunities with potential for profitability, inclusivity, and scaling.

The IIL runs a 12-month business incubation program exclusively focused on helping CMUAfrica students and alumni founders succeed with their entrepreneurial ventures. Startups entering the program have a proof-of-concept prototype for their product and a preliminary market assessment. The goal is for startups to leave the program with a revenue-generating product that is positioned to successfully compete for the additional investment they will need to scale. The IIL also manages a tech skills marketplace to provide world-class tech talent to African startups.

STARTUPS IN 2023-2024 INCUBATION PROGRAM

Spiral Tech: Delivers two energy metering products to detect energy theft and lower total cost of ownership of energy meters respectively. This will help micro utilities become more sustainable by maximizing their profitability and reducing the time it takes to break even.

WeEducate: Offers personalized tutoring services for primary and secondary students in Rwanda. It intends to provide customized learning materials to students that’s tailored to their specific needs and delivered by expert tutors and industry professionals. Also provided are real-time monitoring tools to assess students’ progress and performance.

Dftr: Dftr is a financial management tool that empowers small and informal businesses with effective management, improved access to finance, and increased accountability. Some of the tool’s features include daily transaction analysis, debt and credit tracking, inventory tracking, and 7-day sales predictions based on machine learning.

Nora: Nora provides users an accessible platform that offers a secure way to conduct financial transactions while leveraging data to enhance the overall customer experience. Nora allows users to send and receive money, pay bills, purchase goods and services, manage their finances, broaden businesses’ customers, and access credit and insurance services on their mobile phones.

RESEARCH

Training welders with emerging technology

A welder uses the gun to place coordinate locations for the start and end of the weld, linking the real world weld line to a graphic representation in the XR display.

W

elding is a challenging skill to learn. It requires technical knowledge and manual dexterity. And given its prevalence throughout industry, including manufacturing, construction, aerospace, and automotive, the need for skilled welders remains strong. According to the American Welding Society, U.S. employers are facing a deficit of 375,000 welders.

At Carnegie Mellon University, researchers are developing a new way to train welders that applies an emerging technology. With support from the Manufacturing Futures Institute (MFI) seed funding program, Dina El-Zanfaly, an assistant professor in the School of Design, and Daragh Byrne, an associate teaching professor in the School of Architecture worked with a team of researchers to develop an extended reality (XR) welding helmet and torch system to help welders acquire the knowledge they need to master the challenging skill.

“This is a really cool project that incorporates the key objectives of the MFI mission,” said Sandra DeVincent Wolf, the executive director of MFI.

“It is groundbreaking research that advances manufacturing technology, contributes to workforce development, and engages partners from the local community.”

Extended reality combines virtual reality (VR), which is a computer-generated environment that simulates a realistic or imaginary experience; augmented reality (AR), which combines computergenerated information with a user’s real-world environment; and mixed reality (MR), where real-world and digital objects coexist and interact in real-time. Together, these features create an immersive experience that allows users to interact with information, environments, and digital content in real-time.

How the training system works

Training welders requires hand-eye coordination and a keen perception of the position and movement of the body. This embodied knowledge is acquired through hands-on interactions with tools and materials and can be difficult to replicate in training scenarios.

To understand training challenges, the CMU researchers organized a series of workshops. They worked with instructors and students at the Industrial Arts Workshop, a youth welding training program in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, to develop a system that integrates a welding helmet and torch with a Meta Quest Pro (a mixed reality headset) and a machine learning model that enhances the learning of welding in three key ways.

VISUAL EXTENDED REALITY GUIDES AND INTEGRATED MOTION SENSING

Generally, it is difficult for an instructor to visually monitor and give feedback to students in a timely, safe, and audible manner while they are welding. The researchers overcame these obstacles by modifying a welding helmet with a Meta Quest headset that displays visual feedback mechanisms that guide students during training sessions and provides a record of their performance.

XR indicators within the welding helmet show the adjustments that welding students should make to maintain the correct angle of the welding gun that is connected to the Quest Touch controller. The status icons, which are visible in the headset’s viewport, allow users to see the feedback without taking their focus away from the active weld. The status icons also give instructors and users a clear overview of performance when viewing the live playback.

SENSING SONIC CUES DURING WELDING PRACTICE

The researchers learned that experienced welders can assess welds by listening. So instead of evaluating welds visually after they are completed, their system uses an auditory-based method to diagnosis the weld in real time.

“For example, a good welding speed should sound like sizzling bacon, not popcorn according to the instructors,” explained El-Zanfaly.

By employing Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) enabled sound detection to recognize factors such as settings and tip distance, the researchers trained their machine learning model to provide visual feedback to indicate errors that are detected by sounds such as those that are made when the tip of the gun is being held too far away from the welding plate. The researchers also trained the TinyML model to alert trainees to attend to common errors, such as incorrect settings and gun tip distance.

Realtime instructor view allows each student’s live performance to be cast to the instructor’s tablet. An instructor or student can review real-time or recorded point-of-view footage of the experience to monitor behaviors or analyze difficult scenarios.

During the workshops, researchers saw that instructors encouraged students to use meditation and breathing exercises before starting to weld as a way to induce relaxation and foster a sense of focus to offset the effects of the welding environment, which can be overwhelming due to loud noises, sparks, heat, and burning smells.

To enhance mindfulness, the researchers programmed the system to begin each welding session by encouraging trainees to engage in breathing exercises. They also placed an anemometer inside the welding helmet to measure the speed of the welders’ exhaled breath and track their breathing patterns over time in order to develop system prompts that can help welders adopt mindfulness and regulate their breathing, which improves performance.

Real-time feedback

during active welding

The system’s ability to sense motion, detect sound, and enhance users’ focus helps students build skills they acquire during actual welding practice. Unlike many expensive simulated training products on the market, this system provides guidance in real time during live welding sessions that provides advantages for both students and instructors who otherwise must rely on information derived after a weld is complete to assess the performance.

“An exciting aspect of our work is the ability of our system to enable in-situ welding experiences using a lightly modified off-the-shelf XR and welding setup,” explained El-Zanfaly.

Their work has received recognition at the 2023 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces and at the 2024 ACM Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interactions.

CMU and Meta to make computer- based tasks accessible to more people

As part of a larger commitment to developing equitable technology, Carnegie Mellon University and Meta announce a collaborative project to make computer-based tasks accessible to more people. This project focuses on using wearable sensing technology to enable people with different motor abilities to perform everyday tasks and enjoy gaming in digital and mixed reality environments.

Meta is developing an electromyography wristband for consumers that uses sensors placed on the skin to measure the electrical signals the user generates through their muscles, which are translated into input signals for various devices. While Meta has already demonstrated that this technology could replace keyboards and joysticks, the team continues to invest and support different projects to confirm that this technology can be used by a wide range of people.

Douglas Weber, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, has shown previously that people with complete hand paralysis retain the ability to control muscles in their forearm, even muscles that are too weak to produce movement. His team found that some individuals with spinal cord injury still exhibit unique muscle activity patterns when attempting to move specific fingers, which could be used for human computer interactions.

“This research evaluates bypassing physical motion and relying instead on muscle signals. If successful, this approach could make computers and other digital devices more accessible for people with physical disabilities,” said Weber.

Working with Meta, Weber’s team seeks to build upon their initial results to assess whether and to what extent people with spinal cord injury can interact with digital devices, such as computers and mixed reality systems by using Meta’s surface

Wearing the electromyography wristband, a participant in the study who has been unable to move his fingers since 2005, was able to control a computer cursor and gamepad buttons.

electromyography (sEMG) research prototype and related software.

The project centers on interactive computing tasks. Approved by the Institutional Review Board, study participants begin by performing a series of adaptive mini games. Once their proficiency is benchmarked, the CMU team creates new games and other activities in mixed reality that are tailored to the abilities and interests of the participant.

“In the digital world, people with full or limited physical ability can be empowered to act virtually, using signals from their motor system,” explained Dailyn Despradel Rumaldo, Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. “In the case of mixed reality technology, we are creating simulated environments where users interact with objects and other users, regardless of motor abilities.”

The project comes as an ongoing research investment by Meta to support the development of equitable and accessible interfaces to help people do more, together.

Milestone reached in noninvasive brain-computer interface performance

Achieving a noteworthy milestone to advance noninvasive brain-controlled interfaces, researchers used AI technology to improve the decoding of human intention and control a continuously moving virtual object all by thinking about it, with unmatched performance.

Pursuing a viable alternative to invasive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) has been a continued research focus of Carnegie Mellon University’s He Lab. In 2019, the group used a noninvasive BCI to successfully demonstrate, for the first time, that a mind-controlled robotic arm had the ability to continuously track and follow a computer cursor. As technology has improved, their AI-powered deep learning approach has become more robust and effective. In work published in PNAS Nexus, the group demonstrates that humans can control continuous tracking of a moving object all by thinking about it, with unmatched performance. Noninvasive BCIs bring a host of advantages, in contrast to their invasive counterparts (think Neuralink or Synchron). These include increased safety, cost-effectiveness, and an ability to be used by numerous patients, as well as the general population. Amid these benefits, however, noninvasive BCIs face challenges because their recordings are less accurate and difficult to interpret.

In He’s recent study, a group of 28 human participants were given a complex BCI task to track an object in a two-dimensional space all by thinking about it. During the task, an electroencephalography (EEG) method recorded their activity, from outside the brain. Using AI to train a deep neural network, the He group then directly decoded and interpreted human intentions for continuous object movement using the BCI sensor data. Overall, the work demonstrates the excellent performance of non-invasive BCI for a brain-

controlled computerized device.

“The innovation in AI technology has enabled us to greatly improve the performance versus conventional techniques and shed light for wide human application in the future,” expressed Bin He, professor of biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Moreover, the capability of the group’s AIpowered BCI suggests a direct application to continuously controlling a robotic device.

“We are currently testing this AI-powered noninvasive BCI technology to control sophisticated tasks of a robotic arm,” said He. “Also, we are further testing its applicability to not only able-body subjects, but also stroke patients suffering motor impairments.” In a few years, this may lead to AI-powered assistive robots becoming available to a broad range of potential users.

To this end, motor-impaired patients who are suffering from spinal cord injury, stroke, or other movement impairment, but do not want to receive an implant, stand to benefit immensely from research in this vein. “We keep pushing noninvasive neuroengineering solutions that can help everybody,” added He.

This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Other collaborators on the PNAS Nexus paper include the first authors Dylan Forenzo, BME Ph.D. student, and Hao Zhu, former BME Master’s student; Jenn Shanahan, former lab technician; and Jaehyun Lim, BME undergraduate student.

The video screenshots above show the cursor and target trajectories throughout a single 60-second trial with lag adjusted. The randomly moving target is represented by a yellow circle, while the cursor that the subject controlled using the BCI system is shown as a blue circle. A human subject controlled the blue cursor using the deep learning-based BCI decoder just by thinking about it.

Source: He Lab

Making materials to withstand extreme stress

Project sets out to develop energy-absorbing, structure-preserving materials that are resilient in extreme situations.

Kaushik Dayal will lead a team of researchers looking at the behavior of heterogeneous materials through the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. The project aims to improve the resilience of defense-related materials under extreme conditions of stress and uncertainty.

The use of materials in military practices are crucial, yet often overlooked. From armor and combat vehicles, munitions, and more, the strength of these technologies directly affect defense practices and the safety of our communities. Dayal’s team will explore shortcomings of existing research on average conditions and look at the performance of materials under extreme situations. Coupling analysis of flaws with a material’s microstructure, they will develop data-driven models to simulate possible challenges and ultimately guarantee trust in the material’s resilience.

“We know a lot about materials under average conditions,” said Dayal, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. “But in extreme conditions, when a load impacts a car, for example, it can cause damage far beyond the impact site. Current ways to predict how materials behave don’t take these effects into account. Going beyond current paradigms will enable the development of materials that absorb energy better, to protect car passengers from injury in an extreme event, for instance.”

