Engineering Magazine: Fall 2023

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FOCUSING ON VIRTUAL REALITY

FALL 2023 MAGAZINE

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

WHAT’S

IN VIRTUAL REALITY 2 / FALL 2023

FEATURE / FOCUSING ON VIRTUAL REALITY When we perceive the world around us, parts of it come into focus and defocus. While this visual cue is a natural one for humans, it can be hard for technology to imitate, especially in 3D displays. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new method for generating natural focal blur in a virtual reality headset, called the Split-Lohmann multifocal display.

The eye has a lens and, by changing its focal length, it can focus on objects at a specific depth, resolving them at sharp details, while points at other depths go into defocus. This feature of the eye—referred to as its accommodation—is a crucial cue that 3D displays need to satisfy.

“Most head mounted displays lack the ability to render focus cues,” says Aswin Sankaranarayanan, professor of electrical and computer engineering. “Conventional headsets consist of a 2D screen and a lens that make the screen appear to be at a fixed distance from the eye. However, the displayed images remain flat. We have created a lens that can simultaneously position pixels of a display at different distances from the eye.”

The technique revisits ideas first developed in the 1970s, where a technique for focus tunability called Lohmann lenses was first invented. These consist of two optical elements called cubic phase plates, that allow for the focus to be adjusted by shifting the two elements with respect to

Near focus

one another. However, this approach required mechanical motion as well as slower operating speeds, both of which are undesirable in AR/VR displays.

The new display splits the Lohmann lens, placing the two cubic plates in different parts of the optical system. A phase modulator positioned in between them allows the translation to be optical, instead of mechanical. This system has an added benefit. The underlying arrangement allows for different parts of the scene to be subject to different amounts of translations, and so be placed at different distances to the eye.

“The advantage of this system is that we can create a virtual 3D scene that satisfies the eye’s accommodation without resorting to high-speed focus stacks. And everything operates at real-time which is very favorable for near-eye displays,” explains Yingsi Qin, Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering and the lead author on this work.

This improvement to focusing technology will benefit many disciplines, from photography to gaming, but medical technology may have the most to gain. “There are domains beyond entertainment that will benefit from such 3D displays,” says Matthew O’Toole, an assistant professor in the Robotics Institute and a co-author on this work. “The display could be used for robotic surgery, where the multi-focal capabilities of the display provides a surgeon with realistic depth cues.”

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

FROM THE DEAN The College of Engineering influences industries by focusing on

exciting additional major for undergraduates, Engineering

evolving topics, like AI, advanced manufacturing, and Softbotics,

Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. In this program,

just to name a few. Our work gets noticed, and when CMU

students will gain the know-how to innovate products around

graduates seek jobs, employers pay attention to their resumes.

technology and deliver product solutions to people in need.

Generating recognition of our students and faculty for their

The College has also celebrated a milestone—the 25th

skills, creativity, and leadership is all part of our intention to

anniversary of the Materials Characterization Facility. This world-

make the College the best engineering school it can be.

class facility houses a variety of tools for the characterization

Last year we set out to develop our current Strategic

of materials and enables data analysis for researchers in 30

Plan, “Engineering Impact: Transformative Education and

countries, all while providing crucial training opportunities

Pioneering Research for Real and Enduring Good.” The plan

for students across the college. You can read more about this

motives us to envision what we want the future to look like.

facility and other important endeavors in this issue.

To create it, we identified objectives and deeply reflected

The innovations in our courses and the impact our research is

on our definitions of success. The result was a plan that

making on the state-of-the-art in engineering are intentional, and

directs us toward an overall goal of delivering transformative

I am convinced that the College is heading in the right direction.

education and conducting pioneering research that makes a positive impact in society.

Sincerely,

In our pursuit to innovate education, this fall we are launching two online graduate certificate programs that will enable students from all over the world to study in the developing field of bioprinting and the exploding field of artificial intelligence. This entry into online education will provide working professionals with the flexibility to access

William H. Sanders

world-class, graduate-level training. We also have a new

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

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8 NEW DEGREES At Carnegie Mellon we are known for our technical virtuosity in building breakthrough systems in engineering. By deepening your AI skills within the engineering construct you will be able to propel your career.

L E A R N

M O R E

A N D

A P P L Y

A T

E N G I N E E R I N G . C M U . E D U / A I - D E G R E E

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CARNEGIE MELLON ENGINEERING FALL 20 23 M AGAZI NE

The College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is top-ranked among its peers and is known for its intentional commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration in research. Our acclaimed engineering faculty yield transformative results that drive the intellectual and economic vitality of our community, nation, and world.

Our unique culture of Advanced Collaboration® brings together faculty and students from many disciplines to create, physically realize, and evaluate solutions to complex problems in industry, government and academia.

By using an authentic interdisciplinary approach to problem solving that is the signature of Carnegie Mellon, every day our engineers are making an impact.

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IN T HIS IS S U E Students in the Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering course (24-101) testing their mobile robot (mobot) on a track in Tech Spark's High Bay.

F EA TU RE FOCUS ING ON VIR T UAL REA LITY page 3

RESEA RCH T E CH ADVANCE S WILL DR IVE E V MAR K E T page 8

CO L L EGE U P DA TES NE W ONL INE G R ADUA TE CE R T IFICAT E S L AUNCH T HIS FAL L page 34

STU DENTS CUL INAR Y ME CHANICS page 48

A L U MNI AL UMNI DOUBL E T EA M S POR T S INNOVAT ION page 58

EDI TO R Sherry Stokes (DC’07)

DESI GNER Tim Kelly (A’05, HNZ’14)

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

RESEARCH / TECH ADVANCES WILL DRIVE EV MARKET Electric vehicles (EVs) make up 7% of

They found that consumers’ preferences

U.S. new vehicle sales today, and new

for vehicle attributes, like longer range

vehicle standards proposed in 2023

and cheaper operation, haven’t changed

will require this EV share to grow to an

much, but they are more willing to

estimated two thirds by 2032.

adopt EVs as technology improves. With

Are consumers ready for the transition?

To understand mainstream

decreases, the team predicted that demand for electric cars and SUVs could

consumer demand for future EVs,

be comparable to gasoline cars and

a team of researchers conducted

SUVs by 2030.

consumer experiments eight years

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expected range increases and price

The team includes Jeremy

apart to determine what has driven the

Michalek, a professor of mechanical

growth of the EV market and what it

engineering and engineering and

would take to increase future adoption.

public policy; Kate Whitefoot, an

associate professor mechanical

from 2012-2013. This helped them track

engineering and engineering and public

changes in the market over time and

policy; their Ph.D. student Connor

allowed them to project how demand

Forsythe, and Ken Gillingham, an

will grow through 2030. They found

economics professor at Yale.

no statistically significant changes in

Technology has progressed rapidly

consumer preferences for electric

in the field of EVs. In the past decade,

vehicles and electric vehicle attributes

average EV efficiency has increased

over this time but estimated that the

by 15 percent, while average range

same consumer preferences would

has increased by about 200 percent.

produce higher EV adoption as EVs

The availability of EV models on the

catch up to gasoline vehicles on key

market has improved significantly, and

attributes like range and price.

the price-premium has dropped over

They estimated that if technology

time. Amidst these trends, states like

trends continue as expected and if

California have adopted policies limiting

EVs become as ubiquitous as gasoline

the sale of new gasoline-only vehicles,

vehicles by 2030, car and SUV buyers

and manufacturers like General Motors

will become near indifferent between

have called for stronger policies

the two, on average.

promoting new EV sales.

For the policy makers and industry

With these factors in mind, the

leaders attempting to plot the future of

team first conducted a survey of more

the automotive market, this information

than 1,500 prospective vehicle buyers

is crucial. Understanding market

to determine what factors influence

forces and our current course can help

their purchasing decisions. They then

ensure that the U.S. is on a path toward

compared these results to those of a

reducing the nation’s largest source of

similar consumer survey conducted

greenhouse gas emissions.

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

REIMAGINING DATACENTERS Today’s technology would not exist without datacenters. Six

functionality, it’s becoming challenging to deal with user

in 10 people use modern web services such as social media,

requirements in a way that the user is still seeing responses

web search, video streaming, online banking, and online

that they need,” says Akshitha Sriraman, assistant professor

healthcare that require datacenters that scale to hundreds

of electrical and computer engineering “Users expect

of thousands of high-end computers or servers. Researchers

to see their search results in an instant, or what appears

at Carnegie Mellon are rethinking datacenter architecture,

instantaneously. Their expectations from the applications are

improving their cost- and energy-efficiency, sustainability,

also growing but at no cost to them.”

and equity.

Cavernous and cold, datacenters house thousands of

An expert in computer architecture and systems software, Sriraman is rethinking datacenter computing across hardware

servers that hold information and route signals for billions of

and software systems to enable efficient, sustainable, and

users. Everything from a typical Google search to messaging

equitable large-scale web systems.

applications are directed through a datacenter. Traditionally,

The fundamental architecture of modern-day datacenter

large-scale datacenters have adopted a performance-first

servers is pretty much the same as the architecture of the

approach. This approach ensures that web service responses

desktop PCs of the 1980s. Of course, the computations are

are quickly sent to the user to promote a positive user

faster, but the basic architecture of a computer’s central unit,

experience, preventing users from abandoning the service.

supported by data elements, is the same. Datacenters have

For every user request, service operators typically aim to

evolved rapidly, so we must take a step back to consider how

respond within 300 milliseconds so that the response is

best to design hardware and software systems for them.

perceived as instantaneous. With the surge of devices and

“We are redesigning datacenters from first principles,

users coming online daily and the growing amount of data

thinking about what these servers should look like at the

being exchanged, the demand for faster, more efficient cloud

hardware level in a way that they can be cost- and energy-

services is drastically increasing.

efficient,” says Sriraman. “And second, we are looking at how

“When you think about all of this in the systems context

to program this new hardware, and what kinds of software

of a datacenter setting, which is servicing all of these users,

paradigms are needed to take advantage of that hardware in

the data they are interested in, as well as the increased

a more efficient way.”

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Currently, hardware architects build specialized hardware for each service operation, which is economically impractical at datacenter scale. To improve cost-efficiency without

acceptably on older servers, ultimately extending the server lifetime.

“Extending server lifetime minimizes hardware

compromising performance, Sriraman proposes identifying

manufacturing’s carbon footprint, which reduces

and accelerating important and common operations across

anthropogenic climate change’s effect,” she explains.

diverse services. To accelerate common data orchestration

While efficiency is important, Sriraman is also using equity

operations that handle ever-growing data, instead of using

as a systems design consideration to identify and mitigate

traditional compute-centric hardware architectures, Sriraman

web systems’ inequities. By defining demographic-driven

will introduce novel data-centric architectures that eliminate

bias metrics based on age, race, and other factors, Sriraman

data movement overheads.

is building datacenter systems that mitigate inequitable

“Introducing cost-efficient, high-performance hardware will

decisions. Making equity a first-order concern will also allow

enable new companies and industries to accessibly enter the

us to prioritize building web systems for rural communities.

technology field,” says Sriraman.

In collaboration with CMU-Africa, the team is working on

With this increase in demand, the logical answer is to

developing and deploying web systems that work under

keep building larger and more datacenters. However, this is

stringent systems constraints in rural African communities.

not sustainable in the long-term. Not only are these colossal

“Introducing equity as a systems consideration elevates

datacenters extremely expensive to build and maintain, but

historically underserved communities, which could lift more

their carbon footprint is massive.

than a billion people out of poverty,” says Sriraman.

“To enable sustainable datacenters, we must carbon-

The driving force behind the internet and devices, a

efficiently architect and manufacture hardware and make

datacenter is the beating heart for the technology we

the most out of existing hardware,” explains Sriraman.

use every day. By reimagining datacenters to make them

“Datacenters must adopt the mindset of reducing, reusing,

more efficient, sustainable, and equitable, Sriraman’s

and recycling hardware.”

enhanced standard practices will benefit industry, users,

Building on this theme, Sriraman has formulated carbon-

and the environment.

efficiency metrics to help identify services that perform

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

REVIEWING THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY When it comes to addressing environmental issues like

in policy enforcement, where policy is not enforced to the

climate change, political obstacles can be as formidable as the

degree necessary, or durability, where policy fails to remain

technical ones. In a review of climate politics scholarship in

in place or stagnates in growth. For example, even with

Nature Sustainability, Valerie Karplus writes that politics should

subsidies to support capital investment, incentivizing the

“not only be seen as a constraint but be recognized as a target

continuous use of some low carbon technologies, such as

of intervention to advance environmental solutions.”

carbon capture and storage, may be challenging if the costs

Specifically, Karplus, a professor of engineering and public policy, and her co-author, Jonas Meckling, an associate

prove too high.

Drawing on the climate politics literature, the researchers

professor at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that

note several ways of bridging this gap. First, when interest

researchers and practitioners focus on developing effective

groups have already invested in a policy, they’re more likely

political strategies. These are political and policy choices that

to protect it. Second, policies can provide targeted benefits

are feasible today and help reduce political barriers to future

to key political groups to create positive feedback. And third,

policy. In their review, Karplus and Meckling outline three

policies that provide strong initial benefits can be used

shortcomings in current efforts to politically address climate

as a stepping stone to costlier policies in the future. They

change and explore how to surmount these barriers. They

also point to the importance of empowering independent

describe these as gaps in current climate action.

government agencies to enforce climate policy.

