Engineering Magazine: Fall 2020 by CMUEngineering

CARNEGIE MELLON ENGINEERING

FALL 2020 MAGAZINE

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF POLYMERS

FALL 2018 // CARNEGIE MELLON ENGINEERING //

CONTENTS FEATURE ADVANCING POLYMER SCIENCE

RESEARCH SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMAROPTERA

ELECTRICITY FOR ALL

MILL 19 GETS A DIGITAL TWIN

AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE SYRINGE

ANALYZING CELLS FOR FUTURE BIOMEDICAL DEVICES

A BIG COMEBACK FOR A LITTLE SWITCH

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE ON DEMAND

THINKING ABOUT BIAS IN AI

ADVANCING EEG FOR BRAIN IMAGING

A REMOTE CONTROL FOR NEURONS

REVOLUTIONING AGRICULTURE

AIR POLLUTION, SIMPLIFIED

BUILDING SMART CITIES WITH TAXIS

IS IT TOO HOT IN HERE?

DEPARTMENT NEWS

INSIDE THE COLLEGE EARLY CAREER FACULTY SHINE

INDUSTRY PIPELINE: ENGINEERING THE FACE OF COSMETICS

ADAMS NAMED HEAD OF EPP

CMU PORTUGAL ANNOUNCES $23M FUNDING

SECOND ROUND OF CYLAB FUNDING

STUDENT NEWS

SUCCESS ON AND OFF THE COURT

MANIPULATIONS IN THE DESERT

ALUMNI GERALD MEYER SHARES 100 YEARS OF STORIES

EDUCATION CHANGES LIVES AND COUNTRIES

ALUMNUS MEETS CHALLENGE OF PANDEMIC

FROM THE DEAN

Follow Dean Sanders on Twitter at @SandersCMU

Greetings, Another school year is underway, and it is indisputably

killing of George Floyd has forced our nation to confront

unlike any other. The predictable rhythm of research and

the legacy of racial injustice. Carnegie Mellon is committed

classes in the College of Engineering has been dismantled

to ensuring that the university stands on the right side of

to address the coronavirus pandemic. We worked incredibly

history through bold and concrete actions moving forward.

hard during the summer preparing for the fall term, and

This summer, the College of Engineering’s Dean’s Office

we are able to fulfill the promises we made to students and

and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee

those who support our research.

sought to generate constructive action in response to

This fall, we welcomed 446 first-year students, which is

racism. We have recently announced a global search

almost 10% more than our typical number. This provides

for the College’s first full-time Associate Dean for DEI.

counterbalance to the decrease, roughly 8% to 9%, in

As Engineering’s senior diversity officer, this position is

graduate students, as travel restrictions have affected

profoundly critical and necessary as it signals a change in

enrollment. To ensure everyone’s safety, we’ve enacted a

how we address racism, classism, and sexism that persists

hybrid plan for delivering education. Faculty rolled up their

in this country and across our campus community.

sleeves, revising 380 courses so that we can offer students variations of in-person and mostly remote classes. We asked the faculty tough questions. How, for example,

In spite of the uncertainty and outside disruptions that the College faces, we are adapting and thriving, and I am deeply grateful for the many ways that our community has

can you provide hands-on experiences when labs are

come together to support the College. As always, I welcome

closed or capacity is limited? They came back with practical

your comments.

solutions. Undergraduates in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering were shipped lab

Sincerely,

kits. Seniors in Chemical Engineering are learning how to

Bill

run lab experiments from their laptops, mirroring work they’d perform on a job. In other departments, faculty and staff have teamed to prep labs so students can take turns working in them, while classmates watch remotely. The pandemic is not the only issue that compelled us to examine how we engage in today’s world. The racial

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

THEN

NOW

SPA N I SH FL U P A N D E M IC , 1918

CO RO NA VI RU S P A NDEMI C, 2020

In the Time of Pandemic And the people stayed home. And they read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And they listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.

Reprinted with permission,

PA GE 03

Catherine M. O’Meara, 2020

ADVANCING POLYMER SCIENCE IN THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING As t h e d omai n of p o l ym e r sc i e nc e m a r k s its h u n d r ed t h b i r t h da y, C a r ne gi e M e l l o n i s loo k i n g at h ow en g i n e e r s f r o m a c r o ss t he

PA GE 0 5

col l eg e ar e ad van c i ng t he f i e l d i n 2 0 2 0 .