This multi-thrust research project will look at brittle heterogeneous materials under dynamic conditions, including performance outcomes under extreme stress, nonlocal impact damage, and quantifying uncertainty in worstcase scenarios. Using modeling, computation,

mathematical analysis, and experimental validation, the team will engineer a framework for materials to improve safety and protection.

Created in 1985, the MURI program awards highly competitive grants funding multidisciplinary defense-related research projects. Some of the most impactful military advancements and technologies have been implemented through this program. In fiscal year 2024, the Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Office of Naval Research selected 30 final projects to award this prestigious opportunity out of 276 total proposals in 25 diverse topic areas.

The team includes researchers from University of Colorado Boulder, University of Chicago, Louisiana State University, and University of Pennsylvania, all with interdisciplinary backgrounds and strong track records supporting previous Department of Defense MURI projects.

C Commercializing device to measure sulfuric acid in the air

limate scientists have long known that sulfuric acid, the major contributor towards acid rain, is in the air, but they haven’t been able to monitor it. Instruments traditionally used to measure sulfuric acid are very expensive, power-intensive, and large.

Coty Jen is developing a smaller and less expensive instrument to measure ambient sulfuric acid in the air. Jen, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, received a Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research grant in collaboration with Aerosol Dynamics, Inc. They are partnering to commercialize the instrument, named the sulfuric acid dimethylamine-reactive condensation particle counter (SAD-RCPC). Jen has also submitted a patent application.

The Jen Lab originally designed the instrument to help understand how sulfuric acid is driving the formation of atmospheric particles in cities. Sulfuric acid is a terminal product of the sulfur dioxide released from burning fossil fuels. In cities, where more people burn more fuels, high concentrations of gaseous sulfuric acid can result in sulfate contributing up to 30% of aerosol particulate mass.

It’s unclear, however, if sulfuric acid is well distributed around cities, because measuring it in the air is difficult and expensive. This is also a reason why there are currently no regulations for sulfuric acid in the air. Like with particulate matter (PM), including PM2.5 and PM10, better measurements lead to more impactful regulations.

Commercializing the SAD-RCPC will get the instrument into more labs. “This will enable the research community to start monitoring urban sulfuric acid concentrations more widely,” says Jen.

In May, Jen’s research group traveled to Oklahoma to test their prototype on a tethered balloon from the Department of Energy. The small size of their instrument is key to this test. Traditional instruments are approximately the size of a refrigerator. “You can’t put a fridge on a balloon,” says Jen.

Based on the working prototype built in her lab, Jen’s goal is for the instrument to be the size of a lunchbox and ten times cheaper than what is currently available.

The Jen Lab will also demonstrate costeffectiveness and accessibility as part of another project. Passenger ferries in the Gulf of Maine will carry the instrument to take measurements of the air over the open ocean. Again, the size of the instrument makes this possible. Most research instruments require a very large boat, which makes the costs of fieldwork very high. Using pre-existing boat routes, like the Jen Lab will do in the Gulf of Maine, lowers the costs.

With the grant, the Jen Lab will package the instrument and make it more user-friendly. They have one year to demonstrate that their instrument will work at its smaller size and in cities, before applying for the second phase of funding for continued commercialization.

The prototype of the sulfuric acid dimethylamine-reactive condensation particle counter in the Jen Lab.

THE INSTRUMENT WAS ATTACHED TO A DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY TETHERED BALLOON OPERATED BY SANDIA NATIONAL LAB AND SENT UP TO 1KM IN THE AIR TO MEASURE SULFURIC ACID IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

How does learning something new not overwrite what we know?

Neuroscience researchers examine what happens in the brain when it’s presented with learning a new task, but also asked to recall a familiar one.

For more than a decade, a collaborative working group of neuroscience researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh have explored unanswered questions about the learning process.

Using brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, the group can define the relationship between recorded neurons and movement of a computer cursor in their subjects, using this causal system to ask questions about learning that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Their latest paper examines what happens in the brain when it’s presented with learning a new task, but also asked to recall a familiar one.

“From a computation or theory perspective, it’s something of a mystery how the same neurons can be used for so many things,” said Jay Hennig, a former graduate student in neural computation and machine learning at Carnegie Mellon. “It’s not as though you have a separate neuron for each thing you must learn; you actually have to reuse the same brain for all these different things. What we found is one way that the brain can do that. It has the capacity to learn a new task in a way that’s cooperative with the other things it needs to do.”

In their analysis, the group used a BCI learning paradigm to monitor brain activity during a familiar cursor movement task and then instructed subjects to try out a new task, before returning to the familiar task. They found that learning something new altered the neural activity used to perform a familiar task, such that neural activity remained appropriate for the new task but did not impede performance on the familiar task.

“We found that learning leaves a ‘memory trace,’” explained Darby Losey, first author of the work published in Current Biology and Ph.D.

graduate of the neural computation and machine learning training programs. “A memory trace is an alteration of neural activity, specific to the learning experience, that persists after learning is done. It acts to position neural activity to be good for both tasks.”

How learning leads to lasting changes in the brain has been pondered in previous studies, but in a correlative way, using arm movements, versus a BCI. Unique to this study, BCI data enables the team to know precisely how changes in neural activity relate to both the learned and familiar experiences because the exact relationship between neural activity and behavior is known and can be measured regardless of which task the subject performs.

To move this work forward, the researchers are conducting experiments to explain the related phenomenon of savings.

“If we use the analogy of learning a new racket sport, squash, when you already play tennis, savings can be used to define the stored proficiency you have for squash when you come back to it a second time,” expressed Emily Oby, research instructor, University of Pittsburgh. “You start at a place that is better than the initial learning experience. We believe this memory trace may be a neural explanation for savings.” Bearing this in mind, the group is conducting experiments to explore the neuronal correlation between memory trace and savings.

“For learning to be useful, it has to be remembered,” added Steve Chase, professor of biomedical engineering and the Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon and one of the three leads on the project, along with Byron Yu of Carnegie Mellon and Aaron Batista of the University of Pittsburgh. “The process of how you take a learned experience and lay it down in neural activity, so it can be recalled again when you need it, is a fascinating process. Our understanding of it is still in its infancy. The hope is that by looking at how these learned acts are laid down for motor tasks, it will help us know how they’re laid down for other tasks as well. And, ultimately, once we’re able to do all of this, we can try to understand what all the factors that help us remember are, to really track the memory process itself.”

Designing nanoparticles for pregnancy-safe treatments

Too often, the lack of clinical trials means that pregnant women suffer because available medications are prescribed off-label for them or not at all. A new study offers proof of concept for the important parameters to develop pregnancy-safe gene therapies.

The power of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) is more broadly appreciated since the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were distributed in hundreds of millions of people, including pregnant people. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are working to unlock all sorts of new therapies by treating disease at the gene level.

“In thinking about the future of genetic medicine, we would like to understand what could be good for pregnant people as well,” says Kathryn Whitehead, a professor of chemical engineering and biomedical engineering, and among the first to study mRNA delivery during pregnancy.

In a paper published in PNAS, Whitehead provides structural guidance on the design of lipid nanoparticles for safe use during pregnancy. Lipid nanoparticles are the delivery vehicles that bring mRNA into cells.

A lot of the questions surrounding gene therapies in pregnant versus non-pregnant people have to do with the delivery vehicle. It’s not clear if the same delivery vehicle can be used for all or if one needs to be specially developed for safe use during pregnancy.

Whitehead’s research provides insight as to how changes during pregnancy alter nanoparticle behavior compared to non-pregnant people.

The immune system, and its usual response to anything foreign, changes during pregnancy. It is important to understand changes in the immune response to lipid nanoparticles because of potential toxicities and other issues.

Whitehead’s study shows that lipid nanoparticle effects during pregnancy are chemistrydependent. The inclusion of different lipids in the nanoparticle alters its chemistry, which in turn changes the way the immune system responds.

In the study, researchers looked at 260 different lipids. They included materials known to work well without causing much of an immune response, materials known to work well and to cause an immune response, and materials known to work poorly

The study shows that the lipid nanoparticles used in the Whitehead lab do not cross into the fetus. During pregnancy, the body has different barriers to drug delivery. One of the most obvious is the placenta. It is key in providing nutrients to the fetus, while also inhibiting the transport of anything toxic. Most therapies that a woman would need should be kept out of the fetus. Whitehead’s research shows it is possible to deliver mRNA to the placenta without it accumulating in the fetus.

There are a number of diseases where there is dysfunction with the placenta. One of the most common is preeclampsia. “If we can deliver mRNA to the placenta, then it opens up opportunities for therapy and also to explore why these diseases are happening,” says Whitehead.

Researchers also looked at lipid nanoparticles that were shown to be inflammatory in previous research and found that they hindered fetal development. This confirms that delivering an inflammatory lipid nanoparticle during pregnancy is harmful in a quantitative and structurally dependent way. There are certain chemistries for which researchers can predict that anything containing that particular structural group will cause a problem. By better understanding structure-function, researchers can more accurately predict what lipids to use in the future.

Collaborators at Magee-Womens Research Institute were instrumental in the early stages of the study. As the research progresses, Whitehead is connecting with new partners there.

Whitehead says this work on mRNA delivery during pregnancy will propel the design of new pregnancysafe treatments. The findings might lead to better treatments for maternal disorders like preterm birth or preeclampsia, perhaps within the next decade.

DNA armor protects regenerative medicine

Using DNA origami, researchers have developed a synthetic cell armor to protect cells during the stress of clinical practice.

If one in three Americans could benefit from regenerative medicine why are only one million Americans treated with it each year?

To put it simply, cell manipulation and delivery is brutal. Cells are often damaged by external forces during the process and researchers have struggled to develop an armor that won’t hinder cell function…until now.

Using DNA origami, researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering have developed a synthetic cell armor to protect cells during the stress of clinical practice.

“The cell membrane is often not enough to protect cells from being deformed, shrunk, or expanded during biomedical applications,” said Weitao Wang, a Ph.D. candidate advised by Rebecca Taylor, associate professor of mechanical engineering and Xi (Charlie) Ren, associate professor of biomedical engineering. “Our team targeted the cell’s surface and cross-linked two layers of DNA nanorods onto the membrane to form a programmable cell shell.”

The DNA origami shell can impact the biophysical properties of the cell

Fluorescence imaging and quantification on the cellular uptake of DNA rod A on rod A-coated cells and nanoshell-coated cells using HUVECs. Red fluorescence signals represent internalized rod A stained with streptavidin-AF647.

membrane and enhance its stiffness and lower its lipid fluidity.

“Because of this technology, we can build very precise DNA structures,” explained Wang. “We can adjust the thickness of the armor so that we can customize protection levels for different cells and different applications’ needs.”

Taylor explained that due to the modular nature of the armor, we can also think of it like a backpack that researchers can fill with tools for the cell.

“We can imagine enhancing a cell with RGD, a DNA sequence that could aid in targeted delivery in the body,” Taylor said.

To test the armor’s viability, the team put the cells through a mechanical triathlon: swelling them, squishing them, and injecting them through syringes. During each test, a higher percentage of cells survived if they were coated in the armor. Because the armor stabilized the cell in harsh conditions, the team expects that the armor can provide long-term protection.

“Although this is a fundamental study, we are building the foundation for future applications to use this armor to protect the cells we want to deliver into the human body,” said Wang.

This research was published in Nano Letters and highlighted in Nature

World’s smallest QR code carries infrared information

Researchers fabricate the world’s smallest QR code that, invisible to the naked eye, encrypts information to only be visible by an infrared camera lens.

Credit cards embedded chips, national mints printed watermarks, and high-profile locations installed retina scanners all for the same reason—to protect information. As attackers grow smarter, so must defense.