The first gap is the ambition gap, which is the gap between

Finally comes what the authors term the international

national policy targets and scientific consensus goals. Organized

action gap. This is the difficulty in developing cooperation

political opposition from groups with assets that produce

among nations, industries, and subnational actors due

emissions often contribute to this, as they face the highest costs

primarily to the dominance of domestic issues over

from the policy.

international ones.

One way to bridge this gap is to craft policy that

The authors note opportunities for both deepening and

concentrates benefits while diffusing costs across a broad

widening international coordination efforts on environmental

swath of stakeholders, such as through subsidies, tax rebates,

issues. They note progress toward deeper action through

and deployment performance standards. The Inflation

efforts by small groups of countries known as “clubs,” as

Reduction Act adopts such an approach by rewarding the

well as by certain sectors through industry agreements. In

developers of low carbon technologies, while promising to

broadening efforts, they discuss how policy actions in large

reduce the cost of clean energy through scale up over time.

markets or from climate leaders can affect other countries

Another way of bridging the gap is policy with concentrated

that look to these actors for guidance. Technology support

costs and benefits, combined with either compensation

policies can help bring down the cost of clean technologies

for those paying the costs or rewards for those who

and facilitate the global diffusion of technology.

can champion the benefits. In addition, linking global

Based on this important body of research, the authors

environmental issues such as climate change with salient local

call for more climate politics scholarship that focuses on

issues like human health can also help build political support.

politically effective strategies to broaden the solution space

The second gap is termed the implementation gap, which

in tackling climate change. Politics becomes a lever of change,

occurs when a government fails to meet the adopted policy goals or ends up repealing the policy. This is due to failings

12 / FALL 2023

alongside technology.

CURATING SUSTAINABLE MEAT ALTERNATIVES

versus the years required for traditional livestock and offer a more stable option that is not affected by weather or disease.

3D printing a steak comes with some unique challenges, including the need for custom-built

Confocal images of Wagyu beef, to show the fat distribution in the muscle.

Source: Abbott lab

technology and modeling.

Lindsey Huff, a Presidential Fellow Ph.D. student in the

Creatively utilizing biomaterials to help solve real-world

Abbott lab, retrofitted a standard plastic printer into a dual

problems has been an ongoing research focus for the Abbott

nozzle bioprinter that will be used to simultaneously print

lab, and their latest project is no exception. The STEM savvy,

fat and muscle. She also led efforts to conduct an MRI

female-driven team at Carnegie Mellon University’s College

scan on a piece of A5 Japanese Wagyu steak, to generate a

of Engineering is working on 3D printing a Wagyu steak using

3D rendering of the fat that is found between the muscle

lab-grown fat and muscle cells from a cow. The big idea is

fibers, i.e., the marbling effect. Bioprinter and CAD model of

to produce an animal-based product that is safe and tastes

Wagyu in hand, the group is now focusing on perfecting the

good, without needing to sacrifice any animals.

necessary 3D bioprinting techniques.

“As the world’s population grows and demand for animal

“We have been successful in 3D printing fat, which was a

proteins increases, the current agricultural supply chain

challenge due to the buoyancy of fat cells and how fragile they

is compromised, not to mention environmental, public

are under stress, and will be moving to 3D printing muscle

health and food security concerns that stem from today’s

soon,” said Huff. “We are also working on optimizing the dual

concentrated animal feeding operations,” explained Rosalyn

printing parameters, so that we can recreate the microstructure

Abbott, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering.

of Wagyu marbling. Once we accomplish that, we will use our

“Historically, my lab has focused on tissue engineering and

blueprint from the MRI to precisely 3D print fat and muscle

examining the role of fat accumulation in a variety of diseases

with lab-grown cow cells to emulate a Wagyu steak.”

and applications. Our cultivated meat research is an extension

The Abbott group’s work has been featured by Robert

of the techniques we traditionally use in the lab to develop

Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition and recently received

disease models or approaches for regenerative medicine.”

generous NSF CAREER Award funding to advance its

The process to create cultivated meat is referred to as

progress. Their research focuses on improving flavor and

cellular agriculture; an exciting new field that is gaining

texture of cultivated meat, which they hope will enhance

momentum. Besides the ethical advantage of sacrificing fewer

consumer acceptance of these new food products.

animals, cultivated meat products will reduce agricultural

“This is really an exciting area for us to get involved in, that

land use, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

leverages our biomedical engineering expertise to support

These products can also be cultured in a matter of weeks

the evolving cellular agriculture landscape,” added Abbott.

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

2023 MOONSHOT: COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTE FOR ALL A team of CMU researchers led by Swarun Kumar and Akshitha Sriraman received the College of Engineering Moonshot Award for their interdisciplinary initiative between CMU-Pittsburgh and CMU-Africa. The goal of this collaboration is to provide Internet connection to underprivileged communities around the world, allowing affordable communication and computer infrastructure to be accessible to all. As a globally recognized institution in technology and innovation, CMU is perfectly positioned to host the Communication and Compute for All initiative. Its proximity to both low-income communities and rural areas is essential to introducing those who have never used the Internet to the digital world.

Electrical and Computer Engineering’s Vyas Sekar, Giulia Fanti, Theo Benson, Brandon Lucia, Yuvraj Agrawal, along with Assane Gueye from CMU-Africa, Zac Manchester of the Robotics Institute, and other researchers across Engineering and Public Policy, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and the Information Networking Institute combine ideas from multiple disciplines to form a comprehensive solution. The project is divided into two components that address the current communication and compute issues. To achieve an affordable, modular global communication network, the team will utilize low-cost nanosatellites paired with small, software-defined base stations.

Additionally, they plan to implement a modular computing paradigm that will allow a range of computing sources such as computers in a school or non-smart phones to connect with each other.

Another component of this project is advocating for policy frameworks for universal connection. By recognizing social limitations to technology like literacy or economic status, the initiative can create programs to address the needs of underserved communities.

Moonshot projects encourage CMU Engineering faculty to engage in ambitious long-term endeavors for the betterment of all, including those new to the technology realm. Proposed projects address a range of issues and show the commitment of the CMU community to improvement and innovation.

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Professor Katie Whitehead

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DELIVERING MRNA THERAPEUTICS TO THE PANCREAS As witnessed with the COVID-19 vaccines, mRNA therapy has the potential to revolutionize modern medicine. For this therapy to work, mRNA requires a nanoparticle delivery vehicle to protect it and escort it to the place in the body where it is needed. However, this approach has a major limitation. Currently, most lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) can deliver mRNA only to the liver, spleen, and lungs. There are many diseases that arise in other tissues, however, and the forefront of the mRNA delivery field is to identify nanoparticles that take mRNA to alternative organs, such as the pancreas.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are one step closer to unlocking the potential of gene therapeutics to treat incurable pancreatic diseases.

“We’ve created technology that delivers to a very important organ,” said Kathryn Whitehead, a professor

better pancreas targeting compared to intravenous (IV) administration and is appropriate for treatment of incurable diseases.

of chemical engineering and biomedical engineering.

When Whitehead’s group determined the cell types

Whitehead is improving delivery systems by changing the

to which the nanoparticles delivered mRNA, they were

chemistry of the nanoparticles to reroute them in the body.

surprised. They found the most protein expression within

The liver, spleen, and lungs are part of a system

the beta cells of the pancreatic islets, which account for

that clears nanoparticles from the bloodstream:

a very small percentage of pancreatic tissue. Beta cells

the reticuloendothelial system (RES). It is easiest to

produce insulin.

design nanoparticles to deliver mRNA to these organs

“This unexpected delivery to the islets would enable

because they naturally accumulate there. To go beyond

treatments for several very serious conditions, including

that, researchers must change the chemistry of the

type 1 diabetes and a type of pancreatic cancer that

nanoparticles to facilitate their delivery to hard-to-reach

originates within these islets,” said Whitehead. Both are

organs without first being cleared by the RES.

notoriously hard to manage with current treatments.

When nanoparticles need to go to the pancreas, Whitehead can get them there.

“In the last couple of years, it’s become increasingly clear

Whitehead’s lab is now focused on better understanding the delivery mechanism so that they can improve it. Once they have optimized the technology

in the field, by my own group and others, that when you

further, they will continue their work with clinicians

change the chemistry of the particle, you are then changing

who can advise on the best gene targets to achieve

the types of proteins in the blood that adhere to the

therapeutic effect. Whitehead hopes the technology can

surface of the particle. Those unique sets of proteins can

one day be used in alpha-to-beta transdifferentiation as

guide the particles to different places,” said Whitehead.

a treatment for type 1 diabetes. Beta cells are destroyed

Whitehead’s group published a paper in the journal Science Advances that details the new nanoparticle they developed, led by postdoc Jilian Melamed, to deliver

in the disease. The vision is to use mRNA to reprogram pancreatic alpha cells to produce insulin.

Delivering mRNA to the pancreas could subsequently

mRNA to the pancreas. This was accomplished using

provide more effective and less onerous treatments

intraperitoneal (IP) injection, which in this case provides

to patients.

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

CMU LEADS NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

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In space travel, custom parts for vehicles such as

First set up in 2016, the overall STRI

rockets and satellites are often needed quickly to

program aims to strengthen NASA’s ties to

accommodate changes in design, as well as for repair

the academic community through long-term,

and functionality purposes. Additive manufacturing

sustained investment in research and technology

is an ideal technology to meet these needs, as

development, while also fostering talent among

components can be made through a relatively short

highly-skilled engineers, scientists, and technologists.

cycle of design, build, and test. However, this cycle

The $15 million project, Institute for Model-

must be continually refined to ensure the quality and

based Qualification & Certification of Additive

reliability of the 3D printed parts.

Manufacturing (IMQCAM), will be co-directed

A new NASA Space Technology Research

by Tony Rollett, a professor of materials science

Institute (STRI) led by Carnegie Mellon University

and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University,

seeks to shorten the cycle required to design,

and Somnath Ghosh, a professor of civil and

manufacture, and test parts that can withstand

systems engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

the conditions of space travel through the

“In order to make a printed product have

development of models for qualification and

predictable properties, we need to understand more

certification (Q&C).

about what its internal structure is, how it depends on the printing process, and what properties it has,” said Rollett. “The STRI affords us an opportunity for a major collaboration through which we can construct the models that our partners at NASA very much need in order to do their work.”

Over the course of five years, the institute will develop detailed computer models, or digital twins, for additively manufactured parts that have been validated against experimental data, verified against physical mechanisms, and subjected to rigorous uncertainty quantification protocols. The models will evaluate response to fatigue in spaceflight materials that are currently used for 3D printing, as well as introducing and qualifying new materials.

The project outcomes will serve as a vital resource for partners at NASA, as the models will enable them to better predict the parts’ performance abilities.

The institute will also serve as a catalyst for recruiting and training students and post-docs to have a comprehensive understanding of the additive manufacturing Q&C process and be the future leaders in the field. Students from across institutional partners will be mentored by both STRI team members and NASA researchers throughout the project.

Carnegie Mellon faculty members Sneha Prabha Narra, Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, and Bryan Webler will also contribute their expertise to the institute.

Additional institutional partners on the project include Vanderbilt University, University of Texas at San Antonio, University of Virginia, Case Western Reserve University, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, and Pratt & Whitney.

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

LESSONS FROM COVID

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Baruch Fischhoff has participated in a report evaluating the effectiveness of our government’s COVID response efforts. An expert in risk communication, much of Fischhoff’s recent work has shined a light on continued failings by officials to provide the public with crucial information on the disease.

While infections may have subsided from pandemic peaks, COVID-19 is still a serious threat and likely, not the last pandemic to face us. Despite three years of trying, federal officials have made little progress in fulfilling their duty to inform.

“The very lack of coordination and clarity says as much as the mumbled content of these communications,” said Fischhoff, a professor of engineering and public policy. “It suggests, appropriately, that no one is in charge.”

His work has supported this point of view.

In one study, Fischhoff and his co-authors found that the directions issued with home test kits were confusing to users, to the point that they could mislead someone who likely had COVID into believing they do not. The study found that the approved instructions could be worse than no instructions at all.

Fischhoff has participated in several COVIDrelated committees of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).

One committee provided guidance on the equitable allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine, in a way that would avoid perpetuating historic health inequities. The committee’s report emphasized communicating the facts candidly and engaging community partners. Another committee laid the groundwork for a stakeholder engagement process that would create a common definition for “long COVID.” Fischhoff continues to research and work toward giving the public better, more actionable communications about COVID-19 and other threats to public health. As echoed in The COVID War, he hopes decision makers will use past mistakes to provide better risk communication going forward.

“We utterly failed to provide the public the information that it needed, and we continue to fail,” he said. “It’s an institutional failure to communicate, not a failure of the public to understand. There would be health, political, and economic benefits to getting the communication right, and it’s shameful that we’re not.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 21

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

$20M FOR TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH U.S. Rep. Summer Lee announced

fatalities per year in the U.S., mostly

on May 30, 2023, that Carnegie

due to human error.