thinness with applications in robotics, insulators, and energy storage and transfer materials. Her research employs Carnegie Mellon’s Nanofabrication Facility, the only facility outside of MIT equipped for using CVD to manufacture polymer coatings. Jayan believes that “the ability to insert a polymer layer with surgical precision will create a new paradigm for interfacing diverse materials.” Assistant Professor Rebecca Taylor is a mechanical engineer with a background in engineering biomedical devices, and her work in polymers melds these disciplines, integrating systems at the nano-, micro-, and macroscale. Her research has explored augmenting DNA (a natural polymer) to create DNA nanomachines that could act as nanoscale sensors or motors. Most recently, Taylor has been working with peptide nucleic acids (PNAs)—artificially REEJA JAYAN

synthesized polymers similar in structure to DNA, but with unique properties. Hybrid molecules combining the strengths of these artificial and natural polymers could one day be used in drug delivery, the sensing and

E x pe rt a p p roa c h es

instrumenting of microscopic systems, the manufacture of microfluidic chips, and to

t o po l y mer scien c e

protect and alter living cells. Biomedical Engineering and Materials

Materials Science Professor Michael Bockstaller is doing fundamental work that explores the relationship between a

Industry Relevant Education CHEMICAL EN G I N EERI N G T EA C H I N G PRO F ES S O R ANNET T E J A C OB S ON DI REC T S A N D A DV I S ES STUDENTS TH RO U G H T H E C O L L O I DS , PO L YM ERS ,

Science Professor Adam Feinberg is printing a new generation of materials for a range of applications. Feinberg has created a gel-like support material within which polymers like

AND SURFAC ES MA S T ER’ S PRO G RA M— T O PI C S O N L Y

liquid epoxy can be printed for the first time.

of his work is with hybrid nanocomposites—

BRIEFLY COV ERED I N M O S T EN G I N EERI N G A N D

He’s also printing carbon fiber reinforced

polymers interspersed with nanoparticles—

SCIENCE CUR RI C U L A . T H E PRO G RA M I N C L U DES

epoxy composites, which can be notoriously

material’s structure and its properties. Much

and controlling the relationship between

COURSEWORK REL EV A N T T O MA N Y I N DU S T RI ES , A S CHEMICAL PRO DU C T MA N U F A C T U RE A N D PRO C ES S

difficult to shape. His startup, FluidForm,

DEVELOPMEN T O F T EN REQ U I RE A PPL I C A T I O N S

is looking to industry for inspiration, and

and study of the mechanical properties of

INVOLVING C O MPL EX F L U I DS T H A T I N C L U DE

Feinberg see’s future applications for 3-D

these materials allows for the creation of

NANOPARTIC L ES , MA C RO MO L EC U L ES , A N D

printed epoxy in everything from medical

the two components. Material modeling

strong, lightweight polymers, like those that

INTERFACES. T H ES E EN C O M PA S S I N DU S T RI ES WORKING WI T H N A N O T EC H N O L O G Y, C O A T I N G S A N D

devices to consumer goods like headphones.

PIGMENTS, PH A RMA C EU T I C A L S , S U RF A C T A N T -B A S ED

More broadly, the additive manufacturing

also helped design polymer components for

PRODUCTS, C O S MET I C S , PU L P A N D PA PER, I N K, F O O D

techniques he’s developing will enable new

devices like FLIR C&B protective suits, as well

SCIENCE, EN V I RO N M EN T A L S C I EN C E, A G RI C U L T U RA L

possibilities in application and design for

have replaced metals in car panels. He’s

as LED and QLED displays. In mechanical engineering, Associate Professor Reeja Jayan’s lab is using a

PRODUCTS, PO L YM ERS / A DV A N C ED MA T ERI A L S , A N D BIOMATERIA L S .

silicones, urethanes, hydrogens and a host of other polymeric materials. Materials Science Professor Mohammad

materials manufacturing method called

Islam is taking common, inexpensive

chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to create

polymers and turning them into high

nanometer thin coatings of materials like

performance polymer composites. Some are

plastics, but with altered conductivity.

lighter and stronger than aluminum, while

Adapted from microchip fabrication

others are self-healing composites, forming

processes, the CVD manufacturing process

the backbone for a new type of self-healing

creates a uniform coating at an unparalleled

electronic user interface (UI). Employing a

Newell Washburn, associate professor

easily be deformed, cut, and reconfigured

of chemistry and biomedical engineering, is

in various orientations. Reconfiguration or

using machine learning algorithms to design

repair takes just hours to solidify, and once

complex material systems. He’s creating

in place, damaged pieces will heal fully and

superplasticizer polymers for manufacturing

retain their ability to conduct electricity,

more sustainable cements, which currently

sense information, or actuate motion.