Sheng Shen, along with collaborators at Penn State University, have developed a pixel-by-pixel approach to visible camouflage with hopes of scaling it for enhanced infrared surveillance, optical security, and anti-forgery protections.

“Our collaborators came to us with brochosomes—a ‘magic’ structure leafhoppers produce to create a cloak effect to hide from predators,” said Shen, a professor of mechanical engineering. “We wanted to understand brochosomes’ optical limitations to see what more we could do with them.”

Brochosomes are 3D soccer ball-like objects with nanoscale cavities that internally absorb light rather than reflect it onto outside structures. In nature, biologists suspect that this allows leafhoppers to blend in with their background.

To test functionality, the team simulated two different versions of the structure, one with cavities for light absorption and one without.

“There is a fundamental law in physics that if a structure is a good absorber of energy, it can emit an equal amount of energy,” explained Zhuo Li, Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon. “We quickly realized that if we put both structures together, one would emit more energy than the other. That would make one appear brighter to an infrared camera than the other.”

And so began the development of the world’s smallest QR code.

Using an advanced 3D printing technique, developed by the Penn State collaborators, the team controlled whether each pixel was printed as a structure with or without holes, allowing them to fabricate a QR code readable by an infrared camera alone.

Sizing up at less than two percent of an inch, the code is only visible under a microscope but both teams plan to explore ways to scale it for commercial use too.

“With this technology we are ultimately distorting an objects’ thermal signature,” said Li. “We have the power to disguise how objects are displayed on an infrared camera. Hypothetically, if we laid the brochosome pixels accordingly, we could paint a patrol car to appear as a delivery van to infrared security.”

The team’s unique combination of visible camouflage and infrared display creates new opportunities for data encryption and optical security.

“This is just the start of a new research area my team can explore,” said Sheng. “We’ve taken infrared light and turned it from an energy carrier to an information carrier.”

This research was done in collaboration with The Pennsylvania State University researchers Dr. Lin Wang and Professor TakSing Wong. It was first published in Science Advances. Zhuo Li and Lin Wang contributed equally to this work. The authors acknowledge support from the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research.

BROCHOSOMES ARE 3D SOCCER

BALL-LIKE OBJECTS WITH NANOSCALE CAVITIES THAT INTERNALLY ABSORB LIGHT. IN NATURE, BIOLOGISTS SUSPECT THAT THIS ALLOWS LEAFHOPPERS TO BLEND IN WITH THEIR BACKGROUND.

The images below demonstrate how the QR code is best read by an infrared camera (bottom picture).

SEM microscope

the human eye

an infrared camera

Source: Lin Wang and Tak-Sing Wong / Penn State.

AI accelerates process design for 3D printing metal alloys

To successfully 3D print a metal part to the exacting specifications that industry demands, process parameters, including printing speed, laser power, and layer thickness of the deposited material, must all be optimized.

But to develop additive manufacturing process maps that ensure optimal results, researchers have relied on conventional methods—lab experiments that use ex-situ materials characterization to test parts that have been printed using various parameters.

Testing so many combinations of parameters to develop the optimal process is time consuming and expensive, especially considering the wide range of metals and alloys that are used in additive manufacturing.

David Guirguis, Jack Beuth, and Conrad Tucker developed a system using ultra highspeed in-situ imaging and vision transformers that can optimize process parameters and is generalizable so that it can be applied to various metal alloys.

Vision transformers are a form of machine learning that apply neural network architectures originally developed for natural language processing tasks to computer vision tasks such as image classification. And video vision transformers take that a step further by using video sequences instead of still images to capture spatial and temporal relationships that enable the model to learn complex patterns and dependencies in video data.

The self-attention mechanism, which allows natural language processing models to weigh the importance of different words in a

sequence, allows the model Guirguis created to weigh the importance of different parts of the input sequence for making predictions about the occurrence of defects.

“We needed to automate the process, but it can’t be done with computer programming alone,” explained Guirguis, a postdoctoral associate in mechanical engineering. “In order to capture the patterns, we need to apply machine learning.”

"We are excited to have developed an AI method that leverages temporal features in AM imaging data to detect different types of defects. Demonstrating the generalizability of the AI method using different AM metals is groundbreaking and reveals that the same trained AI model can be employed without costly retraining using additional data,” remarked Tucker, a professor of mechanical engineering.

Guirguis says he is fortunate to have had such strong training in machine learning at

Carnegie Mellon because it is more important than ever that mechanical engineers know how to apply both experimental and computational solutions to the problems they solve.

In this case, Guirguis was trying to overcome the primary limitation of in-situ imaging of the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing process. The technology uses a high-power laser as an energy source to melt and fuse powders in specific locations to form certain shapes, a re-coater then spreads a new layer of powder, and the process repeats until 3D objects are formed.

But the molten metal seen by a camera during the printing process is saturated, so it’s not possible to see its physical features, which can identify possible defects that can deteriorate the mechanical properties and reduce fatigue life of the printed part.

Guirguis used funding from the Army Research Laboratory to develop a high-speed imaging setup that can capture clear features of the molten pool and a machine learning model that could see the patterns associated with the defects they were trying to detect and prevent.

He incorporated the temporal features of molten metal as it changed over time by using high-speed imaging and video vision transformers.

By using the vision transformers to classify the different types of defects that can occur during the 3D printing process, Guirguis enhanced the algorithmic accuracy to greater than 90% depending on the material.

“In additive manufacturing processing of a new alloy, the first goal is to find a ‘window’ of process variables yielding flaw-free parts,”

Keyhole defect forming under powder during metal 3-D printing

explained Beuth, a professor of mechanical engineering. “Dave’s use of vision transformers to relate the variability in high-speed melt pool images to flaw formation can greatly reduce the time needed to find that window.  It is a huge step forward.”

The researchers developed an off-axial imaging setup using a high-speed video camera and magnification lens to capture the highfrequency oscillation in the melt-pool shape with video recorded with extremely high temporal resolution of over 50,000 frames per second. The videos were then classified into four categories: a desirable regime and printing regimes of the three different types of defects: keyholing, balling, and lack-of-fusion.

Keyholing defects, which are characterized by unstable, deep, and narrow penetration, can lead to enclosed pores inside the printed

parts and result in cracks that can degrade the fatigue life of the parts. The keyhole regime is typically characterized by fluctuations in the width and depth of the keyhole.

With balling defects, known as humping in welding, the melted tracks exhibit a rough surface with a periodic ball cross-section shape and are associated with undercuts at the corners. In the balling regime, the molten pool elongates and disconnects, leaving behind peaks in the track.

Lack-of-fusion defects, where the energy density is not sufficient to fully melt the powder, cause unmelted powder and irregular gaps between the melted tracks. Melt pools captured in the lack-of-fusion regime are very small with a low length-to-width ratio, as the energy density is very low, and the laser beam does not penetrate deeply into the material.

To explore the generalizability of the method, they conducted single-bead experiments with different P-V combinations, covering the four printing regimes on stainless steel SS316L, titanium alloy Ti-6AL4V, and Inconel alloy IN718. They performed a cross-dataset evaluation, where the model was trained on the recorded videos of one alloy and tested on the videos while the hyperparameters were kept unchanged. They found that video vision transformers with temporal embedding can enable insitu detection of melt-pool defects with a simple off-axial imaging setup and generate process maps that can potentially accelerate the qualification of printability and process development for newly developed 3D printed alloys. Their findings were published in Nature Communications

These metal objects were printed using state-of-the-art equipment in our additive manufacturing labs.

Manipulation technology makes home-helper robot possible

Parents spend roughly 300 hours each year cleaning up after their kids. That’s nearly two weeks that could be otherwise spent doing, well, anything else. Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with Google DeepMind and the University of Washington, are hopeful that parents will regain tidying time and then some with LocoMan, a four-legged version of the Jetsons’ beloved maid “Rosey the Robot,” that could lend a hand in the not-so-distant future.

are complementary to humans to team up with them,” said Zhao, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Unlike humanoid robots that come at a high cost and hefty weight, Zhao’s manipulators can be added to existing lower-cost quadrupedal robots and are compact, lightweight, and easy to fabricate, making them an accessible technology.

“We used four commercially available servos and 3D printed a few other parts to bring them to life,” explained Changyi Lin, a Ph.D. candidate in the CMU Safe AI Lab and the first author of the paper.

THE CORE IDEA IS TO LEVERAGE THE LEG AS AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT OF THE “ROBOTIC

ARM” FOR EXECUTING 6D POSE MANIPULATION.

Quadrupedal robots, designed to move on four legs much like a dog, are already found leading search and rescue missions, surveying construction sites, and moving parts around factories. Their ability to navigate complex environments with a low center of gravity and light weight make quadrupedal robots a top contender for household use, too. Until now, the missing piece was the dexterity and versatility skills necessary for them to be efficient in daily life. By installing two custom-designed, lightweight manipulators (think robot arms) onto the front legs of a quadrupedal robot, Ding Zhao has created a robot versatile enough to open doors, pour drinks, plug a phone in to charge, and—perhaps best of all—clean up after your on-the-go toddlers.

“While many researchers work on humanoid robots that look like humans, with potential to directly learn from humans or even replace humans in some tasks, we focus on robots that

Zhao’s team introduced the robot to a class of five preschool students at The Cyert Center for Early Education. After explaining to children how robots work and what we use them for, the children had the opportunity to interact with Zhao’s robot. The students were impressed with the robot’s capabilities and didn’t want it to leave their classroom.

The group continues to develop LocoMan to perform tasks autonomously by integrating advanced perception and intelligence planning capabilities into its existing whole-body controller.

“We anticipate that robots like LocoMan will be ready to help out at home, or in daycares, within the next three years,” said Zhao. “It is a pleasant job just to imagine that I may no longer need to handle my kids’ messy fun.”

This work was presented at the loco-manipulation workshop and the manipulation skills workshop of the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

Ding Zhao (center), with children from The Cyert Center, interacting with the home-helper robot.

Mill 19 grows a digital backbone

A

t Mill 19 an essential project is underway in the Manufacturing Futures Institute (MFI). Carnegie Mellon engineers and scientists are building the foundational technology infrastructure that will enable data-driven advanced manufacturing research for decades to come.

Commonly known as a digital backbone, this infrastructure for connecting, collecting, and contextualizing research data generated throughout the facility will allow researchers to build, apply, and leverage curated and trusted data sources that will be the building block for the digital transformation of manufacturing.

This foundational infrastructure provides a platform upon which virtual representations of equipment, processes, products, and materials can be built to mirror their physical counterparts, thus creating digital twins—the real-time or near realtime dynamic simulations of physical entities.

“We define digital twin as a machine-readable model of a physical element that is physically realistic, capable of predictive simulation, updated through data with its physical twin’s behavior, and interoperable with its surrounding physical and virtual environment,” said Gary Fedder, MFI faculty director.

Recent investments in the wired and wireless data networks within CMU’s Mill 19 facility have expanded the digital connectedness within the building, providing pathways to virtual machines for data archival on CMU’s Campus Cloud, which provides virtual servers and associated data storage on the secure Carnegie Mellon University network.

Rod Heiple, director of the MFI, noted, “Proper archival data, while necessary, is by itself insufficient. We needed a way to transform data to contextualized and useful information so that the researchers can use that information to optimize the performance of systems, machines, and processes.”

Enter the role of data historians, which are systems that collect, store, and retrieve time-series data from equipment sensors and IoT devices. Originally developed in the late 1980s, data historians are not new to CMU. The university’s Facilities Management Services (FMS) division has been using the AVEVA PI System to connect, collect, and contextualize building systems data for the university since 2015.

While many commercially available and industry accepted data historian options exist, MFI elected to build upon the university’s AVEVA PI system in order to leverage the perpetual complimentary

academic software license.

In addition to implementing the AVEVA PI system, MFI engaged Bryan Webler, professor of materials science and engineering; Sneha Prabha Narra, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; and their research teams to help define the data connection, collection, contextualization, access, analysis, and visualization requirements for the TRUMPF Tru Laser Cell 3000 and the Lincoln Electric Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) equipment at Mill 19.