Mellon University will lead a national

Technology promises much, but the

consortium that will receive $20 million

state-of-the-art in highly automated

over the next five years from the U.S.

vehicles is not mature enough for

Department of Transportation (USDOT)

widespread deployment. Failures of

to establish Safety21, a new University

autonomy features raise legitimate

Transportation Center (UTC). Raj

questions of trust, and connectivity

Rajkumar, a professor of electrical and

presents new threats to privacy

computer engineering, will head

and cybersecurity. At this critical

Safety21.

juncture, to remain competitive,

The consortium includes partners

domestic industry needs innovative

from across the U.S. who will

technologies, policy frameworks, and

collaborate to ensure that autonomous,

well-trained workers. To address these

networked, shared, and integrated

challenges, Safety21 will seek inclusive

transportation technologies and

input from stakeholders, including

systems are developed and deployed

communities, workers, users, vehicle

with safety, equity, and sustainability

manufacturers, and researchers as

in mind. Their work will bolster the

it takes a holistic, system-of-systems

nation’s competitive edge in domestic

approach to advancing connected and

production and global leadership of

automated vehicle technologies and

these technologies and provide training

intelligent infrastructure.

for the transportation workforce.

Carnegie Mellon is leading the

The transportation sector of our

consortia that spans Morgan State

economy is undergoing a revolution. In

University, The Ohio State University,

the past decade, advances in sensing

University of Pennsylvania, and

technologies, computing power and

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

wireless communications coupled with

The Community College of Allegheny

AI and machine learning are directly

County and the Community College

addressing the quality and quantity

of Philadelphia will receive support

of the transport of people and goods.

for innovative workforce programs

Electric vehicles are poised to overtake

tailored for the existing and emerging

gasoline-powered cars, with more

transportation workforce.

driver-assist safety features than ever.

“Through Safety21, faculty and

Yet, there are over 40,000 automotive

student researchers will capitalize on

22 / FALL 2023

Right photo: (L to R) Robert Hampshire, U.S. Department of Transportation deputy assistant secretary for research and technology and chief science officer; Ngani Ndimbie, CMU’s Woman in Transportation Fellow; U.S. Rep. Summer Lee; Raj Rajkumar, director of Safety21, and William Sanders, dean of CMU College of Engineering.

Source: College of Engineering

the opportunities and risks that automated and connected vehicles present. The knowledge they create will be shared with transportation managers, companies, and community organizations, resulting in technology transfer and deployment,” says William H. Sanders, dean of the College of Engineering.

“Safety21 is yet another example of the important work we are doing at the critical nexus of technology and society,” said Ramayya Krishnan, dean of the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. “As technological advancements in AI and electric vehicles continue to emerge, we must operate with a concentrated focus on the importance of safety, equity and the environment.”

Rajkumar, who leads Safety21, has earned global recognition for autonomous vehicle research and was the director of Carnegie Mellon’s last UTC, Mobility21. Safety21 will be the fourth UTC that Carnegie Mellon has managed since 2012.

“Safety21’s project portfolio will enhance transportation safety through research, development, and deployment of breakthrough technologies and policy innovations. Additionally, we seek to broaden our impact by ensuring communities have equal access to safety technologies; evaluating energy use and emissions; and supporting domestic commercialization, entrepreneurship, and public policy to rally economic strength and global competitiveness,” says Rajkumar.

Out of five National UTC grants awarded in 2023, Safety21 is the one National Center with the theme of improving safety. UTC funding is authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 23

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DIGITAL TWINS FOR TESTING INFRASTRUCTURE SCENARIOS Years after studying together at Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Pingbo Tang and Ethos Collaborative Principal Damon Weiss are working side by side again—looking for ways to recognize potential issues in operating and maintaining our country’s aging water treatment facilities. Their research aims to balance human nature (water engineers’ intuition and experiences) with expertise in civil engineering, IT, GIS, and 3D modeling (technology) to create a fully integrated system that addresses today’s aging infrastructure while looking to the future.

Tang and Weiss’s studies use digital twins to test treatment facility scenarios in a 3D virtual environment. Tang explains that a twin reacts and responds just as its twin physical treatment plant does. “We envision a proactive water

Digital twins also allow for safe

digital twin with an Extended Reality

scenario testing—where equipment is

(virtual and augmented realities) that

updated or changed in the virtual world,

the water industry’s aging workforce.

will automatically capture and transfer

and results are assessed before real-

He hopes that adding digital twins

implicit strategies between operators

world implementation. Twins may also

into the mix will spur interest from

based on human operators’ inspection,

be used to train new staff on how to

young engineers. “We are working to

operation, and maintenance histories.”

react to emergencies. Weiss likens this

demonstrate how new technology can

to providing a “second brain” for the

be used to address ongoing problems.

in situations where external forces

human operator—a tried-and-true back-

Today, there are not a lot of young

result in changes that are very

up plan based on physics models and

engineers in this particular industry.

specific to a particular facility. For

solid analytics. The twin can also work

This is a problem, and we hope work like

example, water treatment facilities

in reverse, looking at why something

ours will attract young people and help

nationwide experience different wear

unexpected happened and explaining

them to understand the importance of

and tear based on location, weather,

where things went wrong.

working in water treatment.”

Digital twins are especially beneficial

and usage. Right now, humans are

Tang states that for their concepts to

information gaps?

Another challenge Tang mentions is

The long-term goals of the research

responsible for assessing these changes

be successful, they must consider the

include integrating modern technological

and recommending updates.

role of human nature and how people

systems into the water treatment

will react/interact with technology. He

industry, standardizing processes, and

much easier and more efficient to utilize

asks: What do the water treatment

moving toward a fully integrated system

both human knowledge and information

plant employees look at? How do they

supported by future-thinking technology.

supplied by a digital twin—leading to an

interact with the equipment? What

“One day, we will look back and see that

overall improvement in the operation

does an experienced operator see that

we have a fully integrated system,” Weiss

strategies of the water treatment plants

a less experienced individual might

says. “What we’re doing now is a step to

and reduced maintenance time.

miss? And how can a digital twin fill the

get us there.”

Tang and Weiss believe it would be

24 / FALL 2023

HOW SUSTAINABLE IS ONLINE GROCERY DELIVERY? The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a marked surge

Few results when altering these factors showed any

of e-commerce and online grocery delivery services that has

improvement in energy usage because deliveries replaced

persisted past lockdown conditions. With this rise, researchers

grocery trips when customers were on their way home from

wondered about the impacts on energy use, emissions, and

somewhere else. Even with high batch sizes of 10 groceries

traffic congestion, and whether there might be a way to

delivered per route, the results were net increases in

manage and optimize deliveries better than current methods

emissions and energy use.

or a personal trip.

These questions drove the latest work by College of

However, their results suggested that reduced congestion is possible when consumers buy from grocery distribution

Engineering researchers that found that, most of the time,

locations close to home for off-peak delivery times instead of,

grocery delivery isn’t actually much better than what most

rather than in addition to, in-person grocery shopping. Local

people are already doing themselves.

government and industry could also potentially encourage

“Right now, most people go to the grocery store on their way home from work, or during off-peak hours,” said Destenie Nock, an assistant professor of civil and environmental

off-peak delivery times, bulk delivery orders, and nearby delivery locations.

The team’s work provides a new tool that PSRC and other

engineering and engineering and public policy. “This is good

metropolitan planning organizations will be able to use to

because it doesn’t add to congestion on the roadways. Turns

integrate e-commerce and grocery delivery trends into the

out most people already try to optimize their grocery trips.”

long range planning of the transportation system. Local

This optimization is largely because most people plan

agencies can use the insights from this study to design

personal grocery trips around their daily schedule, shopping

policies that will lead to a more sustainable and equitable

at locations that fall within their normal route or going to the

transportation system.

grocery store when there is little traffic on the roads.

They used Seattle, Washington, as a test bed, using publicly

In addition to Nock and Samudio, Corey Harper, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering

available data from the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC)

and the Heinz College; Greg Lowry, professor of civil and

for data and modeling tools to experiment with optimal

environmental engineering; and Jeremey Michalek, professor

delivery routing.

of engineering and public policy and mechanical engineering

“Basically, the model treats the flow of vehicles traveling

contributed to the research.

from one area to another like a fluid,” said Mateo Samudio, a Ph.D. student in civil and environmental engineering.

They experimented with factors including: • Batch size: how many grocery deliveries are made in one delivery route?

• Substitution rate: are online deliveries being substituted for personal grocery trips?

• Penetration rate: how many people in a given area are using online delivery?

• Delivery time: are orders being delivered during peak hour travel times?

• Grocery store location: is the customer ordering from the closest grocery store to their home?

• Trip type: was the grocery trip made on the way to other destinations or directly from home and back?

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 25

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

INGESTIBLE SENSING CAPSULES FOR BETTER PATIENT CARE

For people living with gastrointestinal

inflammatory conditions, this barrier

(GI) conditions such as Crohn’s disease,

can be compromised, causing increased

the primary route of diagnosis and

intercellular dilation. Following an

ongoing monitoring is endoscopy, an

endoscopy, the tissue is imaged to

invasive procedure that allows a doctor

determine whether it is healthy or

to view a person’s digestive system and

diseased. Through this group’s work, it

retrieve tissue samples for analysis.

is proposed that an ingestible sensor

These procedures can be painful

could perform this task by measuring

and require anesthetics, limiting how

a tissue’s electrochemical properties,

frequently they can be performed.

or how ions flow within the tissue in

Ingestible sensing capsules that perform diagnostic tasks as they travel

response to an electric field.

“The GI tract is a critical organ system

through the digestive system are a

that is susceptible to inflammatory

promising alternative to endoscopic

disorders that are often difficult to

procedures. While there are currently

diagnose because of the complex milieu

rigid ingestible diagnostic capsules on

of chemicals in the gut,” said Chris

the market, a team of researchers in

Bettinger, a professor of biomedical

the College of Engineering is seeking

engineering and materials science and

an option with fewer risks and more

engineering whose research group

convenience through digestible gelatin-

led the project. “Ingestible devices that

based sensors. Their work, recently

can measure the physical and electrical

published in Advanced Materials,

properties of tissue barriers can provide

highlights a model for a potential path

valuable insight into the progression of

forward for this technology.

certain diseases.”

A person’s GI tract is semi-permeable,

While this project was initially

and ideally only necessary nutrients are

conceived in 2019 through work in

absorbed. But with Crohn’s and other

Bettinger’s laboratory, it had to pivot

26 / FALL 2023

Left to right: Julie Shin Kim, Sona Marukan, Gaurav Balakrishnan.

models to successfully interpret this experimental data.”

Persisting beyond these limitations, using polymer and material science, the team worked to adapt electrode devices into a capsule material with both essential mechanical properties and the ability to degrade at the desired rate.

As one of the few laboratories in the country working on ingestible medical devices, projects such as this can serve as a template for designing devices with the specific application of replacing invasive endoscopies.

“The future goal is that patients could use this device at home without a clinician administering the procedure and have more real-time, comprehensive data,” said Gaurav Balakrishnan, a materials science and engineering Ph.D. student who worked on the project.

Not only did the research team bring together students across disciplines in engineering—biomedical, chemical, and materials science—but it also provided undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to collaborate on the project.

Julie Kim, a chemical engineering undergraduate, took advantage of the opportunity to be mentored by Ph.D. students while contributing to the project.

“My time in the lab allowed me not only to gain research skills, but also to in response to COVID restrictions, as students could not conduct their research in-person. The group sought the expertise of Aditya Khair, a professor of chemical engineering, to determine ways in which computational methods could be implemented to continue the research.

“It was clear that some of the mathematical models my group is well-versed in, particularly in regard to impedance sensing, could be applied

explore various aspects of graduate school life and helped me decide that I want to continue my studies after graduation,” said Kim. The path forward for this research is multifaceted, as there are possibilities for replacing other invasive medical procedures associated with chronic conditions, as well as prototyping a device that is fully wireless and could eventually communicate with a smartphone.

to analyze the experiments that this group was performing,” said Khair.

“We utilized and extended these

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 27

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Electrical and Computer Engineering Assistant Professor Riad Wahby presents "No Silver Bullet: A brief survey of key management technology," during CMU's inaugural Secure Blockchain Summit.

SECURE BLOCKCHAIN Despite advances, many research questions still need answering to ensure blockchain protocols and applications are ready to interact at scale. As the industry continues to see a growing number of consumer applications, such as decentralized finance, ensuring the fundamental research elements of the technology, especially from a security, privacy, ethics, and societal impact perspective, is of utmost importance.

Led by co-directors Nicolas Christin (Engineering and Public Policy, and School of Computer Science); Elaine Shi (Electrical and

28 / FALL 2023

(L to R) CMU Alum and Head of Research at Ramiel Capital Kyle Soska, Tepper School of Business Associate Professor Tae Wan Kim, CMU-Africa's Director of Academics and Distinguished Service Professor Martin Saint, and Engineering and Public Policy and Software and Societal Systems Professor Nicolas Christin, discuss ethics and equity during one of the event's two panel sessions.