contribute over five percent of global CO2

Materials like this could eventually constitute

emissions. He’s also attempting to mimic

High Points C A RN EG I E MEL L O N U N I V E R S I T Y H A S I T S O W N H I S T O RY O F C O N T RI B U T I O N S T O PO L Y M E R S C I EN C E. T H E MEL L O N I N S T I T UT E C O U N T ED REN O W N ED P O L Y M E R S C I EN T I S T P A U L F L OR Y AMONGST ITS FACULTY FROM 1957 T O 1961; F L O RY WO UL D G O O N T O W I N T H E 197 4 N O BE L

major components in everything from self-

the thermal, structural, and mechanical

assembling structures to robotics.

properties of polyurethanes, found in

F U N DA M EN T A L A C H I EV E M E N T S ,

insulation and cushions. A fully recyclable

B O T H T H EO RET I C A L A N D

Bridging biomedical engineering and

PRI Z E I N C H EM I S T RY F O R “ H I S

EX PERI M EN T A L , I N T H E

materials science, Professor Christopher

version could save millions of pounds of

Bettinger’s lab works to design, synthesize,

polyurethane from entering landfills every

and process polymers into flexible

year. Washburn hopes to significantly

A N D C H EM I C A L EN G I N EE R I N G’ S

electronics for use in medical devices.

improve the sustainability of materials for a

K R I S MA T Y J A S Z EWS K I, TH E J . C .

Working with Materials Science Professor

more environmentally friendly future.

Jay Whitacre and Mechanical Engineering

Chemical Engineering’s Alan Russell,

PH YS I C A L C H EM I S T RY O F M A C RO MO L EC U L ES . ” C HE M I S T R Y

W A RN ER PRO F ES S O R O F N A T UR A L S C I EN C ES , H A S A C H I EV E D M O R E REC EN T REN O W N F O R H I S

Associate Professor Venkat Viswanathan,

the Highmark Distinguished Career

G RO U N DB REA KI N G DEV E L O P M E N T

he and his team used natural polymers

Professor, is creating “molecular chimeras,”

O F T H E A T O M T RA N S F ER R A D I C A L

to create ingestible batteries that are safe

combining the benefits of both natural

to swallow, biodegradable, and can safely

and synthetic polymers. He’s working with

power ingestible electronic devices within

Kris Matyjaszewski, using the latter’s ATRP

the GI tract for up to 18 hours. Bettinger

polymerization process to create a synthetic

is currently leveraging biocompatible

polymer “nanoarmor” around protein, an

elastomers and flexible electronic

organic polymer. Chimeric polymers like

components for use in ingestible medical

these could allow for advances in applications

devices such as sensors. Broadly speaking,

like drug delivery, shielding vulnerable

innovations in polymeric materials and

biological molecules in a protective coat of

devices could fundamentally improve

synthetic polymer. Russell’s future work will

our ability to sense and modulate organ

explore the characterization and simulation

systems, diagnose disease, or administer

of molecular chimeras, which may one day

new therapies.

play a major role in a protein industry worth

PO L YM ERI Z A T I O N (A T RP ) M ET H O D O F PO L YM ER S Y N T H E S I S I N 1995. “C A RN EG I E M EL L O N A N D PI T T S B U RG H ’ S H I S T O R Y I N PO L YMER RES EA RC H WA S A M A J O R F A C T O R I N M Y C HO I C E T O C O ME H ERE,” S A I D MA T E R I A L S S C I EN C E PRO F ES S O R MIC H A E L B OC K S T A L L ER.

CHRISTOPHER BETTINGER (CENTER)

$150 billion annually.

PA GE 0 7

modular design, these self-healing UIs can

RESEARCH

SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMAROPTERA

BRANDON LUCIA CREATED A BATTERYLESS REMOTE IMAGE SENSOR—AND TAUGHT IT TIME MANAGEMENT.

the interesting images over

device that could look at

a radio while disregarding

a parking lot to see which

uninteresting data, saving

spaces are filled and which

the energy that would have

are not. Or one that could

been used to send it.

find traffic jams and reroute

“The magic of

others away from it. Maybe

Camaroptera is that it can

such a device could keep

operate independently

an eye out for dangerous

and over large geographic

situations in public places.

areas. The device can

Brandon Lucia, associate

collect images in remote

professor of electrical and

areas, and then process

computer engineering, along

the images locally,” Lucia

with his Ph.D. student Harsh

said. “One of the benefits

Desai and collaborators

of doing computation

from the University of

locally is that it avoids

Trento in Italy, imagined a

using the radio. From an

device like this, and they

energy perspective, it’s very

named it Camaroptera, after

expensive to use the radio.”