Webler described the initial stage of their project as a test case which will help determine what types of data to collect; how to organize the data; and how to motivate users, particularly student researchers, to contribute their findings.

“We use the acronym FAIR to explain that the data needs to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable,” explained Webler during MFI’s Technical Exchange event, where he and Narra described the digital backbone and their pilot project to members of the MFI partnership program

MFI hired Stephanie Steren-Ruta into the role of Advanced Manufacturing Engineer – Digitalization. Steren-Ruta will work with Mill 19 researchers to ensure the connectedness of research projects to the data historian through the digital backbone and provide the training, processes, and procedures required for its use.

An electrical engineer by training, she led a corporate-wide effort at Bridgestone to develop, deploy, standardize, and enhance tire testing machine capabilities. At Bridgestone she expanded her engineering software development and data management skills.

Steren-Ruta’s interest in both technology and Carnegie Mellon was ignited when, as a 10-year old, she witnessed a robotics demonstration while visiting campus with her father, who was here as a visiting professor.

“The experiences of that day captivated my younger self, sparking a lasting fascination, and from that moment forward, I was determined to make a contribution to that space,” said Steren-Ruta.

“We are extremely excited to have the digital backbone ready for operation. It is essential infrastructure for MFI’s research that converges new manufacturing technologies, artificial intelligence, digital twins, and virtualized environments,” said Fedder.

THE DIGITAL BACKBONE IS ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR MFI’S RESEARCH THAT CONVERGES NEW MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DIGITAL TWINS, AND VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENTS.

will be one of two 3D printers that will be used to begin the

The TRUMPF TruLaser Cell 3000

digital backbone project at Mill 19.

Reducing disruptions in the EV battery supply chain

As we shift away from gasoline toward electric vehicles, we must anticipate new potential supply chain vulnerabilities so that we can act strategically to mitigate risk.

AToday’s EVs employ several battery technologies with different combinations of materials. Around the world, governments are developing policies to ensure that these materials are readily available and to mitigate supply chain disruption risks.

s electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing expands, so too does the demand for the materials that are essential to their production.

In Nature Communications, a team of researchers from the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University provides analysis of the relationship between electric vehicle battery chemistry and supply chain vulnerability for four critical minerals—lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese—across countries that are key contributors to production.

The primary lithium-ion battery chemistries used in EVs today are lithium iron phosphate (LFP), nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), and nickel cobalt aluminum (NCA), which each depend on varying amounts of these minerals. The authors, Anthony Cheng, Erica Fuchs, Valerie Karplus, and Jeremy Michalek, find that effectively reducing vulnerabilities to disruption related to any particular country may require addressing multiple layers of upstream supply relationships.

“In the 1970s, several global oil supply disruptions sent shock waves through the economy, with motorists waiting in long lines to fill up,” says

Michalek, a professor of engineering and public policy and mechanical engineering and director of Carnegie Mellon’s Vehicle Electrification Group. “As we shift away from gasoline toward electric vehicles, we need to anticipate new potential supply chain vulnerabilities so that we can act strategically to mitigate risk.”

By mapping the supply chains of the four critical materials, calculating a vulnerability index, and using a network flow optimization to bound uncertainties, the study finds that production at multiple supply chain steps is highly concentrated in single countries. In particular, production at multiple stages of the supply chain across battery technologies occurs in China, primarily due to its role in materials refining and cathode production.

A supply chain disruption centered in one country could occur for any number of reasons, ranging from geopolitical strategy to political or economic instability, a natural disaster, or another pandemic. Last year, China restricted exports of graphite, another key material used in batteries. Countries that make EVs, like the U.S., have an interest in diversifying supply chains to reduce disruption risks such as this.

Additionally, the research finds that the levels of vulnerability vary based on the battery chemistry. For example, the LFP chemistry may currently be more vulnerable to supply disruptions in China, but NMC chemistries depend on more critical materials, resulting in more pathways for disruptions from

other countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or South Africa.

As efforts are made to diversify the supply chain and incentivize domestic production, the authors note that a comprehensive approach must be considered beyond battery cell and pack production, including minerals extraction, processing, and component production.

“The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act provides major incentives to diversify the supply chain and build more batteries in the U.S.,” says Michalek. “We’re working to analyze how this policy may incentivize changes in different parts of the supply chain and in battery technology.”

THE FINDINGS IN THIS RESEARCH CAN HELP POLICYMAKERS

A Sankey diagram for global flows of lithium that available data suggest are involved in battery material supply chains.

Source: Nature Communications

Nano-agriculture: Sustainable solutions for global securityfood

Researchers in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University are using findings from nanomedicine and digital twin technologies to understand the new field of Plant Nanobiotechnology, address unsustainable agricultural practices, and meet increasing global food demands.

Currently, agriculture accounts for 14-28% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of all freshwater withdraws. This, in addition to a range of other factors from extreme weather events, rampant crop pests, and rapidly degrading soil underlines the need for new agricultural practices and technologies.

In a study published in Nature, researchers highlight that Plant Nanobiotechnology approaches can be used to deliver nanoforms of active agents, such as micronutrients or plant protection products, to specific biological targets. As a result, plants become more resilient against disease and harmful environmental factors like extreme heat or salt contents in soil, thus increasing crop yield and overall efficiency. However, because the field of Plant Nanobiotechnology is still in its nascent stages, many of the challenges to implementing new tools like nanocarriers are still unknown to researchers.

To overcome this obstacle, Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Greg Lowry, in collaboration with co-corresponding author Juan Pablo Giraldo at University of California Riverside, colleagues, and students, is looking beyond plants and agriculture to find solutions inspired by nanomedicine.

“We found that the challenges of using nanocarriers to deliver nutrients in plants parallel those in nanomedicine, which has the advantage of being an established and well-studied field,” said Lowry. “While there are some key differences between plants and animals, many important parts of our research have been informed

by nanomedicine, including identifying nanocarrier designs that can ensure active agents are effectively packaged, delivered, and released where they are needed.”

Similar to nanomedicine, researchers found that nanocarriers are most successful when they interact well with the organism they’re targeting, navigate key biological barriers, and take advantage of natural processes while minimizing unintended consequences. The study also explored the potentially transformative approach of creating “digital twins” of plants for assessing the efficacy of different nanocarrier designs.

Digital twins are breakthrough modeling technologies that have been widely used throughout infrastructure management, predictive maintenance, and manufacturing. Their unique ability to analyze a structure and its surrounding conditions, process the information, and use it to inform, predict, and modify what happens in the physical world has revolutionized the way researchers process data.

Just as medical researchers use “digital patients,” or digital twin models to simulate how medicines interact with and move within the body, Lowry and his team could use “digital plants” to facilitate the design of nanocarriers that target nutrient delivery to selected plant organs. In doing so, nanocarriers would be better equipped to deliver essential active agents where and when they’re needed most, increasing their effectiveness, resilience to adversity, and overall agricultural output.

“Nano-enabled precision delivery of active agents in plants will transform agriculture, but there are critical technical challenges that we must first overcome to realize the full range of its benefits,” said Lowry. “I’m optimistic about the future of Plant Nanobiotechnology approaches and the beneficial impacts it will have on our ability to sustainably produce food.”

Quantifying barriers to establishing sequestration wells

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change. While CCS is an essential tool in decarbonizing the U.S. economy, there are barriers that exist to the development, approval, and implementation of a geologic sequestration site, as it requires an appropriate geologic formation, as well as an approved injection facility.

Work from the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) estimates the time required to develop, approve, and implement a geologic sequestration site in the U.S. by identifying six clearance points that must be passed for a site to become operational and provides insights into how this timeframe could be reduced.

The clearance points identified include: time to find site(s), time to prepare selected site, time for EPA approval, time to resolve any legal challenge, time to construct well and pipeline, and time for injection authorization. By seeking input from experts on each clearance point, Ph.D. student Emily Moore and faculty members Valerie Karplus and Granger Morgan combined expert judgements in a simulation framework to project timeframes within which these points could be cleared.

“Understanding the many steps and expected timeframes is an essential starting point to assess what needs to happen if society wants to deploy carbon capture and sequestration as a decarbonization solution,” says Karplus. “It is unlikely that timing written into regulatory processes for key steps will be realized in practice, so we turned to experts for their views.”

The findings indicate that on average, there is a 90% probability that the time required for a site to become operational is between 5.5 and 9.6 years, with an upper bound of 12 years. Even using the most optimistic expert judgements, the lower bound is 2.7 years, and the upper bound is 8.3 years.

These estimates show that strategies must be implemented to accelerate the process if CCS is to have a meaningful impact toward the nation’s 2050 climate goals. This is particularly critical if projects are to be eligible for the Section 45Q CCS tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, which expires in 2032, well before the upper bound estimate of 12 years. The authors put forth seven recommendations that could speed the time for sites to be utilized.

The clearance points that were estimated to cause the longest non-technical delays included pore space acquisition, the Class VI permit application review process, and potential litigation, and as such the recommendations address these obstacles.

Currently only North Dakota and Wyoming have Class VI primacy, which allows these states to expedite their application process. By granting states primacy, there is potential to speed up the permitting process, and legislative efforts could be feasible to facilitate these endeavors. Additionally, legal frameworks could be developed to reduce litigation and proactively engage communities where sites are being developed.

“Prior work has suggested that public acceptance is essential for emerging technologies to reach wider application,” said Moore. “Our research suggests that court challenges could extend time frames substantially. Engaging the public, along with treating landowners as important stakeholders, could go a long way toward mitigating the risk of protracted delays.”

Over a decade ago, recognizing that the U.S. would soon need CCS to decarbonize the nation’s energy system, Morgan and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon led a team of technical and legal experts that developed a comprehensive approach that addressed key issues, including ownership of the deep subsurface, learning from experience, and long-term stewardship and liability. The project’s recommendations and resulting book were widely distributed to members of Congress and other key decision makers.

Reflecting on this earlier work, Morgan observes, “Back then, decarbonizing the energy system was not on the top of most policy agendas, so we have ended up with a piecemeal system that addresses only a part of the problem on a state-by-state basis. While that’s better than nothing, we need to accelerate the process and make sure that issues such as liability and long-term stewardship are appropriately addressed.”

Pathogens: Out of sight, top of mind

As thawing permafrost unearths ancient disease, Chris McComb, with experts from the U.S. and Canadian governments, convened to assess risk and outline mitigation techniques.

Thirty-two years after smallpox was eradicated, scientists unearthed the virus’s genetic signature from within mummified remains.

Four years later, an anthrax outbreak that affected dozens of people and killed thousands of reindeer was linked to thawing permafrost in the Arctic.

As global temperatures warm, layers of soil that had been frozen for up to 700,000 years are melting and heightening the risk of a pathogen resurgence that predates modern immunity.

To determine just what that risk is, particularly to defense operations in the Arctic, military operators, medical professionals, academic scientists, cold-region scientists, and engineers gathered at a Pathogens and Permafrost Workshop in November 2023. Attendees established baseline knowledge to assess implications on human health and develop sustainable operations in the evolving Arctic environment.

“If a pathogen is released, the direct threat to soldiers stationed in the Arctic is clear,” explained Chris McComb, associate professor of mechanical engineering who served as a facilitator during the workshop. “But it might also affect the wildlife and the civilian population, which could then have more of a system-level impact on operational readiness.”

The working group shared the following recommendations:

The working group shared the following recommendations:

 A coordinating authority is needed: Excellent work exists in isolated pockets across United States government agencies, academia, and national labs. A coordinating authority could establish a vital, comprehensive baseline of what we know now, and what information is needed for defense planning today and into the future.

 Planning needs to start now: Accelerating, compounding processes have the potential to release a significant pulse of viruses, bacteria, and fungi into the environment. Many mitigation strategies can be readily accomplished by requiring coordinated planning both within the U.S. Department of Defense and across partners.