Computer Engineering, and School of Computer

Over the course of the multi-year initiative, CyLab

Science); and Ariel Zetlin-Jones (Tepper School

intends to develop a suite of novel foundations

of Business), and hosted by the CyLab Security

and technologies, providing solutions for questions

and Privacy Institute, CMU’s Secure Blockchain

surrounding consensus mechanisms and scalability;

Initiative is rethinking blockchain across enterprise

cryptocurrencies and markets; cryptography; formal

ecosystems. Made up of more than 35 faculty

verification; and regulation, policy, and governance.

members from four CMU colleges, this unique

Interested in getting involved or sponsoring

collaboration is addressing various challenges

the Secure Blockchain Initiative? Learn more at

around three main research thrusts:

blockchain.cmu.edu or contact CyLab’s director of

• Cryptoeconomics: Cryptography, Consensus, and Verification

Partnerships, Michael Lisanti at mlisanti@andrew. cmu.edu or at 412-268-1870.

• Applications and Implementations • Cryptocurrencies, Tokenized Assets, and Policy

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 29

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

INTRODUCING STUDENTS TO NANOFABRICATION Today’s computer chip fabrication

and Computer Engineering at Carnegie

manufactured in facilities upwards

process requires specific and expensive

Mellon University has developed a

of $10 billion and require highly

technologies. From cleanrooms to

hands-on introductory course that

specialized training to iterate upon

highly specialized equipment, the

allows students to design and fabricate

designs. It is rare that companies

making process of nanoscale technology

nanoscale technologies outside of a

would allow scientists and engineers

prevents many higher education

nanofabrication laboratory.

to experiment with these technologies.

institutions from exposing students to

The current generation of

Known as the Hacker Fab, the primary

the field. The Department of Electrical

commercial computer chips are

goal of this new course is to enable students to fabricate computer chips by hand, and design DIY fabrication equipment in a nontraditional way.

The course aims to develop plans, instructions, diagrams, and videos for a low-cost semiconductor fab suitable for teaching students how to make computer chips. In its inaugural semester, the class enrolled ten students spanning four engineering departments ranging from first-year to Ph.D. students.

“We are developing a blueprint on how to expose more students to computer chip fabrication,” says Larry Pileggi, the Coraluppi Head and Tanoto Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “This is extremely valuable as we are seeing a push to bring computer chip fabrication back to the United States. This course will lower the barrier for many students, especially those who don’t have access to a cleanroom.”

The Hacker Fab covers all essential nanofabrication topics, including deposition, patterning, oxidation, doping, inspection, metrology, dynamics/motion control, vacuum systems, optics, material selection, and plasmas. From the first day of class, students begin work to contribute to the central Hacker Fab open-source project. Lectures serve to aid students in their project work by covering the

30 / FALL 2023

physical phenomena behind each

in his garage during high school.

process and the design and operation

It provided the impetus for a larger

of the necessary tools. Students also

project that could inspire a generation

apply lecture materials in weekly lab

of electrical engineering makers in the

assignments to fabricate basic devices

same way that 3D-printing inspired an

Everything was documented to

that include MOS capacitors, diodes,

engineering maker movement.

facilitate other schools to develop

transistors, simple logic circuits, and

“Elio and I are two mechanical

The Hacker Fab, located in Roberts Engineering Hall

similar labs and courses.

more. There are no exams; instead,

engineers who began work on

While the course sits in the electrical

the vast majority of class time is spent

semiconductor fabrication just

and computer engineering department,

making tangible progress on the larger

through being good friends with

it is open to all engineering students

open-source Hacker Fab project.

Sam and playing in his Garage Fab,”

who are interested in hardware

“The course outline should allow

says Alexander Hakin, Hacker Fab

fabrication. By offering a wide range

other universities, and eventually high

co-instructor. “I hope we are a sign

of open-ended projects, it is expected

schools or other organizations, to

to not only encourage students

that the Hacker Fab will attract students

replicate this class,” says Elio Bourcart,

that semiconductor education is

from across the university in the

lab manager and engineering alum.

interdisciplinary, but to show other

coming semesters.

“The course is completely open sourced

institutions the breadth of potential

“When I heard that the electrical

with no IP licensing requirements. We

student interest. By working with

and computer engineering department

emphasize high-quality documentation

Hacker Fabs at other institutions in

was launching a new research initiative

and development of a collaborative

parallel, designs will rapidly accelerate

to build a lab capable of fabricating

community among Hacker Fabs at other

towards the capabilities of more

transistors, I knew this was something

institutions that is self-supporting.

modern devices. We want students

that I wanted to get involved with,”

We hope to leverage collaboration

to know that their work reaches well

says Joel Gonzalez, a Ph.D. student in

techniques from the open-source

beyond one lab at CMU.”

electrical and computer engineering. “As

software world.”

The team hit every milestone

a student with interests in everything

that they set out to achieve. In just

from integrated circuits to radio systems

by ECE alum Sam Zeloof, whose

one semester, ten students built the

design, this lab seemed like a fantastic

groundbreaking work laid the

first version of the DIY lithography

way to apply what I had learned to

foundation for this innovative course.

stepper and developed processes to

a project that would impact future

Sam Zeloof began making chips alone

fabricate functional 10µm transistors.

students in our department.”

The Hacker Fab was inspired

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 31

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION FACILITY MARKS 25 YEARS In 1998, the Materials Characterization

One of the primary goals of the

Facility (MCF) at Carnegie Mellon

materials science and engineering

opened its doors in Roberts Hall,

field is the creation of new materials

bringing together resources in both

that will perform in a predictable way

x-ray diffraction and microscopy that

when they are exposed to external

were not housed in a centralized

influences. The materials scientist tries

location at the time. Twenty-five years

to engineer the internal structure of

later, the world-class facility houses a

the material, its “microstucture,” so

variety of tools for the structural and

that the desired performance can be

chemical characterization of materials

achieved. The materials characterization

recently evidenced by its expansion

and is a worldwide leader, supporting

facility provides a series of state-of-

to the second floor of Hamerschlag

cutting-edge research of nearly 60

the-art tools that allow researchers

Hall with the addition of a new X-Ray

groups from a wide range of disciplines

to visualize the internal structure of

laboratory. Officially open for faculty

across the university and enabling

materials at very high spatial resolution,

and student use in December 2022,

enhanced data analysis for researchers

which enables them to understand and

the space formerly housed the Claire

in 30 countries.

eventually improve material behavior.

and John Bertucci Nanotechnology

“The past 25 years have seen a

Laboratory, now located in Scott Hall.

tremendous increase of computerized

The MCF X-Ray lab includes two new

characterization tools which benefit

pieces of equipment, the Xenocs Xeuss

all MCF users,” said Marc De Graef,

3.0 SAXS and ZEISS Xradia Crystal CT®,

faculty director of the Materials

as well as three X-ray diffractometers

Characterization Facility.

that had previously been situated

Throughout its history at the

TIMELINE

on the first floor of Roberts Hall.

university, MCF has stayed at the

The addition of this equipment and

forefront of materials research,

updated space allow for further

constantly improving upon its offerings

opportunities for partnerships across

and technologies available, most

disciplines and with industry partners.

1998

2008

2013

MCF official opening

Installation of FEI NOVA Ga

Establishment of Atomic

ceremony with a workshop

focused ion beam scanning

Force Microscopy Lab

on remote microscopy

electron

Installation of FEI Tecnai F20

Installation of FEI Titan 80-300 TEM

with Lorentz pole piece and

with Gatan Tridiem EELS detector:

Gatan EELS Imaging Filter

Image corrected for high resolution

2001

TEM; Installation of PANalytical X’Pert Pro diffractometer

2009 32 / FALL 2023 32 / FALL 2023

“This collaborative model, which has been very successful at attracting users from local industry and research labs, will continue to impact local industry by making advanced X-ray characterization capabilities available,” said De Graef.

The Xeuss SAXS 3.0 boasts automation capabilities that include robotic sample handling for highthroughput data acquisition in solution studies and the ability to utilize remote operation. Additionally, multiple sample holder options are available for powders, solids and gels as well as a multi-refillable capillary holder with temperature control (10°C to 80°C).

While offering conventional micro Computed Tomography (CT), the ZEISS Xradia CrystalCT® is a crystallographic imaging system that can transform the way polycrystalline materials, such as metals, alloys, and ceramics can be studied, as it can map larger volumes and a wider variety of sample geometries at higher throughput.

“Researchers can see the internal structure of materials non-destructively

range of training opportunities for

with the CrystalCT system,” said MCF

students across engineering disciplines.

Managing Director Betsy Clark. “They

“A student can learn a great deal in

can perform an experiment, for instance

this space because X-ray diffraction

a heat treatment, and then come

involves crystallography, microscopy

back to the instrument to see how the

covers imaging, and between the

microstructure changed by a simple

two, you really apply a lot of material

direct comparison.”

science concepts on a wide range of

While the MCF provides extensive

The Xenocs Xeuss 3.0 SAXS/WAXS supports the development of cuttingedge nanostructured materials that have key features ranging in size from tens of Angstroms to hundreds of nanometers.

equipment,” said Jason Wolf, who held

research support, the equipment

the role of x-ray lab supervisor in the

available in the facility also offers a

facility from its opening until 2015.

2015

2022

Installation of FEI Xenon

Hamerschlag X-ray Lab completed, with

Plasma FIB with Oxford

addition of Zeiss CrystalCT: Computed

Nordlys Max2 EBSD Camera

Tomography with Laboratory Diffraction

and EDS

Contrast Tomography (Lab-DCT)

Upgrade of the remote instrument

Installation of Thermofisher

Optical Microscope Lab established in

control system in the Digital

Themis 200 with Super-X

Roberts Engineering Hall; Installation

Microscopy Room

EDS: Probe corrected TEM for

of Xenocs Xeuss SAXS 3.0.

2014

high resolution STEM imaging and rapid EDS mapping

2023

2019 CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 33 CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 33

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

COLLEGE UPDATES / NEW ONLINE GRADUATE CERTIFICATES LAUNCH THIS FALL STUDENTS CAN ENROLL NOW FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEERING AND 3D BIOPRINTING AND B I O FA B R I C AT I O N P R O G R A M S Students come to Carnegie Mellon

Physicians, biomedical engineers, and

to help satisfy the rapidly growing

from all over the world to study

other medical professionals will be able

demand for engineers who can employ

the most advanced engineering

to acquire the skills needed to create

artificial intelligence (AI) and machine

technologies, including those that are

bio-fabricated tissues and bring this

learning (ML) technologies to generate

just emerging as well as those that are

actionable knowledge back to their

more efficient, accurate, and productive

rapidly evolving.

organizations. Students will also learn

engineering solutions.

Access to this empowering

how to use easily accessible materials

CMU’s faculty are deeply immersed in

technology is now available to

and retrofit affordable 3D printers in

the most advanced artificial intelligence

engineering students anywhere. Two

order to lower the barrier to begin

and machine learning techniques that

new online certificates—one in the

experimenting with the technology.

engineers use to develop intelligent

developing field of bioprinting and the

“We are in the unique position of

robotic and autonomous systems;

other in the exploding field of artificial

being able to teach bioengineering

optimize design, energy use, and quality

intelligence are available at the College

techniques that are totally new. Our

control processes; and create reliable

of Engineering this fall.

faculty are very excited to be the

simulations and models that can improve

3D Bioprinting and Biofabrication

first to teach these exciting cutting-

the efficiency and productivity of other

are so new that students are not likely

edge bioprinting and biofabrication

complex systems.

to find classes in these topics, let alone

techniques,” said Keith Cook, the

the type of credit-bearing certificates

head of the biomedical engineering

moving field,” said Jon Cagan, who heads

that are now being taught by the same

department.

the mechanical engineering department.

CMU faculty who are pioneering the

The Artificial Intelligence

“We are at the leading edge of this fast-

“Carnegie Mellon students can learn the

Engineering - Mechanical

most current AI and ML techniques from

The program’s unique curriculum

Engineering certificate will leverage

our faculty researchers who are regularly

teaches the fundamentals of fabricating

CMU’s recognized expertise in both

using and advancing the technology.”

structurally complex 3D tissues.

engineering and computer science

Carnegie Mellon’s entry into online

technology.

34 / FALL 2023

education will provide working

organizations by acquiring skills that are

productive online experience with their

professionals with a very flexible

in such high demand.

instructors.

alternative to accessing world class

“Access to graduate level credit-

The 3D Bioprinting and

graduate-level training in these evolving

bearing training from a university of this

Biofabrication certificate can be

technologies.

caliber in such a flexible manner is a

completed in 12 months and students

Marsha Lovett, who is vice provost

fantastic opportunity,” said Lovett.

can begin the program in either the

for teaching and learning innovation,

Instruction for both certificates

spring, fall, or summer semester. An

heads the new Online Education Office

will be 100% online and include

optional on-campus lab experience will

that will administer the two new online

weekly 90-minute classes, which

also be offered.

engineering certificates as well as a

are held in the evening. The online

third certificate in computational data

format allows students the flexibility

- Mechanical Engineering certificate

science being offered by the School of

to view the weekly online lecture at

can be completed in nine months and

Computer Science.

their convenience and has the added

students can begin the program in

She believes there are some

benefit of being available to review or

either the spring or fall semester.

significant advantages to the online

repeat as needed. By coming to each

format that will be very appealing

online class prepared with a thorough

graduate certificates at www.engineering.

to individuals who wish to advance

understanding of the subject, students

cmu.edu/education/graduate-programs/

their careers and contribute to their

also enjoy a more interactive and

online-certificates.html.