 We know the first actions to take: The first steps involve aggregating and meta-analysis of existing data and archived samples to guide routine sampling. The outputs of these activities will inform both future science and technology needs in this domain and military planning doctrine.

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INSIDE THE COLLEGE

Global discussions

Researcher’s global footprint

With nanoscale research, Tagbo Niepa is making a global footprint. Niepa, associate professor of chemical engineering and biomedical engineering, traveled to Barranquilla, Colombia, in February for the First Connections to Sustain Science in Latin America Symposium, which was organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

In the opening poster session, Niepa presented his research on the use of electrochemical currents to eradicate Candida auris, a type of yeast that can cause severe illness. C. auris spreads easily and is often resistant to antifungal treatments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers it an emerging threat. The Niepa μBiointerface Lab uses electrochemical currents to make the microbe more sensitive to antifungal drugs.

Niepa was also invited to the Second US-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium in Rabat, Morocco, in January. The selection process for each symposium was rigorous: from almost 600 applicants, the National Academies invited approximately 95 scientists to participate.

In Morocco, Niepa presented his research on nanocultures, which are microsystems designed to encapsulate microbes. The Niepa μBiointerface Lab is developing a high-throughput technology to replicate the human microbiome. His approach was new to many at the symposium, and his poster generated a lot of interest.

Scientific collaboration between the U.S. and Africa can accelerate the development of innovative, scientific solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. As is often done in the U.S., engaging the next generation in research early in their education can incite their curiosity and inspire new career paths. Africa is on track to become the continent with the youngest population within a few decades.

Both symposia highlighted the mechanisms through which the National Academies and the U.S. Department of Defense can facilitate interactions between scientists from the U.S. and developing countries, where research funding can make a major impact. “If we provide technical support to them as collaborators, we might be able to make breakthrough discoveries faster and at a lower cost,” explains Niepa.

International funding opportunity will steer collaboration and the training of an international cadre to address global health challenges.

Source: Tagbo Niepa

Niepa has an existing collaboration with Dakar American University of Science and Technology (DAUST) and the Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance and Training (IRESSEF) in Senegal. At the DAUST-IRESSEF Global Health Technology Research Center and in his lab at Carnegie Mellon, Niepa is developing technology to encapsulate parasitic microbes for detection and diagnosis. “I would like to tailor that to the reality of Senegal, where malaria is prevalent,” he says. “If the technology is successful in Senegal, it will help address rare and parasitic diseases, such as babesiosis, here.”

For Niepa, global leadership is a form of service to science. He wants to help lower the barriers that prevent science from being done worldwide. “This is an integral part of my role as a professor and a natural bridge connecting teaching, research, and global impact,” he adds. “Transforming invitations to speak at international forums into avenues for exploring how innovations from my lab apply across borders and address challenges in diverse contexts becomes a new opportunity.” By learning from this process, Niepa aims to continually refine his work, foster collaborations, and contribute to a more interconnected scientific community.

Energy justice and glacier projections at COP28

Experts from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) presented late last fall in Dubai at the 28th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the world’s premier climate change convocation that brings together over 70,000 delegates, including lawmakers, business leaders, climate scientists, and other stakeholders, to address issues related to the climate crisis.

DESTINIE NOCK

On a panel titled “Saving Energy, Saving Lives,” co-hosted by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Destenie Nock shared insights on the importance of energy efficiency in reducing emissions, limiting financial strain on households, and driving economic growth.

Nock’s research has focused on the intersection of energy use, poverty, and household income, specifically the gap in temperatures at which various households turn on their air conditioning (AC) and/or heating units. Her data showed that low-income groups wait five to seven degrees longer than high-income groups to turn on their AC. The opposite occurs in the winter, where low-income groups utilize their heating systems six to ten degrees earlier than high-income groups. She hypothesizes that this difference is most likely the result of poor insulation within homes in low-income communities, as well as people being intrinsically more heat-tolerant than cold-tolerant. Moving forward, she hopes to analyze the resulting problems—are low-income families at higher risk of freezing their pipes in the winter?

Or heat stroke in the summer?—and if energy efficiency could be the solution.

“So when we ask, ‘What is energy efficiency?’ I think it’s helping people who are risking health issues, struggling to pay their bills, close to losing their homes, or putting themselves in harm’s way, adapt to climate change,” Nock said. “Energy efficiency is not just a climate mitigation unifier. It’s also a climate adaptation unifier.”

DAVID ROUNCE

Sponsored by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), David Rounce weighed in on the impact of glaciers under various temperature change scenarios, including estimating their contributions to sea-level rise, water resources, and the long-term effects glacial mass loss can have on our communities.

In his talk on global glacier loss projections, Rounce discussed his contributions to the 2023 State of the Cryosphere Report, which warns that all of the planet’s frozen parts will experience disastrous damage with a 2°C increase in temperature. He offered new projections through 2300, forecasting unsustainable sea-level rise and devastating global effects if current emission levels persist, including water scarcity—affecting agriculture, food security, energy production, and human water sources—increased risks of landslides, ice shears, floods, and more.

The contributions of CEE’s Nock and Rounce were instrumental in shaping the conversations that came out of COP28. Their expertise serves to informs solutions to the tremendous challenges posed by climate change.

The Belonging Center opens

A new space dedicated to stewarding community across the College of Engineering has opened in ANSYS Hall.

The Belonging Center, a space dedicated to stewarding community, fostering connection, and hosting programming focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across the College of Engineering, has opened in ANSYS Hall.

Designed to be a hub of connection and opportunity, The Belonging Center will be a space for communitybuilding activities, informal interactions, and an expansive catalog of DEI-focused programming in the days ahead. Activities will include mentorship events, study and writing sessions, coffee chats, and intergroup dialogue, along with weekly office hours for College of Engineering DEI staff and monthly drop-in counseling sessions hosted by CMU Counseling and Psychological Services.

The space will also serve as a point of contact for Carnegie Mellon University’s engineering diversity organizations, such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Out in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers.

“The Belonging Center creates the perfect environment for students to embrace our whole selves

as we continue to develop our identities as engineers,” said Teresa Myrthil, a fourth-year chemical engineering student and current president of the university’s NSBE chapter. “It allows us to find community not just in student organizations, but also in our college. Instead of leaving our identities at the door, we can find strength in the diversity of our engineering community.”

Plans to open The Belonging Center came together in 2021, in tandem with efforts to implement a new DEI Strategic Plan. As one of the plan’s actions, the College of Engineering committed to cultivating a space that would nurture a sense of belonging for students, with a focus on including students from historically underrepresented groups. This stemmed from scholarly research that articulated the impact of such spaces for students with an intersection of historically marginalized identities in the areas of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and immigration status.

“I am thrilled to see the opening of The Belonging Center, because I believe the existence of this space, and the associated programming reminds everyone, regardless of background or perspective, that they are needed to address today’s engineering needs,” emphasized Alaine Allen, the college’s associate dean of DEI.

On February 20, a celebratory program was hosted to commemorate the space, and more than 100 students, staff, and faculty attended. Several college and university leaders, including Provost Jim Garrett, Dean Bill Sanders, Associate Dean of DEI Alaine Allen, and Vice Provost for DEI and Chief Diversity Officer Wanda Heading-Grant, delivered comments followed by a dessert reception.

NSF CAREER Awards

The CAREER Award is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for early-career faculty. The College of Engineering proudly recognizes the faculty who received these grants and their capacity to serve as leaders in research and education.

Ana Inés Torres is in the Department of Chemical Engineering, while the other winners represent the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

GIULIA FANTI

Giulia Fanti’s research focuses on systems that enable cooperation in limited-trust environments, with applications to some of the most pressing problems facing society today, including cybercrime, financial inclusion, and climate change. A major technical challenge in her work stems from its inherently multidisciplinary nature, drawing on distributed systems, networking, machine learning, security, privacy, and information theory.

AKSHITHA SRIRAMAN

Akshitha Sriraman’s research bridges computer architecture and software systems, with a focus on making hyperscale data center systems more efficient, sustainable, and equitable via solutions that span the systems stack. Her work has developed the software and hardware foundations of hyperscale data center systems that support modern web services, such as web search, video streaming, and online healthcare.

GUANNAN QU

Guannan Qu’s research aims to develop theories that make machine learning applicable in real-world, large scale engineering systems. With an interdisciplinary focus, Qu is establishing new mathematical tools in machine/ reinforcement learning, control theory, optimization, and network science and applies these tools to cyber physical systems, power systems, transportation systems, and robotics.

ANA INÉS TORRES

Ana Inés Torres’s research delves into circular economies (CEs). CEs are based on production and consumption, and the reuse and regeneration of materials so that production continues as sustainably as possible. She is investigating modeling, optimization, and equilibrium formulations that are necessary for creating and analyzing CE networks. Current supply chain paradigms have major environmental and socioeconomics impacts, but Torres hopes to redesign the consumption process by developing CE strategies that will reduce waste and pollution and use fewer new resources.

Building a strong digital public infrastructure in Africa

The Upanzi Network, led by Carnegie Mellon University Africa, is a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded initiative that is working towards the secure and resilient digital transformation of Africa. Its research lab at CMU-Africa creates, tests, innovates, and assists in implementing digital technologies at scale, focused in areas such as identity, payments, cybersecurity, cloud computing, data governance, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Among its goals, is to contribute to existing open-source digital technologies for the public good and demonstrate technological solutions that can provide beneficial, cost-effective and interoperable digital services for Africans. The Upanzi Network plans to expand to other African universities, ultimately creating a continent-wide community of researchers working together on digital public infrastructure.

Examples of work underway in the Upanzi Network:

 CyLab-Africa and the Upanzi Network researchers partnered with the mobile security provider Approov to explore the security of financial services apps used across Africa. The researchers found that 95 percent of these Android apps exposed secrets that can be used to reveal personal and financial data. Across these applications, approximately 272 million users have the potential to be victims of security flaws.

 Upanzi researchers have set out to make it easier to find and explore data about the African continent. They created a searchable portal that aggregates datasets ranging from educational outcomes to population density. The portal addresses the difficulty that researchers and policymakers have in finding the quality information needed to do things like create technology or make informed decisions about new social programs.

 The group, along with the global consulting firm MicroSave Consulting (MSC), launched a series of regional hackathons to identify new and innovative use cases of digital ID across the continent. Those events are intended to encourage university students to help develop solutions for the digital transformation of the continent. The hackathons also will build local knowledge capacity that understands both the technology and the nuances of their respective countries’ challenges and culture.

New director at CMU-Africa

Conrad Tucker has been named the next director of Carnegie Mellon University Africa. Tucker previously served as interim director of the Kigali, Rwanda College of Engineering location. He is also a professor of mechanical engineering and holds courtesy faculty appointments in machine learning, robotics, and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. In his new role as director of CMU-Africa, Tucker will also serve as the College of Engineering’s Associate Dean for International Programs in Africa.

CMU-Africa offers graduate degrees in information technology, electrical and computer engineering, and engineering artificial intelligence through the College of Engineering. The location has over 300 students and more than 550 alumni who are making an impact across the African continent.

In 2022, Carnegie Mellon announced a transformational $275.7 million partnership to expand the engineering and technology, research, and entrepreneurship programs at CMU-Africa, helping to strengthen Africa’s technology, innovation, and research ecosystem.

Holistic environmental systems

Undergraduate environmental engineering students examined household items to test if they contained toxic metals and, if so, learn how they got there.

Every Sunday on Winthrop Street in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, Carnegie Mellon students gather in a small community garden. Lined with hay bales reused from CMU’s iconic Carnival weekend, several raised beds decorate the interior, all growing various herbs and vegetables, with a rain barrel and utility shed tucked in the corner. Some volunteers come with pets in tow, others with homemade cookies to share with the group, all ready to don a pair of gardening gloves and get to work.

The students make up CMU’s Sustainable Earth club and many study in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. The garden is overseen by community members and Master Gardeners Lisa and Doug Long, who share their expertise with students every week, often sending them home with fresh veggies and herbs. Sarah Fakhreddine, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, joins them, lending a helping hand.

In her research, Fakhreddine focuses on all things water: Water quality, water quantity, and the management of our water systems. But, she explains that without taking a step back, studying water resources–especially the

quality of the water we drink and use in food production–won’t show you the whole picture.

“To understand if contaminants are in our water supplies, how they got there, and if they will pose a threat to human or ecosystem health, we need to understand the systems-level processes that control how contaminants move,” said Fakhreddine. “This is something I look at in my research and translate into the classroom.”

In her Advanced Environmental Engineering class, she teaches this concept with products and materials found in the students’ own homes. The class gathered their frying pans, makeup, paint chips, cooking spices, and garden soil to examine using x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, a technique that shows which items contain toxic metals like arsenic, lead, or chromium.

“If they find something they weren’t expecting, we take time to think about sources of these contaminants and regulations to limit our exposure. We talk about the processes that control how these contaminants move in the environment and determine whether or not that actually poses a risk,” Fakhreddine explained. “The idea is to think more holistically about the environment as a complex system, not just water, air, or agriculture individually.”

Students scoop x-rayed soil into handmade miniature greenhouses fashioned out of milk jugs. The greenhouses sit in raised gardening beds on Winthrop Street, growing shallots, bok choy, broccoli, and arugula, and are tended by environmental engineers who understand the interconnected systems with which they work.

T Amateur radio for aspiring professionals

Introductory course gives engineering students hands-on experience with radio technology and opportunities to explore its use as a hobby, public service, and means of technical experimentation.

hey were born into the age of satellite internet technology, have likely been using their own mobile phones since they were preteens, and may someday use their Carnegie Mellon degrees to contribute to technological advances that will further speed the rates at which we communicate. But the 20 students enrolled in the Introduction to Amateur Radio course were

still thrilled when they made their first contact with other amateur radio operators during the field day class held at the end of the spring semester.

“Hearing a response on the radio today was pretty exciting,” said Caroline Kasuba, who enrolled in the class at the suggestion of a classmate whose German grandfather was a ham operator.

Kasuba is a first-year master’s student in electrical and computer engineering. She is in the college’s Integrated Master’s and Bachelor’s program, which allows students who excel academically to seamlessly earn both their bachelor’s and master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon.

“I’ve really enjoyed the class. So much of what I do in other classes is coding on a computer, which made the hands-on aspect of this class very appealing.”

Her classmate Markos Koukoularis, who is a first-

year mechanical engineering student, agreed.

“I like making things, and we got to make a radio,” said Koukoularis, who liked that the class helped him better understand radio technology, circuitry, and signal processing that he is learning in other classes.

The course introduces students to the history, art, and science of radio with emphasis on handson demonstrations and in-class projects, including soldering a low-power FM transmitter and building a directional antenna. Topics covered include radio signal fundamentals, basic electronics, antennas, radio wave propagation, radio equipment, norms and culture of amateur radio communication, operating regulations, and safety.

Tom Zajdel (radio callsign: AI6CU), an assistant teaching professor of electrical and computer engineering, teaches the course, which is open to students throughout the university but tends to attract engineering students who use the course to fill elective requirements.

Zajdel says his dad got him and his brother into amateur radio when they were young. Despite that early exposure to circuitry and signals, he didn’t take engineering seriously until the very end of high school and didn’t return to amateur radio again until he was a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley. He was lured back to amateur radio when his professor and mentor, Miki Lustig, (callsign KK6MRI), asked him to teach an amateur radio seminar while he was on sabbatical. He’s taught the Carnegie Mellon course each spring since 2022.

Students in the class are expected to pass the Technician Class licensing exam, which gives them access to all amateur radio frequencies above 30 megahertz, allowing them to communicate locally and with others in North America. Once they pass the exam, they are licensed to use the hand-held radio each student receives. Students who had already earned the Technician Class license are expected to earn the General Class license, which expands their access to world-wide communication with sub-30-megahertz frequencies. These frequencies use the earth’s ionosphere as a radio reflector, redirecting the signals to distant stations.

“They want to know more about the cultural aspects of ham radio, and they like learning about what the ham operators talk about when they connect. It shows their interest in the people who use the technology, which is neat considering the hightech careers students are interested in,” said Zajdel.

Zajdel offers the students extra credit for participating in extracurricular activities. He encourages them to join an amateur radio net gathering. Also known as ham nets, the gatherings typically convene on a regular schedule, at a specific frequency, and are organized for a particular purpose, such as relaying messages or discussing a common topic of interest.

Students in the Introduction to Amateur Radio course gather on Flagstaff Hill to try out several antennas and connect with other ham radio operators.

The students can also volunteer with the Carnegie Tech Radio Club (callsign W3VC). The 110-year-old campus student group, whose members share an interest in amateur radio, explore and upkeep radio equipment housed in their meeting space in the tower of Hamerschlag Hall and participate in projects and activities related to digital radio systems, robotics, satellite communication, and morse code.

The club members are also responsible for racecourse communications during the Buggy races held during the university’s annual Spring Carnival.

Anish Singhani, president of the club, explains that they work with the emergency management service workers to track the races and respond to any incidents.

“Our radios are better than cell phones because we have lowest latency,” explained Singhani.

Ham radios operate on frequencies exclusively allocated for amateur radio use. When you transmit a signal via ham radio, it travels directly from the transmitter to the receiver, without the need for intermediate relay stations like cell towers. This direct communication path reduces latency and enables real-time communication, allowing individuals to exchange information with minimal delay.

That’s one of the reasons that, despite the advent of cellular, internet, and satellite communication, amateur radios are still used during emergencies. Ham radio operators often play a critical role in providing communication when other networks fail or are not available.

But for students who learn amateur radio and earn licenses, whether through the club or the class, many can’t resist the lure of randomly connecting with other operators in far off places who share their interest in the radio technology that is the basis of the advanced technologies many of these students will work with as Carnegie Mellon graduates.

Markos Koukoularis repeats, “Whiskey Three Victor Charley,” the phonetics for W3VC—the Carnegie Tech Radio club’s callsign they used to contact other ham radio operators.

A vintage Textronics 535A Oscilloscope manufactured between 1954 and 1973 is one of the many pieces of radio equipment that the club maintains.

Students built dipole antennas to use with software-defined receivers to visualize the radio spectrum.

“Rethink the Rink,” in its seventh year, showcases innovation that makes hockey safer for all players, ranging from youth hockey to the NHL.

S Rethinking neck protection in hockey

STUDENTS DEVELOP ADVANCED NECK PROTECTION TO IMPROVE HOCKEY PLAYERS’ SAFETY, ALL IN COLLABORATION WITH THE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS AND COVESTRO.

he could have traveled home to spend time with family or hopped on a plane to relax in the sun, but Brynn Broaddus, along with 15 of her peers, opted to spend spring break developing innovative prototypes of hockey equipment to make the sport safer.

In its seventh year, Rethink the Rink, an initiative between Carnegie Mellon University, Covestro, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, focused students’ efforts on improving the equipment players wear to protect their necks from skate blades. Following the tragic passing of former Pittsburgh Penguin Adam Johnson in October 2023, more hockey teams and leagues have mandated that players utilize neck protection on the ice.

Rethink the Rink participants have one week to ideate solutions, develop and test prototypes, and create a compelling presentation to explain their concepts to a panel of expert judges from the Penguins, Covestro, Bauer Hockey, and CMU’s College of Engineering.

Broaddus, a first-year student studying mechanical engineering, applied to be a part of the initiative because she wanted to learn more about her major in the real world.

“When the week kicked off, we heard from experts in materials, medicine, and hockey,” Broaddus said. “We got to hear firsthand from former Penguin Tyler

Kennedy what players really want on the ice. That was helpful when it came time to create our design and start building.”

Students divide themselves into four teams based on experience (graduate year and major) and self-identified strengths (fabricating/building, analysis/computation, leadership/project management, and presentation/communication). Though it might sound like a competitive environment, Broaddus said the teams are very supportive of one another as they share a common goal—to beat the clock.

“We had to really challenge ourselves to build and test a prototype in a short period of time,” she said.

Throughout the prototyping process Broaddus surprised herself by how much she had to learn.

“I thought we’d work with the exact materials we needed to make our equipment, but that wasn’t the case. We had to build the shape with plastic wrap, foil, and cardboard before we could plug in the appropriate materials. We even had to learn how to sew!”

Because the project isn’t only about developing equipment for professional hockey players, Broaddus’ team had to figure out what materials they could use to create equipment that could grow with younger players and be washed with the rest of a family’s laundry.

Her team’s final prototype impressed the judges, and the group took home the Best Prototype award.

“It feels good to be recognized,” Broaddus said. “But at the end of the day what matters is players’ safety. Safety equipment doesn’t work unless players wear it, and I think that my team, and the other teams, tried our best to make the equipment not just as safe as possible but as comfortable as possible, too. That way we could make something players would want to wear and maybe even save a life.”

One student, two continents

AFRICA AND U.S.

Born in Ghana to a family who valued education, it’s no surprise that Farida Eleshin (MSIT ’24) strives to be a professional who makes information more accessible to users.

In fact, her interest in improving privacy and security policies comes from personal experience. During an exercise in one of her graduate courses, Privacy Policy, Law, and Tech, Eleshin learned something that surprised her.

“I was intrigued by the amount of data about myself that was out there that I didn't know about,” she said. “Learning about my digital footprint and being more considerate of the information I put online has really motivated me as a researcher.”

The information technology curriculum has given Eleshin the space to explore the field of

privacy and security from both an expert and a consumer perspective. Eleshin began her master’s education at Carnegie Mellon University Africa in 2022, and she spent her final semester in Pittsburgh as part of the College of Engineering’s global exchange program. She wanted to do onsite work at the CHIMPS Lab (Computer Human Interaction: Mobility Privacy Security). The lab is led by CyLab’s Jason Hong, professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute.

“Coming to Pittsburgh, I wanted to do more research in trustworthy AI and security and privacy. It has been amazing to work with the team in person,” Eleshin said.

Eleshin began working remotely as a research assistant in the CHIMPS Lab while she was based at the college’s Kigali, Rwanda, location. When she arrived in the United States in January 2024 for the spring term, she continued her two projects in person.

One of these projects focused on seed phrases, which have emerged as an alternative to passwords for securing crypto wallets. Unlike typical passwords that people choose for themselves, these phrases consist of twelve

Farida and her peers on the snowy Pittsburgh campus.

Source: Farida Eleshin

Farida gives a presentation on Ghana during the Country Night Soireé, an event where students were invited

Source: Farida Eleshin

randomly generated words that users must submit to access their electronic funds. The idea is that passwords are easier to guess and therefore are more vulnerable to hacking. There are still things to untangle about implementing seed phrases as a security measure. Most notably, if a seed phrase is forgotten, there are no alternative security questions or access codes to give users access to mobile money. Funds are essentially lost. Eleshin and her research team worked to understand how to make seed phrases as practical as possible.

Her second research project leveraged  TAIGA—Tool for Auditing Images Generated by AI—as an educational resource. TAIGA places AI

in the user’s hands and walks them through a step-by-step process to examine how synthetic data often reinforces harmful biases. First, users enter a search query which leads to an AI-generated image gallery. Users then highlight images and write about any biased representations, which can then be posted as a thread to a WeAudit forum where others have shared biases they’ve identified.

These projects speak to Eleshin’s determination to be a subject matter expert who’s concerned with both sides of the equation—the production of technical tools and the implementation of effective policies and educational materials for users.