The Artificial Intelligence Engineering

Learn more about the new online

NEW UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE: ENGINEERING DESIGN, INNOVATION, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP The Integrated Innovation Institute (III) at Carnegie Mellon

The EDIE program’s introductory course will be offered this

University, which has been teaching graduate students the

fall, and the program’s course requirements are designed to

tried-and-true methodologies to innovating products and

be completed along with their primary major in four years.

services throughout the past three decades, will now offer a new additional major for undergraduates.

The new Engineering Design, Innovation, and

Peter Boatwright, the co-founder and director of III and Allan D. Shocker Professor of Marketing and New Product Development, says the new major plays to Carnegie Mellon’s

Entrepreneurship (EDIE) major, which launches this fall, is

strength as a university that gives its students tremendous

designed for engineers who have a passion for technological

freedom to explore and create and is well aligned with the

innovation. By uniting the disciplines of engineering,

College of Engineering’s culture of advanced collaboration.

business, and design, the additional major will equip

“Our university and its students have a strong desire

engineering students with the formal engineering innovation

to impact the world. That ambition together with the

and design skills needed to innovate products around

outstanding engineering training they get here make this new

technology and deliver viable product solutions for the

additional major an especially good fit,” said Boatwright.

marketplace and society.

The Engineering Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

The skills that students will develop can be applied to new business ventures that drive innovation to market,

major joins Biomedical Engineering and Engineering and

established companies that innovate their existing products,

Public Policy as one of three additional majors that students

or non-profit sector projects working for social good.

can take in addition to one of the primary majors.

The 6 primary majors include: Chemical, Electrical and Computer, Civil, Environmental, Materials Science and

Learn more about the Engineering Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship major at www.cmu.edu/iii/undergradedie/index.html.

Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 35

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

PICOCTF EMPOWERS TEACHERS TO BRING CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION TO THEIR CLASSROOMS

For over ten years, Carnegie Mellon

Teachers walked away from the

University’s picoCTF has been working

experience with actionable lesson

to close the cybersecurity talent gap,

plans, ready to be implemented in the

introducing the field to students of

upcoming school year.

to teach it confidently.

“Even as a computer science major, cybersecurity was never a focus of mine.”

Understanding the importance of

all ages through its annual Capture-

“Training teachers is the only way

this growing field, Miller decided to

the-Flag competition and year-round

to scale cybersecurity education,” said

attend the picoCTF for NSA GenCyber

educational platform.

David Brumley, professor in Carnegie

Teachers’ Program, hoping to open new

Mellon’s Electrical and Computer

doors for his students.

This past summer, picoCTF furthered its outreach efforts, bringing together

Engineering Department and founder

“It’s our job as educators to open

high school teachers from around the

of picoCTF. “And it only works when

[students’] eyes to the future and what’s

U.S. for its first-ever NSA GenCyber

you find teachers willing to add to

possible for them,” said Miller. “By

Teachers’ Program.

their already busy schedules to learn

shining a light on the opportunities in

something new.”

cybersecurity, I hope to motivate my

The five-day in-person camp offered a comprehensive program featuring

Steve Miller, a computer science

students to consider their futures and

engaging lectures, hands-on labs, and

teacher at Upper St Clair School District

give them the chance to see if this is a

valuable networking opportunities

(PA), recognizes the challenges around

field they are interested in pursuing.”

as attendees were introduced to

introducing cybersecurity into high

the latest tools, resources, and best

school curricula, explaining that teachers

Hilton Head Preparatory School, who

practices in cybersecurity education.

often don’t have the background or skills

spent almost 20 years as a software

36 / FALL 2023

Laura Campbell, a teacher at

developer, traveled from South Carolina to attend the program. Taking what she’s learned throughout her career, Campbell has made it her mission to create new technology offerings at her school and plans to introduce a course on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity this fall.

“I would recommend a program like this to any teacher interested in bringing cybersecurity education to their students,” said Campbell. “Coming in person and having the opportunity to talk with the instructors and the other teachers has been invaluable.”

“I’m really excited to bring these ideas and the lesson plans we’ve created to my new course right from the get-go.” picoCTF’s hacking competition has been on Marlboro High School (NJ) teacher Christine Rehwinkel’s radar for years. Her family has made the annual event a tradition, coming together to learn new concepts and solve challenges. With Rehwinkel’s school district preparing to introduce cybersecurity courses, she jumped at the opportunity to attend the camp.

“Because it’s such a new field, finding resources for teaching cybersecurity has been challenging,” said Rehwinkel.

“When I saw picoCTF was offering a teachers’ camp, I already knew what a great resource its platform and

really focus on finding ‘shortcuts’ to help

“With a decade of success as

competition are, so I immediately

them achieve stable and lucrative lives,”

an annual CTF competition and

signed up.”

said Hooper.

subsequently evolving into a year-round

Patrick Hooper, the co-founder

“When we heard cybersecurity was

learning platform, the natural evolution

of Community Forge, a community

an area where there was a lot of need,

of picoCTF is to provide training to those

center located in Wilkinsburg, PA,

with technical skills that can be learned

on the frontline of education,” said

looks at cybersecurity education from

outside of a four-year program, that

picoCTF Director Megan Kearns.

a slightly different lens. He believes

really excited us.”

the field could provide life-changing

“By empowering teachers with the

Hooper believes picoCTF’s gamified

skills to harness programs like picoCTF,

opportunities for the underserved

learning experience, coupled with its

we magnify our impact on students and

populations his organization works with.

accessible platform, has the potential

accelerate our pursuit of narrowing the

to engage and inspire his students,

cybersecurity talent gap. The future

empowerment, helping the youth get

opening the door to a brighter future

of cybersecurity education and our

what they need out of life,” said Hooper.

and rewarding, well-paying careers.

nation’s health relies on a confident and

“A big part of education is

“The reality for many of the youths we

Thanks to the program’s success

work with is that they might not be able

and funding from the National Security

Teachers interested in attending the

to pursue a four-year degree. They need

Agency (NSA), picoCTF organizers have

program are encouraged to reach out

to make money to pull themselves and

announced they will host the camp

to picoCTF Director Megan Kearns at

their families out of poverty. So, we

again in 2024 and 2025.

mkearns1@andrew.cmu.edu.

competent workforce.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 37

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

REMEMBERING DENNIS PRIEVE Dennis Prieve, emeritus Gulf professor

of diffusiophoresis, colloidal forces, and

of chemical engineering, passed away on

electrokinetic phenomena, including the

Thursday, May 11, 2023, after a long illness.

development of Total Internal Reflection

Prieve joined the faculty of Carnegie Mellon

forward by developing powerful ways to

after his retirement in 2017.

measure the motion of colloidal particles

He left a legacy of rigorous research and

using advanced optical techniques,” says Jim

generous mentorship that extends from the

Schneider, professor of chemical engineering.

Department of Chemical Engineering through

Prieve considered his greatest achievement

the colloidal and fluid mechanics communities.

to be the success of his students, who went

“What struck me about Dennis was his

on to become CEOs, university presidents

thoroughness, his organization, his rigor, and

and deans, and eminent faculty, among other

how he approached things fundamentally,”

distinguished careers.

says Paul Sides, emeritus professor of chemical

“Dennis was committed to educating

engineering. “Professionally, you could test

the next generation. He cared about his

things against him and rely on the fact that

students and wanted to make sure they were

he would think about them from the most

prepared for research and their careers. I

fundamental points of view: where things

saw this in the rigor of his research and in

come from, not just how they’re described.”

his teaching,” remembers Annette Jacobson

Respected in both theoretical and experimental arenas, Prieve made groundbreaking contributions to the theory

38 / FALL 2023

Microscopy (TIRM). “Dennis moved the field

in 1975 and remained a professor emeritus

(BS’79, Ph.D.’88), emeritus teaching professor of chemical engineering.

NSF RECOGNIZES EARLY-CAREER FACULTY College of Engineering’s Amanda

products. Krause’s research also focuses

Krause and Rosalyn Abbott were

on implementation via educational

awarded National Science Foundation

programs, both for engineering and

(NSF) CAREER grants for their

pre-collegiate students. The aim of this

research. The NSF Faculty Early Career

outreach is to spark interest in this field

Development Program awards grants

and offer interdisciplinary training that

to “early-career faculty who have the

will create skilled ceramic engineers.

potential to serve as academic role

Rosalyn Abbott, assistant professor

models in research and education and

of biomedical engineering, also

to lead advances in the mission of their

received the NSF CAREER grant for her

department or organization.”

work in developing cultured meat as

Amanda Krause, assistant professor

a way to combat the environmental,

of materials science and engineering,

public health, and food security issues

has been awarded a five-year NSF

that accompany regular protein

CAREER grant for her research in

consumption. This research looks at

ceramic materials. Her work investigates

the 3D structures of the animal meat

the process in which grains, the

tissues, specifically how fat is stored,

microstructures found in many

and aims to recreate an artificial meat

ceramics, grow in high temperature

product that mimics these properties

conditions. Grain size is important for

and structures. This will allow this meat

determining material properties such as

substitute to be more realistic and

crack resistance, which is related to the

palatable, and subsequently, be more

construction of high-tech devices like

accepted by consumers. Abbott also

airplane engines and microprocessors.

seeks to increase consumer awareness

A better understanding of their growth

of the current state of the animal meat

process when heated will help develop

supply chain through educational

newer and more effective processing

outreach, which she hopes will help

methods for ceramics and hopefully

steer consumers towards this solution.

yield stronger and more stable

Rosalyn Abbott

Amanda Krause

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 39

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Source: Jaci Bliley (course co-lead) An example of what students are bio printing in the C3-PO course: a branch of one of the coronary arteries printed out of an alginate biomaterial.

40 / FALL 2023

AFTER-SCHOOL BIOPRINTING COURSE Biomedical engineers from Carnegie Mellon

According to the United States Bureau of Labor

University have teamed up with the Citizen

and Statistics, the biomedical engineering field is

Science Lab to launch a new program, C3-PO

projected to grow 10% by 2031, faster than the

(the Collaborative for the 3D Printing of Organs),

average of most other occupations. C3-PO is the

to teach middle- and high-school students from

first-of-its kind program in Pittsburgh geared

underserved communities the processes involved

toward exposing Black, African American, and

in soft-tissue biofabrication. Supported by a

female students to biomedical engineering career

generous grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation, the

possibilities, including the continually evolving area

effort gives participants exposure to biofabrication

of biofabrication.

basics through innovative learning modules, hands-

“The power of collaboration is key in helping

on experimentation, and opportunities to interact

to advance biofabrication technology,” said Jaci

with professionals in the industry.

Bliley, a postdoctoral associate of biomedical

“C3-PO aims to bring the forefront of innovation

engineering and lead facilitator of the C3-PO

in biomedical engineering and 3D bioprinting to

course. “I think back to my middle- and high-school

young students to inspire them and give them

experience, when I was unsure about my abilities

some real hands-on experience that will put them

and future career plans. It means a lot to now be

ahead of their peers if they decide to pursue

able to extend confidence and support to the next

an education or career in a related field,” said

generation of students, who are smart, driven, and

Rachelle Palchesko, assistant teaching professor

capable of doing great things!”

of biomedical engineering and C3-PO project

“We are so incredibly proud and impressed with

lead. “As part of the course, our cohort of 10

what our C3-PO students have accomplished,”

students learns how to use 3D printers, including

adds Palchesko. “We really hope to continue

maintenance, modification, design, and printing.

working with The Citizen Science Lab to keep the

Then we shift our focus to growing, maintaining,

program going over the next few years.

and working with cell cultures.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 41

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DEF CON CHAMPIONS AGAIN The winningest team in DEF CON’s Capture-the-Flag (CTF) competition history, Carnegie Mellon University’s Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), was back at it again, as the team defended its title, earning its seventh victory in the past 11 years.

PPP joined forces with CMU alum and University of British Columbia Professor Robert Xiao’s team, Maple Bacon, as well as hackers from CMU alumni and PPP founders Brian Pak and Andrew Wesie’s startup Theori. io (The Duck). Together, the group competed under the name Maple Mallard Magistrates (MMM).

DEF CON’s three-day flagship competition, widely considered the “Olympics” of hacking, brought together some of the world’s most talented cybersecurity professionals, researchers, and students, as twelve of the world’s top teams (who qualified from a field of 1,828 teams) attempted to break

founded multiple successful companies

Carnegie Mellon University’s annual

each other’s systems, stealing virtual

like Theori, ForAllSecure, and Comma,

student-focused hacking competition,

flags and accumulating points while

and have become professors at top

picoCTF, developing challenges of

simultaneously protecting their own.

universities. Graduates of CMU’s

varying levels of complexity. picoCTF

As the number of cybersecurity

cybersecurity programs are simply

has long been the go-to CTF for middle

attacks continues to increase worldwide,

among the best in the field, and DEF

and high school students looking to

competitions like DEF CON’s Capture-the-

CON is just one very specific way that

build and hone their cybersecurity skills,

Flag provide the opportunity for leading

proves it.”

and in recent years has expanded to

cybersecurity engineers to measure

PPP was first formed in 2009 and

up against one another, learning and

began competing at DEF CON in 2010.

as well as several country and

developing new techniques as they work

The team’s previous wins came in 2013,

continent-specific leaderboards.

through various challenges.