Eleshin graduated in spring 2024 and intends to enroll in a Ph.D. program that will allow her to continue studying AI bias, and privacy and security.

to share about their home countries.

Fulbright Scholar prepares for a multinational career in energy

V

ictor Soria is trying to find common ground between United States and European Union regulations for sustainable aviation fuels. For his master’s project, he also wants to design a chemical process to convert existing green energy vectors so that they bring greater value to society.

“I never could have done this project outside Carnegie Mellon University,” says Soria, a master’s student in the Department of Chemical Engineering. “I am so grateful to be taking part in this environment that connects people and makes things happen.”

In response to Soria’s interest in policy, his advisor, Ana Torres, suggested a co-advisor, Valerie Karplus from the Department of Engineering and Public Policy.

Soria’s independent project focuses on how to convert methanol and green hydrogen by-products into sustainable aviation fuels. He initiated a collaboration with Iberdrola, a multinational electric utility company based in Spain and a global leader in renewable energy.

Soria, who is from Madrid, Spain, is studying in the United States on a Fulbright grant sponsored by the Iberdrola Foundation.

“The core of the Fulbright program is that it is a cultural exchange,” he says. After earning his bachelor’s degree in his hometown, Soria wanted to go abroad to continue his studies.

Through the Fulbright program, Soria is connected with a network of other scholars in Pittsburgh and across the U.S. He has taken several weekend trips to visit others in the Spanish Fulbright cohort, in places like New York City, San Francisco, Arkansas, and Washington, DC.

This is Soria’s first time in an English-speaking country, and he says it can be exhausting to engage in full conversations in English all day, every day. “I feel so limited sometimes by the language,” he says. Connecting with the Latino community on campus has provided him “a release valve for the pressure.”

Soria chose Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Chemical Engineering because of the strength of the process systems engineering group, which he describes as unrivaled.

“It’s a challenging environment,” he says. “I love that word. It’s not impossible. But it’s challenging.”

Soria likes that the structure of the master’s program allowed him to focus solely on his independent project during the summer, without balancing classes simultaneously. He also appreciates that the program can be condensed into a year and a half. “We can get involved in the real world faster,” he explains.

As president of the Chemical Engineering Master’s Student Association (ChEMSA), Soria plans to bring in more speakers from industry. He and his fellow board members want to help students access industry insights before they start applying for jobs.

Soria would like to stay in the U.S. for another year and a half after completing his master’s degree. He says it’s in keeping with the spirit of the Fulbright program, to engage with American culture, this time in a different realm: the workplace. Soria also notes that American salaries are lucrative.

Beyond that, Soria is looking forward to returning to Europe, as his Fulbright grant requires. “I have a sense of duty to my country because I received a public education. If I pay my taxes elsewhere, then the cycle cannot be perpetuated,” he says. He believes his experiences will uniquely equip him to work as a liaison between the U.S. and Europe.

NSBE/Honeywell Scholar

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) aims to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. Programs are at the core of the NSBE mission, and the collegiate programs are the foundation of the organization.

The Integrated Pipeline Program (IPP) is a customized program that allows employers to get a head start on recruiting, hiring, and retaining the diverse engineering workforce every employer needs and that the 21st-century economy demands. For students, participating in a NSBE IPP provides aspiring engineers with career readiness skills, access to corporate mentors, financial resources for education, and a cohort experience.

This year, a Carnegie Mellon Engineering sophomore was selected to be part of the NSBE/Honeywell Integrated Pipeline Program (NHIPP) at the 50th annual NSBE Convention in Atlanta. The NHIPP is a comprehensive program aiming to reduce the talent and representation gap among African American technical employment candidates by cultivating the interest and enhancing the preparation of a cohort of rising sophomore engineering students in six designated geographic regions.

“The NSBE/Honeywell Integrated Pipeline Program will provide valuable experiences and preparation,” says Jamari Toussaint, a sophomore in electrical engineering and 2024 Integrated Pipeline

Program Scholar recipient. “It will make me a more holistic engineer.”

In terms of career goals, Toussaint hopes to gain experience in building innovative user technologies, specifically through software systems, that create a positive impact in daily life. “I am also interested in engaging as a leader/mentor figure in the long term.”

“This award will provide financial support for my education, connect me with fellow Honeywell Scholars from various universities, and develop my professional skills through interactive workshops,” says Toussaint. “We discuss emerging trends in industry and create a community as a network of scholars.”

The financial resources provided by the NHIPP along with mentorship and meaningful work experiences, will boost the retention and graduation rates of this cohort, and ultimately, provide a candidate pool of highly qualified engineers.

“Jamari is an exceptional student who not only cares about his academic and professional success, but he is committed to the success of his CMU classmates and friends,” said Alaine Allen, associate dean of DEI, College of Engineering. “I am thrilled to see him recognized by Honeywell for his commitment to excellence.”

“Receiving this award is an amazing opportunity to jumpstart my professional career and a way to be more involved with other NSBE scholars,” says Toussaint. “I am very grateful to receive the award in recognition of my character and merit.”

Goldwater Scholar

Katherine Parry, a junior in electrical and computer engineering, has received the 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship to support her pursuit of a research career.

The prestigious award, given by The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, provides scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. The Goldwater Foundation is helping ensure that the U.S. is producing the number of highly qualified professionals the nation needs in these critical fields.

“Katherine is amazing and beyond deserving of the Goldwater Scholarship,” says Larry Pileggi, the Coraluppi Head and Tanoto Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “When I first met her as a freshman, I was astonished by her passion and dedication to research. Her work is the caliber of that for a Ph.D. student, so I am excited to see the outcomes.”

From an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, 1,353 science, engineering, and mathematics students were nominated by 446 academic institutions to compete for the 2024 Goldwater scholarships. Of the students who reported, 188 of the Scholars are men, 236 are women, and virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D. as their highest degree objective.

“It is exciting to be recognized for my many years of intensive research,” says Parry. “I am glad to contribute to the prominence and recognition that Carnegie Mellon University and the College of Engineering deserve.”

Parry’s research focuses on designing faster computers through alternative approaches to computation.

“DNA sequencing, which results in new cures, and machine learning have only become feasible with faster computation,” explains Parry. “Interesting changes are being experienced as transistors are measured in twenty-atom widths, and wire accounts for more delay than transistor gates. We're coming to the end of smaller circuitry. What will we do then? That is the answer I'm chasing.”

Parry is not a stranger to research. At the age of sixteen, she was working on a Mandelbrot generator for a science fair project. While focusing on increasing the processing speed, she discovered instances that had yet to be addressed.

“Mandelbrots are very square intensive, and I wanted to speed it up,” Parry explains. “I did some Googling and came across a couple of papers by T.C. Chen and R.H. Strandberg on how they cut the square computation in half by using Boolean logic to combine terms. However, I noticed some commonalities in the remaining elements that they hadn't addressed. I started playing around with the logic, and the elements got ugly and complicated. Tenacity is an important characteristic of a researcher. I persisted, and suddenly, I

was looking at something incredibly beautiful. Those ugly computations suddenly simplified. The optimization of squares is measured in the number of additions required. The previous 16-bit squarer requires 35 adds; mine takes 29.”

As a homeschooled student in South Dakota, there were limited opportunities for Parry to discuss her findings with others. Turning to the internet, she came across a call for papers for the IEEE Symposium on Computational Arithmetic (ARITH).

“I quickly did my best to write a research paper that was due soon. They would know if I had done something original. Their response was an invitation to speak to the world's leading computer researchers at their symposium in Kyoto, Japan. Because of that talk, I became part of their community, and even though they are across the world, we correspond often. The talk also resulted in my first published paper.”

When it came time to apply to colleges, Carnegie Mellon University was the clear choice in her mind.

“Not only does Carnegie Mellon have the most professors teaching computer design, but we have all the tools, and unheard of, we can tape-out computer chips,” explains Parry.  “I have had several very famous researchers from the ARITH community envious of my CMU resources and ask to co-author papers so I can provide more credibility to their ideas. It wasn't by chance; I made a very informed decision in choosing CMU.”

As for her career goal, that is an easy decision, too.

“I want nothing more than to be a research professor at CMU,” says Parry. “I love doing research, and Carnegie Mellon University is a great place to do it.”

Udall Scholar

The Udall Award recognizes future leaders in environmental, Tribal public policy, and healthcare fields. Aleena Siddiqui is Carnegie Mellon’s first recipient since 2009.

Aleena Siddiqui, a rising junior with a double major in materials science and engineering and environmental and sustainability studies, has received the 2024 Udall Scholar award, which recognizes future leaders in environmental, Tribal public policy, and health care fields.

The prestigious award, which is conferred by the Udall Foundation, honors the legacies of Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on Native American self-governance, health care, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. Siddiqui is Carnegie Mellon University’s first Udall Scholar since 2009.

“I’m honored and thankful to have received this scholarship,” says Siddiqui. “It’s a very tangible culmination of my experiences at CMU that have supplemented my education in the classroom.”

Siddiqui is passionate about the research and development of ethical material manufacturing to create infrastructure that can have a positive impact on our environments.

“I found engineering to be a field where I could create solutions that are rooted in sustainable practices to address issues of environmental injustice that disproportionately affect marginalized communities,”

Siddiqui says. “I decided to add an additional major of environmental and sustainability studies to center my education around doing ethically responsible work for the people and the planet.”

Her experiences outside of the classroom have played a pivotal role in enabling Siddiqui to better understand the broader implications of the work of a materials scientist and engineer.

As an intern for CMU’s Sustainability Initiative, she focuses on finding meaningful ways to engage with the campus community and share resources that allow others to think critically about how their work connects to broader sustainability efforts. She is also involved with CMU’s Green Practices efforts including a campus-wide compost education program.

“Sustainability is more than the environment. It has economic and social implications, and understanding how these facets intersect is crucial to doing meaningful work in any field.”

Encouraged by staff from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholar Development, Siddiqui was motivated to apply for the scholarship because she knew the award could enhance her educational experience.

“I was deeply impressed by Aleena’s involvement with CMU’s Sustainability Initiative and knew she would be a great fit for this award based on her leadership skills and commitment to pursuing environmental work,” said Richelle Bernazzoli, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholar Development at Carnegie Mellon.

The support from the scholarship enabled Siddiqui to study in Costa Rica over the summer, where she took a class focused on sustainable agriculture.

“I was excited to take this class and engage in meaningful conversations with locals in a country that is a forerunner in sustainability,” says Siddiqui.

A Powering a vision for the future

s augmented and mixed reality experiences become more popular through various devices, advancements in battery technologies are needed to ensure that these crucial components are made smaller yet maintain their functionality. One Department of Materials Science and Engineering alumnus is involved with developing the technologies needed to bring these products to market at Meta.

As a battery system engineer, Ankur Gupta, BS’10, MS’10, takes an interdisciplinary approach rooted in his studies at CMU to working with the multiple teams of engineers involved in the development of devices such as the Quest 3 and Ray-Ban | Meta smart glasses.

At one end of the spectrum, he works with cell engineers, often chemical and materials science engineers, who design the chemistry inside the cell.  At the other end, Gupta coordinates with the product design team, typically mechanical engineers, who are creating the physical design of what the actual active material must fit into. Gupta bridges the work of these two groups, taking their outputs and designing the battery management unit (BMU). The BMU in the Ray-Ban | Meta smart glasses is now the world’s smallest and has all the circuitry for protection, gauging, and charging.

Gupta’s interest in electronic materials was nurtured through his work with Jay Whitacre, professor of materials science and engineering, on batteries and energy technologies. When Gupta first enrolled as a student in the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, he had no idea what materials science was. His initial interest was in electrical engineering, though he was also

Ankur Gupta (MSE’10) is developing the battery technologies needed to bring augmented and mixed reality products to market at Meta.

curious about nanotechnology. In his first year, he took the introduction to materials science and engineering course, and he was immediately drawn in. Later in his studies, Whitacre encouraged Gupta to think through bringing concepts to mass production, taking into account the economic influences and incremental changes in materials technologies.