2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022, with

Home to the CyLab Security and

second place finishes in 2015, 2018, 2020,

Privacy Institute, U.S. News and World

“It’s hard to understate the impact

include an undergraduate leaderboard,

our students have in cybersecurity,”

and 2021. The team runs and competes in Report’s top-ranked undergraduate

said David Brumley, a professor

several cybersecurity competitions each

cybersecurity program, and several

in CMU’s Electrical and Computer

year, and recently defended its title at

world-class graduate programs and

Engineering Department. “Aside from

the MITRE embedded Capture-the-

courses, Carnegie Mellon University

DEF CON, CMU students were the first

Flag event (eCTF).

continues to lead the way in

to hack a Tesla and the iPhone, have

42 / FALL 2023

Members of PPP contribute to

cybersecurity education and research.

ASCEND MENTOR NETWORK ENRICHES DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR NSF POSTDOCS Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has

physical sciences fields. Fellows are

fellow at the University of California

received a $1 million dollar award from

funded for two to three years.

– Riverside, said the workshop was

the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Alaine Allen, associate dean for

to collaborate on the ASCEND Mentor

diversity, equity, and inclusion and

Network, a multi-institutional effort to

a distinguished service professor of

to know the Mentor Leadership team

support postdoctoral fellows in NSF’s

Engineering and Public Policy in the

more,” said Rodriguez Wimberly, who

Mathematical and Physical Sciences

College of Engineering; and Michael

studies near field cosmology and galaxy

Ascending Postdoctoral Research

Young, associate dean for diversity,

evolution. “How they center equity and

Fellowship (MPS-ASCEND) program.

equity, and inclusion and an associate

excellence in their careers and in their

professor in the Mellon College of

mentorship work is really empowering

fellows with resources, interdisciplinary

Science, will represent Carnegie Mellon

and shows me there’s hope to do

interactions, mentorship, and diverse

on the ASCEND leadership team.

similarly in my career. It was also so

perspectives, the ASCEND Mentor

“I joined this leadership team

incredible to build community with my

Network spans four universities

because engaging with the NSF MPS-

fellow ASCEND postdocs. I love feeling

with CMU leading the charge. The

ASCEND Postdoctoral Fellows connects

like I’m now truly in a network of really

partnership includes Iowa State

the Carnegie Mellon University

kind, fun, hard-working folk who all are

University, Tuskegee University, and the

community to a pool of equity-focused

striving to be equally excellent scientists

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

scholars who will utilize an inclusive

and equity advocates.”

Aiming to connect MPS-ASCEND

The MPS-ASCEND program began

approach to their future roles as

incredibly valuable.

“It was inspiring and motivating to get

More events will take place later

in 2021 and supports postdoctoral

faculty or industry leaders,” Allen said.

this year virtually and at other ASCEND

fellows who will broaden the

“Additionally, my involvement on this

leadership institutions. The next

participation of members of groups

project allows me to collaborate with

Fellowship Conference will be held Oct.

historically excluded and currently

a team of educational experts across

4-6, 2023, at Iowa State University.

underrepresented in mathematical and

institutions to learn new strategies

“It was an honor to have the

that will strengthen the programming

Inaugural 2021 and the 2022 National

and support we offer to our CMU

Science Foundation MPS-ASCEND

postdoctoral fellows.”

Postdoctoral Research Fellows on the

Allen and Young hosted the first

Carnegie Mellon University campus,”

in-person Fellowship Conference in

Allen said. “These fellows are a

partnership with the ASCEND leadership

brilliant, engaging, and inclusive group

team at CMU Feb. 8-10, 2023. During

of scholars who will make positive

the workshop, attendees networked,

contributions to the institutions where

outlined individual development plans

they choose to work. Our NSF ASCEND

for professional goals, and attended

Mentor Network team is honored to

NSF leadership talks.

get to know them and support their

Katy Rodriguez Wimberly, an ASCEND

professional journeys.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 43

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

W E N 44 / FALL 2023

A C S

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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 45

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

NEW LABS NEW RESEARCH NEW SCAIFE HALL TRAN SFORMATI O N AL R ES EAR C H N EED S A TRAN SFORMAT I O N AL B UI L DI N G. Scaife Hall will foster the College’s culture of Advanced Collaboration® by physically bringing faculty and student researchers together to find new ways of approaching and solving complex problems to improve our lives.

DO N ATE NOW TO N E W S C A I F E H A LL

giving.cmu.edu/Scaife2023

46 / FALL 2023

NEW LEADERSHIP FOR THE SCOTT INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY INNOVATION BOOK REPORT INTERDISCIPLINARY R E S E A R C H O N C L I M AT E A N D ENERGY DECISION MAKING Edited by M. Granger Morgan, the Hamerschlag University Professor of Engineering in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie

Costa Samaras

Valerie Karplus

This book explores the role of

Costa Samaras has been named the next Director of the Wilton E. Scott

interdisciplinary research in addressing

Institute for Energy Innovation. Samaras began his faculty career at CMU

key issues in climate and energy

in 2014 as an Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and

decision making.

rose to the rank of Professor in 2022. His research interests span a wide

For over 30 years, an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students anchored

range of topics in energy systems, from the technical and policy issues of decarbonization to energy and infrastructure innovation strategies.

at Carnegie Mellon University, joined

Samaras brings the right blend of technical and policy expertise and a

by researchers across North America,

very strong ability to communicate about energy systems in ways that result

Europe, and Australia, have worked

in real impact. His ability to bring people together to work on and solve big

together to understand the global

problems is unmatched, ensuring his ability to lead the Scott Institute to

changes that are caused by human

play a crucial role in our world’s necessary energy transition.

activities and natural causes.

In addition, Valerie Karplus will serve as the Associate Director of the

Exploring topics such as energy

Scott Institute. Karplus, a professor in the Department of Engineering and

efficiency, public health, and climate

Public Policy, will continue her great work in decarbonization and will also

adaptation, the authors describe how

act as a partner and strategic advisor to drive the institute forward.

they addressed key problems posed by

Samaras and Karplus will work closely with Executive Director Daniel

the human aspects of climate change;

Tkacik and Co-Director Professor Andy Gellman to fulfill the Institute’s

illustrate how investigators have worked

mission of encouraging the development of technologies and policies that

across disciplines and locations on

accelerate the transition to a sustainable, net-zero emissions future.

common problems; and they encourage funders and scholars to undertake similar research to meet the world’s largest challenges.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 47

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

STUDENT NEWS / CULINARY MECHANICS Carnegie Mellon University engineering

to restaurant kitchens, students saw

Beard Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic Award,

students were back in the kitchen

how mechanical tools such as a knife

and their Bloomfield (Pittsburgh)

last semester to learn how the same

or mortar and pestle are used in food

restaurant, Apteka, was also included

mechanics that apply to airplanes and

preparation. Philip LeDuc, a professor

in the New York Times list of 50 best

automobiles relate to the mechanics of

of mechanical engineering, says that

restaurants in America for 2022.

cells in the foods we eat.

while there are numerous kitchen

The popular Culinary Mechanics

Lasky and Skowronski’s

chemistry courses, he doesn’t know

commitment to nearly continuous

course focuses on how controlled

of any other food-related courses that

menu experimentation and creative

mechanics such as cutting, chopping,

focus mainly on the study of mechanics.

use of local and seasonal ingredients

and mixing can alter the texture, taste,

The class spent time with Chefs

contributes to their success, but it also

consistency, and nutritional value of

Kate Lasky and Tomasz Skowronski,

served to capture the attention and

foods. During hands-on labs and visits

who were finalists for the James

imagination of the students whose

48 / FALL 2023

Students in Phil LeDuc’s Culinary Mechanics class visited Apteka Chefs Kate Lasky and Tomasz Skowronski.

This Dish Contains Eggs may fool you when you realize that vanilla custard, sugared milk, and pound cake were made to look like an egg on toast.

engineering studies also call upon their

class project to create a new food.

the best materials to the ones who are

ability to experiment, employ innovative

Past capstone projects have included

the most creative,” said LeDuc.

methods, and develop creative use of

an on-the-go pancake that used the

varied materials.

mechanical properties of spherification

a Heinz company scientist, reached out

But the connection didn’t end

Ten years ago, when Kurt Willwock,

to encapsulate syrup inside the

to LeDuc to talk about ketchup, LeDuc’s

there. Skowronski is a Carnegie

pancake bites; stained-glass potato

initial reaction was, “I don’t do food.”

Mellon alumnus with a degree in

chips that were made colorful and

philosophy, and his father, Marek

translucent by boiling, molding, and

cell mechanics in human disease, did

Skowronski, is a materials science and

dyeing; and taffy balloons that were

have the information and expertise

engineering professor, who joins his

created by modifying taffy with gelatin

that Willwock wanted. Much of LeDuc’s

son on expeditions to glean seasonal

and adding helium.

work envisions cells and molecules

fruits, vegetables, and sunflowers.

In what Pittsburgh Magazine called,

But it turns out LeDuc, who studies

This year’s projects were equally

as systems that can be investigated

creative and included chocolate that

with some of the same fundamental

“the most striking, of-the-moment

was colored, garnished, and tempered

approaches used on machines.

(and, well, very Instagramable) plant-

to look like tortilla chips; bubble tea

based dish around,” Skowronski added

with tiny bubbles made of tea instead

applied to the cellular composition of

a whole-roasted sunflower head to

of tapioca; s’moremallows, made by

food like ketchup, which according to

Apteka’s menu that diners ate like corn

encapsulating chocolate and graham

Willwock is one of the most scientifically

on the cob.

crackers in marshmallow fluff; and junk

investigated foods in the world. It’s a

“For two years we tried to capture

jam, which was a creative use of food

revelation that LeDuc has been sharing

the sunflowers when the seeds were

waste made by blending, boiling, and

in the Culinary Mechanics course

just right and in the third year, we did it

sweetening the otherwise inedible rind

he has been teaching ever since. He

and were able to serve them when the

of a watermelon.

estimates that close to 150 students

seeds were not too fibrous and could

LeDuc says it’s one of the most

Those same mechanics can also be

have taken the course, including Jiaxuan

be eaten without having to spit out the

creative courses because instead

(Josh) Li who graduated in 2019 with

shells,” explained Skowronski, who ate

of having only a limited number of

degrees in mechanical engineering and

sunflower seeds from the flower heads

materials to work with, students can use

robotics and is now a product manager

as a boy visiting Poland.

anything edible.

with the molecular beverage startup

The mechanical principles that

“It’s a real shift from the best project

company, Cana. Li said of the class, “It

students learn throughout the

being done by the students who are the

really inspired me and helped affirm my

semester prepare them for the final

most knowledgeable or have access to

passion in the food space.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 49

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

LESSONS FROM COVID DRIVING AUTONOMY INTO THE METAVERSE

metaverse to generate diverse safety-critical scenarios that can quickly adapt to various environments to provide numerous realistic testing cases, without the need to track hundreds of miles.

“Autonomous driving has demonstrated promising potential to reduce crashes, save people’s time, and combat climate change,” explain Zhao, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “But it’s evident that the guarantee

Nearly 400 crashes were linked to self-driving cars in the

of safety is still missing. We want to develop that missing

10 months between July 2021 and May 2022. There is a

piece for the large-scale deployment of self-driving.”

critical need for manufacturers and control boards to

One way to generate safety-critical autonomous system

understand these safety issues in order to earnestly embrace

scenarios is by finding failure cases by trial and error. Digital

autonomous vehicles. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon are

twins provide perfect test beds to create safety-critical

driving autonomy into the metaverse to understand safety-

scenarios without causing damage in the real world. Wenhao

critical scenarios by way of digital twins.

Ding and Jiacheng Zhu, Ph.D. students in Zhao’s lab, proposed

Because car crashes affect the average driver only

a new method, Learning to Collide, to identify risky scenarios

once every 18 years, and heavily dependent on diverse

leveraging the reinforcement learning technique. This method

environments like individual driving habits and road

builds a framework where the autonomous system is a victim

conditions, gathering data in the real world on safety-critical

attacked by the scenario-generation algorithm.

scenarios is nearly impossible. Students in Ding Zhao’s

Another efficient way to generate desired scenarios in

lab proposed the possibility of gathering that data in the

digital twins is using causality, which describes the cause-

50 / FALL 2023

and-effect relationships between objects. For example, an

topics from students at other leading institutions. I am glad

accident between a pedestrian and a vehicle is caused by

our work was recognized.”

another vehicle blocking the view of the pedestrian. The

“I am happy to see that my students are controlling their

team developed a method called Causal Autoregressive

own success, and this award reflects that,” Zhao stressed.