“The idea of taking a concept and actually bringing it to mass production has stuck with me, both in my past role at Apple and now at Meta,” says Gupta, as he reflects on projects involving batteries for devices such as iPhones, Airpods, Apple Watches, and now the Quest 3 and Ray-Ban | Meta smart glasses.

While he did eventually pursue a graduate degree in electrical engineering, he attributes his continued education to his background in materials science.

“The reason why I went back to electric engineering was because of my foundation in materials science, especially in batteries,” says Gupta. “I knew how batteries were made and how they worked, but I wanted to go beyond that.”

“Batteries in particular are extremely interdisciplinary. There’s the chemistry side with materials science, the mechanical side of physically making the cell, the electrical side of what to do with the energy that comes out of the cell, and the economic side of building a supply chain.”

Gupta draws on his materials science foundation still in his career today, recalling insights from Professor Robert Heard, who encouraged students to dive deep into a problem and think about it “at an atomic scale.”

“For battery packs, we have to really dive into

the printed circuit board materials. Even though it’s electrical engineering, it’s also materials science getting into what’s going on at the atomic level.”

As Meta moves forward with developments for the Quest line of products with the goal of eventually functioning as a replacement to a traditional laptop, refining batteries to meet product design and functionality needs will be imperative.

“Some of the key steps involve being able to have a battery that can power all that a laptop can do, but in the size of a phone,” he says. “It takes a lot of engineering and innovation to compact all these features into a very small product.”

The pathway to a career in industry was not always clear, as the role of materials science in similar companies is not always immediately recognized, but Gupta encourages current students to think outside traditional career pathways.

“If you think that there’s a way for materials to impact a certain industry, there probably is,” he says. “Make connections, and you can find a way to show there is an avenue.”

From design in the U.S. to entrepreneurship in India

Part of Carnegie Mellon University’s mission is “to impact society in a transformative way” — the exact sentiment that compelled Peeyush Goyal (MPD ’14) to leave the United States and return to India, his homeland.

“In India, there are problems that need resolution, which are no longer problems of the developed western world. There are multiple domains here in which something impactful can be done. I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to build or even how to get started, but I did know that it wouldn’t be in the U.S.,” Goyal recalled In 2020, Goyal co-founded SalaryBox, an employee management app, with Nikhil Goel, a classmate from his undergraduate days at the Indian Institute of Technology.

Prior to SalaryBox, entrepreneurship had previously not been a part of Goyal’s background.

Between the culturally prescribed paths of medicine or engineering, Goyal opted to study chemical engineering, a major he contemplated leaving in his second year as his true passion leaned towards design.

“Amidst my desire to pivot towards a design-centric path, my parents advocated for the completion of my formal studies. Looking back, I feel like that was the right decision,” Goyal said.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Goyal followed his interest in design, thinking immediately of Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Integrated Innovation for Products & Services degree. In the program, he learned about product development and user research methodologies that later became practical resources for his journey as a new founder.

Originally, Goyal and Goel aimed to promote financial inclusion for blue and gray collar workers through an API for existing payroll software. However, conversations with potential customers revealed a more significant issue.

“Currently, the payroll software penetration is less than 10% amongst millions of businesses in India that employ blue and gray collar workers. Existing solutions are desktop-first, hard-to-use, clunky, and don’t address the needs of a small business owner,” Goyal said.

SalaryBox came to fruition due to this user research and three changes within India that primed the market for a new way of conducting business: the ubiquity of smartphones, increased access to the internet, and a burgeoning awareness of using mobile apps for business management.

“We built a basic product to track attendance, made it available on the Google PlayStore, and saw an influx of downloads,” Goyal explained.

The founders then called more than 5000 customers to uncover unmet user needs and dive deeper into their pain points.

“We keep fine-tuning the product based on customer insights. It’s not about persuading customers to adopt; rather, it’s about identifying their needs and providing the right solution,” Goyal said.

The team raised a $4 million seed round in November 2021, funding they’ve used to hire people, enhance the product, and grow the userbase.

The SalaryBox App has been installed on 2 million+ devices, and it offers a full range of features for easy attendance and payroll management. For instance, customers can disburse salaries to their staff in the click of a button.

“People have this fear of starting up, but once you do, you realize that you have a strong community of people willing to help you. Every time I’ve contacted friends or former colleagues, they’ve given me time and advice selflessly and without any expectations. I am incredibly grateful for the invaluable support received,” Goyal shared.

“We want to keep scaling consistently and help millions of businesses manage their payroll end-to-end, from attendance records and salary payouts, to filing of mandatory compliances. Enabling financial inclusion for 300 million+ blue-collar workers remains our long-term goal, one that drives and inspires us daily,” Goyal said.

PEEYUSH GOYAL (MPD ’14), CO-FOUNDER OF SALARYBOX, AN EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT APP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES IN INDIA, SHARES THE CHALLENGES AND LEARNINGS OF BEING A FIRSTTIME FOUNDER.

alumni Celebratingachievement

When people achieve phenomenal success in the pursuit of helping others, they deserve recognition. This was the purpose of Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering inaugural Alumni Awards.

On April 11, distinguished guests from across the university and alumni communities, gathered in Scaife Hall to honor eight individuals whose leadership, creativity, and volunteerism underscore what can be achieved with an engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon.

“The pride our alumni feel is based on their exceptional experience and significant power of this institution and its impact on the world. The Carnegie Mellon experience is a foundation people stand on throughout their career,” said Bill Sanders, dean of the College of Engineering and the evening’s host.

Recent Alumni Achievement Awards

Recognizing individuals in the early stage of their careers who have made remarkable accomplishments.

Olivia Dippo (MSE/BME 2015) is CEO and co-founder of Limelight Steel. She pioneers laser light technology in ironmaking, which achieves energy savings. Recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30 List, her leadership and innovation are driving the steel industry towards decarbonization.

Dylan Lew (MSE 2021, 2021) is the CEO of Ecotone Renewables, a company formed to make sustainable food and agriculture systems more prevalent outside the industrial scale. He has filed two utility patents and is recognized for leadership in tacking global challenges like food waste and climate change.

Recent Alumni Service Excellence Award

Honoring recent alumni for exemplary volunteer service

Alumni Service Excellence Awards

Acknowledging individuals who have shown exceptional dedication to the College by volunteering their time and expertise through mentoring, lecturing, and other appreciated forms of involvement.

Phil Dowd (MSE 1963) has left an indelible mark on industry and the College. He co-founded and held senior positions at SunGard Data Systems. At CMU, he has served on the Board of Trustees since 1996. His affinity for the College and its mission has led him to generously establish The Philip L. and Marsha Dowd Professorship, The Philip L. and Marsha Dowd Teaching Fellowship, and The Dowd Engineering Seed Fund for Graduate Student Fellowships.

Lisa Salley (MSE 1987), a strategist at heart, is renowned for her thought leadership in national security at the intersection of manufacturing, materials science, recyclability, and the future workforce. She founded the Heritage Solutions Group, and she has extensive experience in advising startups. Salley has held global division president roles in Fortune 50 companies. Her contributions to the College have enriched the student and alumni communities.

At Dow Chemical, Carol Williams (ChemE 1980) rose to Executive Vice President of Manufacturing & Engineering. Committed to governance in the chemical manufacturing sectors, she serves on the board of directors at OwensIllinois and Olin Chemical. Williams has a history of advancing opportunities for women in engineering through her involvement with professional organizations, and her advocacy has fostered a more inclusive engineering community.

The College of Engineering welcomed guests from across the university community to celebrate our alumni’s stellar achievements.

Alumni AchievementOutstanding Awards

Celebrating the extraordinary contributions alumni have made in their professions.

Anthony DiGioia III, M.D. (CEE 1979, 1982) is an engineer, entrepreneur and orthopedic surgeon who has made significant innovations in healthcare. He co-founded the Center for Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery at CMU. Recently he and others developed an AI/Machine Learning platform called “Joint AI” that can diagnose and recommend treatments for patients with hip and knee arthritis pain. Committed to global health equality, he leads a medical mission that provides free joint-replacement surgery in Central America.

Merline Saintil (III 2005), a former software engineer turned Silicon Valley COO and investor, guided six companies through IPOs. She serves on boards for Fortune 100 and high-growth companies. Co-founding Black Women on Boards, a global organization of 200 executives, she helps propel top talent into leadership roles. She produced an award-winning documentary, OnBoard, that celebrates women’s achievements in the workforce. Saintil serves as an inspiration for creating thriving and innovative workforces.

Award Presenters

Like the honorees, the alumni who presented the awards have achieved much in their careers, and they deeply engage with the CMU community. The College thanks them for their continuing service.

Venkee Sharma (ChemE 1987), the president and CEO of Aquatech.

Barbara Buck (ChemE 1973), founder of Buck Sentinel Rock Consulting.

Hillard Lazarus (CEE 1970), a retired professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

Award winners and presenters gather with CMU Provost James Garrett Jr. and Engineering Dean Bill Sanders.

DEF CON Champions

Largest global hacking & security conference and community

12 teams qualified from a field of 1, 742

3 days of competition in Las Vegas

CMU team and alumni-led teams

Capture the Flag Competition “Olympics of Hacking” 8th win in 12 years 3rd consecutive title

CMU Team

Remembering Jerry Cohon, a leader committed to sustainability

This fall we gathered to celebrate the life of Jerry Cohon.

Heartfelt memories and reflections flooded the halls of Carnegie Mellon on September 9, as many gathered to celebrate the life of the late Jerry Cohon, a profound and enduring figure at the university and beyond.

Cohon, who passed away on March 16, was perhaps best known for serving as CMU’s eighth president from 1997 to 2013, but to the College of Engineering community, many knew him as a beloved professor, mentor, and colleague. Following his term as president, his decision to return as a faculty member in the civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy departments was unique but invaluable, leaving a permanent mark on both the college and the broader community.

“Upon my arrival as dean, I reached out to Jerry, and he was quick to sit down with me to share his insights and knowledge,” said Bill Sanders, dean of the College of Engineering. “He was a gifted leader, and I am grateful for the time he spent with me offering his guidance, perspective, and friendship.”

Between advising Ph.D. students, Cohon pursued his passion for environmental and sustainability research, conducting groundbreaking studies in water resources management, environmental policy, and energy systems analysis across the globe. He pioneered solutions to complex environmental challenges, integrating environmental considerations into urban planning practices and advancing technologies for water quality improvement and conservation that will not soon be forgotten. But his work wasn’t just about advancing knowledge; it was about making a tangible difference in the lives of people and the health of our planet.

“Jerry was an incredible human being, a mentor, and a role model. He cared about every individual he interacted with and was always there for his students, friends, and colleagues,” said Burcu Akinci, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

After stepping down from his role as president of CMU and returning to the faculty, Cohon was known to dispense his considerable wisdom in a thoughtful manner.

“In examinations, he could ask pointed questions in the most disarming way,” recalls Peter Adams, head of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. “Our students were incredibly fortunate to learn multi-attribute decision making and leadership from one of the truly greats.”

As we reflect on Cohon’s remarkable legacy, we are reminded of his unwavering dedication to make the world a better place through engineering and innovation. His groundbreaking research, visionary leadership, and commitment to sustainability will continue to inspire future generations in their quest—and Cohon’s vision—of a more sustainable and equitable future for all.

You made us better

We celebrate your life

We mourn your loss

The College of Engineering A remarkable place

OUTSIDE OF THE LAB

In Swarun Kumar’s Emerging Wireless Technologies Lab, researchers build wireless technologies that provide our existing devices with faster connectivity, connect previously unconnected objects to the Internet, and offer novel services. On the CMU campus, they have placed base stations on top of buildings that talk to a variety of devices, and they have established ground stations that listen to small CMU-launched satellites that zoom overhead.