Flow (CausalAF) to generate safety-critical scenarios in

“They proposed this concept, and now they get to drive the

autonomous digital twins. It uses causality summarized

digital twin development.”

by human experts and enables efficient generation to find diverse risky scenarios for self-driving vehicles.

Understanding these scenarios extends beyond the road, as the use of autonomous machines is actively explored

“What we are doing is unique because typically the cause

in manufacturing. Zhao’s group has created a digital twin

of inference is studied by statisticians for theory, but we are

of Mill 19, the home of Carnegie Mellon’s Manufacturing

applying it to the real world,” said Ding. “We are building the

Futures Institute, to more efficiently and cost-effectively

bridge between the digital world and the real world, and we

explore safety in manufacturing. This project began as an MFI

believe that it is the most efficient way to ensure the safety of

seed project in April 2022. Each seed project is funded with

people using digital systems.”

the goal that the research will be able to secure follow-on

Ding and Zhu’s proposal, “Safety-Critical Scenarios

funding from external sources.

Generation and Generalization for Autonomous Driving’’ was

“Manufacturing scenarios have human-robot interactions,

awarded the 2022 Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship, which

and through a digital twin we can assess working conditions.”

promotes innovation, execution, and teamwork.

Zhao went on to point out, “Scenarios with safety and security

“I am very excited to get this prestigious award,” said Zhu. “When we gave the presentation in the final round of

problems may be rare, but they do happen. It is critical for us to understand the why in order to prevent recurrences.”

competition, I noticed that we were up against very novel

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 51

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

MORE TITLES FOR CMU’S HACKING TEAM For the second year in a row, Carnegie Mellon’s

Over the course of three months, PPP, and 79 other

competitive hacking team, the Plaid Parliament

collegiate-level teams, worked to design and implement a

of Pwning (PPP), has taken home the top prize at

key fob system for a car door lock to prevent unauthorized

the MITRE Embedded Capture-the-Flag (eCTF)

entry or attacks such as replays and key fob cloning.

cybersecurity competition. The PPP team is made up

PPP’s win was definitive, scoring over 10,000 points

of 14 students from across the university, more than

more than the second-place finisher. CyLab Security and

half of which were Information Networking Institute

Privacy Institute Project Scientist Maverick Woo, who co-

(INI) students and alumni. INI Associate Teaching

advised the team with Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor Patrick Tague serves as a co-advisor to the

(ECE) Professor Anthony Rowe and Tague, credits the

team while Assistant Teaching Professor Hanan Hibshi

victory to the group’s composition and work ethic.

serves as a faculty advisor.

“Our team has strong expertise in both embedded

“CTF competitions are more than just games. The

development and attacks,” said Woo. “Our students worked

challenges help players enhance the essential skills

hard and were committed, and they were able to organize

that make them more valuable in the workplace,” said

themselves to take advantage of the large team size.”

Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of the INI and Barbara

The annual competition saw teams from the United

Lazarus Professor of Information Networking. “I am

States and around the world, with a record-breaking

thrilled to see such a high level of participation from

546 student participants. Notably, PPP finished ahead of

our INI community and wanted to congratulate the

hackers from the University of California, Santa Cruz (2nd

PPP team members, as well as the faculty advisors

place), and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

who continue to dedicate themselves to training the

(3rd place).

problem solvers of the future.”

The competition had two phases—design and attack.

Each phase offered opportunities to score points by obtaining flags and submitting them to the live eCTF scoreboard.

During the design phase, hackers acted as a team of engineers at a car manufacturer, designing and building the embedded software that would be installed on the next line of cars and key fobs sold to customers. In the attack phase, teams had the opportunity to analyze other groups’ designs and identify security flaws as they aimed to unlock and start the vehicles without authorization from the vehicle owners. eCTF competitions are unique from other CTF competitions because they focus on embedded systems security. Students not only defend against traditional cybersecurity attack vectors but they also need to consider hardware-based attacks such as sidechannel attacks, fault injection attacks, and hardware modification attacks.

Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP) team

52 / FALL 2023

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 53

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

SUMMER INTERNS Summertime is when students across the College of Engineering take advantage of internships that give them the freedom to explore burgeoning career ideas, learn new skills, and visit new companies and locations.

JESSICA SHI (MSE’24)

WORKING SUMMER 2023 AS A PRODUCT DESIGNER AT APPLE IN SHANGHAI, CHINA. “I’ve always wanted to be a PD materials specialist, and this internship seemed like a great opportunity for me to explore this career path and find my niche in the broad materials science and engineering field. I’ve picked up many useful skills like computer-aided design, 3D printing, and design for manufacturing.”

54 / FALL 2023

SHAGUN MAHESHWARI (MSE’25)

ENGINEER AT SPACEX STARLINK HEADQUARTERS IN REDMOND, WA “At SpaceX, your discipline does not define or limit you, as our number one rule is to have extreme ownership. Even if you don’t currently possess another discipline’s engineering skillset, there is a huge emphasis on learning on the job and learning how to learn fast on the job. This culture and mindset of extreme ownership and being an all-rounded engineer is one I love and deeply resonate with.”

SERGIO RODRIGUEZ (MECHE’23)

SMALL-SCALE TOY DESIGN AT MATTEL IN EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA Pursuing independent study in the spring semester, Sergio Rodriguez designed a fidget toy. He has carried his toy design from proof-of-concept to creating several prototypes before landing on a final mode, preparing him for a summer at Mattel. “I love creating something like a 3D model, ideating the whole design cycle and process. I love how mechanical components interact with each other. I think there’s a lot of value in engineering for fun. It’s something that you can’t do in many other industries. I want to have fun as an engineer.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 55

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

177

ENGINEERS & ATHLETES Leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills aren’t learned only in a classroom, but in athletics, too. In 2022-2023, of the 177 engineering students participating in Tartan athletics, nearly 60% of them had a 3.5 GPA or higher and 16 had a 4.0! Our students along with their teammates from across the university have helped make Carnegie Mellon’s athletics program one of the finest in the nation.

56 / FALL 2023

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 57

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

One of the most common complaints among consumers who use inflatable balls is that they inevitably go flat.

An airless solution to remedy this in basketballs is in progress with two Carnegie Mellon materials science (MSE) and biomedical engineering (BME) alumni at the forefront of its development.

As students, Nadine Lippa and Dave Krzeminski relied on their interest in sports to keep them balanced as they pursued their degrees. Lippa spent one year on the women’s soccer team as a walk-on, was a buggy pusher for PIKA for four years, and took up trail running and yoga, while Krzeminski was a member of the men’s swimming team, capturing the NCAA title for the 200yard butterfly in 2007.

Even though their time as students in MSE overlapped, it wasn’t until after they had graduated that they were able to connect thanks to Mike McHenry, a professor of materials science and engineering. Lippa saw McHenry during a Carnival weekend and inquired if he knew of anyone working in the area of sports materials engineering.

“The combination of MSE and BME really set the stage to go into sports engineering,” said Lippa. “The electives that fell between those two majors,

ALUMNI / ALUMNI DOUBLE TEAM SPORTS INNOVATION WITH AIRLESS BASKETBALL

such as studying physiology with Dr. Campbell, along with my MSE base, made me well-rounded going into my career.”

McHenry provided an introduction to Krzeminski, who was completing his Ph.D. at the University of Southern Mississippi. Lippa and Krzeminski quickly became acquainted and continued to connect sports to their work as they followed similar trajectories in their Ph.D. programs, international internships and fellowships, and published research.

Eventually they married in 2017.

58 / FALL 2023

They most recently collaborated on a prototype of Wilson’s 3-D printed basketball that debuted at this year’s NBA All-Star Dunk Contest. Lippa, who is currently an innovation manager at Wilson Sporting Goods, says the project initially launched in 2018 in response to three issues faced by Wilson and its consumers: consistency in play that is impacted by ball inflation, sustainability, and production limitations.

From a sustainability perspective, an airless basketball has many benefits.

There is less waste with its production via additive manufacturing, as only one material is used to create this ball, as opposed to many materials procured globally in a conventional basketball.

Its ability to be produced anywhere with 3-D printing capability reduces shipping costs, further contributing to environmental impact. From a business perspective, making basketballs through

direction at all times,” said Krzeminski.

While the prototype had a

additive manufacturing reduces lead

“It took a lot of engineering of not just

successful launch earlier this year,

times, and order fulfillment can take

the powder material, but also of the

the overall project is still in progress

place in a more real-time fashion,

process, in order for the latticed design

as the design is further refined, and

eliminating supply chain issues currently

to serve its purpose.”

Wilson hopes to have a small batch

encountered by limited production sites.

While some digital testing was

release in 2024 through which they

While the final product may appear

possible, testing various outcomes

can gather more user insights. The

as though it was easy to make, it took

by printing samples was necessary in

airless basketball is just one of several

years of testing to find the right material

order to understand if the basketball

projects that Lippa is working on

for the airless basketball.

was acting as it was intended. From

at Wilson to reinvent inflatable ball

there, the team had to weigh several

sports. Additionally, Krzeminski is

interplay between the mechanical

factors from performance to economics

involved with other sporting goods,

design and the material of the ball, as it

to translating athlete feedback into

medical device, and sustainable energy

needed to be soft enough to catch, but

technical engineering action.

companies using both polymer and

“We faced the challenge of the

also capable of bouncing,” said Lippa.

The mentality required by their

She and her team at Wilson

athletic endeavors has transferred

reconnected with EOS during COVID

to their academic and professional

shutdowns when other aspects of

pursuits, particularly as the project

business slowed down and identified a

involved multiple iterations before

material that matched the specifications

landing on a prototype that could meet

ultimately used in the prototype—a

all the required specifications.

material that was not yet available when the project was initially conceived.

“There’s a lot of intricacy that went

metal additive manufacturing.

“Unless you’re unbelievably lucky, you have to learn to respond quickly amidst failure and adversity,” said

into printing an object that’s completely

Krzeminski, as he likened experiences

spherical and performs equally in every

as an athlete and a researcher.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 59

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Barbara Buck (fourth from left) at the 1975 Society of Women Engineers National Convention in Pittsburgh, PA. Source: Wayne State University

ALUMNA DELIVERS KEYNOTE SWE ADDRESS

Her father, who would later beam with pride over his daughter’s accomplishments, was initially skeptical

women who earned their engineering degrees in 1973.

But thanks to Herbert Toor, who was

too, believing that an engineering

the dean of the engineering college

education would be too costly. But

and a great proponent of women in

thanks to her mother who secretly set

engineering and science, Buck was able

aside money out of the family’s food

to participate in the SWE Professional

budget to help her daughter apply to

Development Conference. Toor

college, Buck was able to go on to earn

generously sponsored Buck’s trip to the

her chemical engineering degree at

Henniker, New Hampshire conference

Carnegie Mellon in 1973.

with the single caveat that when she

Fifty years later, she can recount

came back to campus, Buck would share

other obstacles, as well as other

what she had learned with her fellow

In 1968, when Barbara Buck informed

unexpected forms of support, including

students.

her high school counselor that she

the encouragement and help she got

“Attending the SWE conference as a

wanted to apply to Carnegie Mellon to

from the Society of Women Engineers

student was an amazing experience—a

study chemical engineering, she was told

(SWE), an organization that she has

real turning point for me,” said Buck

that women were not engineers and that

proudly listed among her credentials for

who was awed by the professional

she should be a chemistry teacher.

half a century.

women engineers she met there.

“I had no idea that being a woman

SWE, which was founded in 1950,

Interacting with women engineers

would be a barrier,” said Buck who

enjoyed a loose foothold at Carnegie

who were working at the Oakridge

excelled in math and science and had

Mellon in the early 1970s. It was

National Laboratory, employed as

been inspired to become an engineer by

then briefly deactivated before being

engineers and executives at major

a Penn State professor who visited her

reinstated permanently in 1977, a few

corporations, members of the Army

physics class.

years too late for Buck and the 11 other

Corps of Engineers, and owners of their

60 / FALL 2023

own engineering firms, showed her the exciting career paths that were possible.

The following year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette featured Buck in an article titled, “Women Engineers in Demand,” which reported that not only were employers seeking women engineers, but that the number of applicants was growing. Women enrolled in engineering programs at CMU had jumped from 10 in 1963 to 48 in 1973, according to the newspaper. Carnegie Mellon enrolled 208 women and 234 men in the 2022 incoming class of engineering students.

Almost as soon as Buck landed her first job with Union Carbide as a product and process development engineer, she joined SWE as a professional member.

She served in multiple leadership roles including chairwoman of the national convention in 1980.

She returned to campus on April 15 to deliver the keynote address at the

used in steel and stainless-steel alloys

CMU SWE 50th Anniversary Celebration.

and various refining and petrochemical

jobs is critical.

Professional and leadership

In addition to her long-held

applications with sales of $1 to 2

development programs offered by

dedication to SWE, Buck has had an

billion. She is a consultant and the

the organization are still excellent

impressive career in the chemicals,

executive committee president of the

opportunities to encourage young

plastics, and mining industries. After

International Molybdenum Association

engineers to excel in their studies and

more than a decade with Union Carbide,

who is leading the development of

prepare for their professional lives

she joined Amoco Chemical Company.

responsible production standards for

adds Buck.

Although there were few women in the

molybdenum to establish a Moly Mark

field then, the president at that time

brand that will provide assurance of

minority status in engineering,

was committed to supporting women

responsible mineral production and

Buck believes there is still a need

engineers, which made her experience

sourcing to various stakeholders.

for advocacy. She warns that not all

there fairly positive. Conditions became

Even as women surrender their

But Buck is more than just an

progress has been upward. Ground

less favorable for women who were

inspiration to women who aspire to

was lost during the economic turmoil

subjected to policies that limited their

engineering careers. She has a vision for

of the 1990s and probably again during

opportunities when the company was

the future success of women engineers

COVID. And she says there is still less

later acquired.

and for SWE.

representation in some fields and

Undeterred, Buck went on to serve

“Although women have made great

industries, such as mining. Given that

in leadership roles for industrial

strides over the years, SWE still has many

SWE also supports those in other STEM

coatings companies that took her to

important roles to play,” says Buck.

fields, there remains a need to expand

locations around the world, where

Outreach programs that encourage

opportunities in areas such as computer

she would be the first woman to ever

students to consider and pursue

science, which still tends to be heavily

enter a chlor-alkali plant in Mexico

engineering and STEM careers have long

dominated by men.

and the first woman invited to serve

been a standard for the organization at

Buck is genuinely grateful to Carnegie

on the board of a Tokyo-based joint

both the national and local level. There

Mellon and to SWE, and she is confident

venture formed to service the Japanese

is a tremendous need for engineers in

that belonging to the Society of Women

automotive industry.

manufacturing, which Buck says is the

Engineers can be equally beneficial

foundation of the U.S. economy, so

to those who are seeking their own

attracting both men and women to such

engineering and STEM career success.

Today, she is a highly sought-after expert in molybdenum, a metal additive

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 61

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

ACCELERATING ADOPTION OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING Engineering alumnus Brian Fisher is a strong link between top industry and academic researchers working in 3D printing technologies.

At Carnegie Mellon where both the

technologies like AM have the potential

Manufacturing Futures Institute

to dramatically lower costs and increase

and the Next Manufacturing Center

production for a company like Raytheon

conduct groundbreaking research

Technologies that works in both

in advanced manufacturing, it is no

aerospace and defense, so effective

surprise that dozens of students

partnerships between industry and

and faculty turned out to hear how

academic researchers are more than

a major aerospace manufacturer is

just mutually beneficial, their work has

utilizing additive manufacturing (AM)

serious implications for both economic

technology.

prosperity and national security.

Brian Fisher is a senior principal

The AM group at RTRC, which is the

additive manufacturing engineer at the

central innovation hub for Raytheon

Raytheon Technologies Research Center

Technologies’ business units, is focused

(RTRC) and a former Ph.D. student of

on optimizing design to improve

Jack Beuth, mechanical engineering

performance and minimize cost, drive

professor and faculty co-director of the

variability out of the process, and

Next Manufacturing Center.

accelerate certification activities across

Fisher came to the Carnegie Mellon

Raytheon Technologies. To accomplish

campus in April to meet with faculty and

this, they study many of the same AM

students to nurture the relationship

process parameters as Carnegie Mellon

that the university has with Raytheon

researchers.

Technologies, the world’s largest

“The AM work at CMU is well aligned

aerospace and defense company.

with what industry needs,” said Fisher

During his presentation, Accelerating

who says he knows that CMU is doing

Adoption of Additive Manufacturing in

good work and has comparable

Aerospace & Defense, Fisher appeared to

capabilities to the RTRC.

enjoy teaching a room full of his former professors.

“While a lot of the concepts that

Beuth believes Carnegie Mellon is the leading producer of academic additive manufacturing research

I discussed were not new to the

because of both the breadth of activity

audience, Raytheon Technologies has

and depth of expertise in AM and

some unique approaches, and I gave

artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the

them a perspective on the relevance

university.

and application of technical advances

“No other university has as many

in aerospace parts manufacturing,”

faculty working on funded AM projects.

said Fisher.

We currently have at least 30 faculty

Advanced manufacturing

62 / FALL 2023

members working on AM research,”

said Beuth.

Carnegie Mellon engineers were early AM adopters who now have a tremendous amount of experience and study a diverse range of AM issues— covering nearly all, if not all, primary AM research topics according to Beuth.

Fisher applied to Carnegie Mellon in 2014 after having earned his bachelor’s degree at Brown in 2010 and working several years on mechatronic systems

for more efficient algae production.

When he arrived at CMU, he didn’t

actual production,” said Fisher.

He says that his studies and research

production rates, there will be a greater need to understand complex defect

know much about metals AM, which

work at CMU is directly relevant to his

mechanisms. And the ability to rapidly

at the time was still mostly being used

work today and that from day one on

utilize information from one machine

for rapid prototyping. It was Beuth

the job he was able to contribute.

and apply it to another will be critical.

who sparked his interest and recruited

Beuth is not surprised by Fisher’s

Beuth also believes that artificial

him into the AM program. He was

success. He says additive manufacturing

intelligence will be key to advancing

attracted to the technology because

is an excellent field to be working in

widespread adoption of additive

it is a more efficient way to produce

because there is a ferocious demand

manufacturing.

parts for end use.

for it.

AI offers tremendous cost and time

“Jack really sold me on the vision for

“Every company that makes metal

the future of AM that is now coming to

parts is either actively adopting and

parts, particularly those with complex

fruition,” said Fisher.

expanding AM or tracking it for near

geometries that are produced in low

future adoption,” said Beuth.

volumes with high safety standards.

Since earning his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 2018, Fisher has seen firsthand how AM has advanced.

“There’s a definite focus on

The former student and his professor

savings in the production of metal

Beuth says there is an exceptional

agree on the evolving vision for the

degree of machine learning expertise

future of AM.

in both the College of Engineering and

industrialization now. We’ve moved past

Fisher says that there will be a

prototyping because we have a better

continued focus on driving down costs

throughout Carnegie Mellon that can be

understanding of the processes and

and reducing variability in the near

He says, “Carnegie Mellon engineers

can produce better quality parts. The

to mid-term, with a growing focus on

are uniquely qualified to work together

industry has matured but there is still

larger print volumes, faster build rates,

to apply AI to improve the design and

exciting work to be done,” said Fisher.

and more automated fault detection

material characterization of 3D printed

“What I really like is being able to

used to support industry.

and mitigation. He says that artificial

parts and develop process monitoring

dive deep into problems and apply an

intelligence will continue to drive

and control methods that are needed

academic understanding of the physics

innovation in this space because as

to qualify and certify parts for safety

of the process to developing parts for

you move to larger parts and higher

critical applications.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 63

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

FORBES RECOGNIZES ENERGY INNOVATORS Forbes named three Carnegie Mellon Engineering alumni to its 30 Under 30 in Energy list for 2023.

Bobuchi Ken-Opurum completed her

Rupamathi Jaddivada attended CMU for her

Ph.D. in Architecture Engineering and

master’s degree in electrical and computer

Construction Management (‘22), a joint

engineering (’15), where she researched dynamic

program of Civil and Environmental

modeling, simulations, and control of microgrids.

Engineering and the College of Fine

Her mentor, Professor Emeritus Marija Ilić, provided

Arts. Growing up in Nigeria, Ken-

invaluable guidance and helped Jaddivada develop

Opurum saw how the quality of life in

deep knowledge of power systems. Currently,

her community significantly improved

Jaddivada develops electric power systems at

with simple fixes to everyday problems

SmartGridz, a startup company that Ilić co-founded

such as pothole repairs and rainwater

in 2022. Their goal is to provide low-cost and low-

collection through cisterns. She realized

carbon electricity using a combination of smart

that most people who are affected

grid analytics, automation, and interactive IT/OT

by climate change often lack access

integrations. Jaddivada is pursuing her passion for

to viable solutions to their problems.

power system simulation and automation, and she

Fascinated with the ways different

has a pending patent for a control framework that

cultures combat climate change, she

will help establish secure and stable connections

set off to address this disparity.

for integrated military microgrids.

Ken-Opurum developed the ReHOUSED Climate Decision Support Toolkit, which allows self-builders living in coastal urban regions to make informed decisions regarding safe and climate-proof construction in an accessible way. This online resource presents solutions as visual presentations to make them easier to understand. With this toolkit, people can construct their homes in ways that better prevents damage from floods and heat stress.

Currently, Ken-Opurum serves as the director of research at the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute where her work focuses on the interplay between energy burden, energy efficiency, and distributed energy, with a focus on the profound implications for lower-income households.

64 / FALL 2023

Bobuchi Ken-Opurum

Raafe Khan was a part of CMU’s interdisciplinary master’s program in Energy Science, Technology, and Policy (‘16), where his classes fostered his curiosity of clean energy and energy markets.

“My coursework helped me develop a holistic perspective around how we can build better policy, processes, and tools to help create a more equitable and efficient clean energy future,” Khan says.

While working at Mortenson Construction, he applied his knowledge of programming algorithms and engineering principles to invent the WindBuilder™. This product creates detailed blueprints for projects that involve inverter-based resources, such as wind or solar energy and optimizes for total cost of ownership and energy Raafe Khan

production over the life of the project. With these instructive blueprints, construction companies and developers can manage the skilled labor shortage in the field and still get projects online quickly and safely. Since receiving a patent for his invention in September 2022, WindBuilder™ has been used to generate designs for efficient projects in several U.S. states.

Currently, Khan serves as the director of energy storage at Pine Gate Renewables where he has helped build a 25-gigawatt-hour energy storage project pipeline, one of the largest pipelines in the country. Additionally, he is a pioneer in bringing non-lithium battery technologies out of stealth mode and into the power generation industry. “We’re expanding the number of tools in our toolbox to help us transition over

Rupamathi Jaddivada

to a decarbonized economy,” Khan says. “The genesis of the work I’ve done is expanding that tool set, expanding the understanding of these technologies, and bringing manufacturing opportunities back to the United States—all cornerstone priorities to energy independence.”

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING / 65

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

MSE ALUM WINS $3M SCIENCE PRIZE A journey that started at Carnegie Mellon led alumnus Cliff Brangwynne (MSE ’01) to discover and elucidate a cellular process with the potential to revolutionize treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like ALS, among other clinical applications.

Brangwynne’s discovery—that living cells organize not just through structures defined by membranes but also through liquid-liquid phase separation—was published in Science in 2009. That paper gained traction over the years with more and more scientists recognizing its significance, and this year Brangwynne and co-author Anthony Hyman were awarded a $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the world’s largest science award.

Often likened to the way oil and water refuse to mix, phase separation

66 / FALL 2023

had not previously been associated with cell biology, though it is a core

themselves.

LeDuc and Brangwynne go back a

concept in material science and

long way. They first met at Harvard,

engineering. Brangwynne compares

where LeDuc was a postdoc. During

it to water condensing on a cold glass

this time, Brangwynne, who took a year

of iced tea on a humid summer day,

off from his Carnegie Mellon studies,

or rain forming in the atmosphere.

was working in a Harvard lab where his

In both cases, the water molecules

interest in cells proliferated.

existed in the air as a gas or vapor

Reflecting on Brangwynne’s body

before undergoing phase transition

of research, LeDuc explains that a

into a liquid.

layperson might think of cells as being

But instead of water molecules,

like a soup filled with a few noodles, “but

Brangwynne discovered biomolecules

it’s more like a jungle.” However, despite

condensing into liquid-like droplets

having such a packed environment,

distinct from the watery buffer that

cells can function efficiently with

surrounded them inside the cell.

organizational mechanisms including

“I am very fortunate to have been able to work with fantastic collaborators

phase separation.

Before Brangwynne’s work, LeDuc

to found this new field,” Brangwynne

said very few people were connecting

said, referring to his former colleagues

the two concepts. “He’s defined an area

at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular

inside of (the field) that’s super powerful

Cell Biology and Genetics and his more

and has also taken it to some fantastic

recent collaborators and trainees

levels of thinking,” LeDuc said, adding,

at Princeton University. The field

“Cliff is an extremely creative person …

has continued to expand as more

and that really separates him from so

researchers explore the discovery’s

many people.”

implications in different contexts. “I’ve had a very front row seat in something that has grown much bigger than what any set of individuals can do. And that’s really amazing to see, to watch that grow and evolve.”

According to the Breakthrough Prize announcement, “Their discovery is a fundamental advance in our understanding of cellular organization and is likely to lead to clinical applications in the future, including for neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS.” Phil LeDuc, a Carnegie Mellon professor of mechanical engineering and founding director of the Center for the Mechanics and Engineering of Cellular Systems, said Brangwynne “absolutely, totally deserved” the Breakthrough Prize for advancing thought on how cells organize

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CMU-AFRICA CELEBRATES 10TH GRADUATION The event honored the achievements of the Class of 2023, which included 158 graduates, representing 19 nationalities. The degrees awarded include the Master of Science in Information Technology, the Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the inaugural cohort of the Master of Science in Engineering Artificial Intelligence program. Congratulations!