a tiny, industrious bird. Camaroptera is a battery-

So, how should the device manage its energy? Some

less remote image sensor

must be spent collecting

powered completely by

data, some computing, and

solar panels and capable

some sending data over the

of wirelessly transmitting

radio. Plus, it needs to find

images over kilometers,

time to sit idle and harvest

even in a crowded city

energy. When should it do

environment. Camaroptera

each of these tasks? Faced

collects images and

with this question, Lucia and

processes them through

Ph.D. student Kiwan Maeng

what is known as edge

created a new algorithm and

computing. Edge computing

system for scheduling how

is when a sensor device

an energy-harvesting device

performs data analysis by

uses its time and energy.

itself, instead of spending

The device must ensure

large amounts of time and

that every application has

energy to send the data

its needs met in a timely

to a far-away cloud server

manner, and the device

for processing. Using edge

must never run out of

computing, Camaroptera

energy. If, for example, it

applies machine learning to

was a cloudy day, it would

the images it collects. Based

be difficult for the device

on the machine learning

to harvest solar energy. As

results, the device can send

a result, it wouldn’t have

CAMAROPTERA AT ACTUAL SCALE

enough energy to complete

of the device maintenance

the tasks it usually does. The

cost. We can’t have someone

scheduling algorithm can

driving around replacing

correct for that. Instead of

100,000 batteries in cameras

having the device perform

all over town once a year.”

a complex energy-intensive

This project is a part of

task, it can perform a

the Computing on Network

simpler one.

Infrastructure for Pervasive

“If you can’t meet the

Perception, Cognition, and

original specification for

Action (CONIX) Research

what the system is supposed

Center. Lead by Carnegie

to do, you can do something

Mellon University, CONIX is

that remains useful under

a multidisciplinary effort to

the limited amount of

create the architecture for

resources that are available,”

networked computing that

Lucia said. “The device gets

lies between edge devices

worse in a predictable and

and the cloud, allowing

controlled way.”

future IoT applications to

One of the other benefits

be hosted with guaranteed

of devices like Camaroptera

performance, security,

is that they are less

robustness, and privacy. It

expensive than a traditional

includes researchers from

device that performs the

six U.S. universities and is

same function. Lucia’s

funded by the SRC’s Joint

devices are cheap to build,

University Microelectronics

deploy, and maintain.

Program (JUMP),

“If you were going to

representing a consortium

use this to monitor civil

of industrial participants

infrastructure, it’d be really

and the Defense Advanced

cheap because you could

Research Projects Agency

manufacture them in large

(DARPA).

quantities,” Lucia said. “An important benefit of energyharvesting is the elimination PA GE 0 9

Imagine a small, inexpensive

ELECTRICITY FOR ALL Organizations like the World Bank imply that equality is an

remaining after the conflict’s end are centered around the

important aspect of their goals for expanding electricity

urban capital of Monrovia.

access in developing countries. Yet few studies have actually

number of individuals access to electricity under different

sub-Saharan Africa, and many have even used methods that

budget constraints, rather than simply meeting an assumed

further inequality. Destenie Nock, assistant professor of

demand at the least cost. While the latter might lead to

engineering and public policy in Carnegie Mellon’s College of

higher overall consumption, they found that countries that

Engineering has led the first study to “explicitly integrate a

place a higher emphasis on equality can see a 72-87 percent

stakeholder’s preference towards equality into an electricity

increase in energy accessibility, depending on their budget.

planning problem.”

Greater investment in transmission infrastructure leads to

Most research to date has taken a least-cost perspective when considering economic criteria, meaning they estimate

higher electrification rates overall. The researchers also found that while decentralized

future electricity demand and attempt to minimize the

systems may be more economically viable in unsupplied

cost necessary to meet it. Since it is difficult to project the

regions, they can actually discourage equality, especially

future electricity demands of those who currently have little

at low budgets due to scalability issues. They showed

or none, this estimation disproportionately favors urban

that investing in low-cost decentralized systems like solar

areas—which creates the appearance of higher demand,

discourages investment in transmission infrastructure,

which further perpetuates a cycle of unequal investment.

decreasing electricity access overall.

Nock chose instead to use an opportunity-focused model

Through their methodology, Nock and her team

that recognizes that people’s demand for electricity often

demonstrate that investment in an interconnected power

rises as supply grows and new opportunities emerge. This

system is key for equitable electrification planning in

model also accounts for load shedding, often in the form of

developing countries. Their opportunity-focused approach

planned blackouts, that often occurs in developing countries.

eliminates the urban bias of prior least-cost approaches and

“I am interested in incorporating more voices and

is widely applicable in countries with little to no electricity

objectives into electricity planning,” said

access like Malawi, Sierra Leone, Burundi and Burkina Faso,

Nock. “Traditional models are focused

or in disaster-affected areas like Puerto Rico.

on developing low cost systems, which is

Nock’s broader research interests revolve around

very important, but there are many more

systems modeling, the food-energy nexus and energy

objectives—like equity, climate mitigation

justice. She plans to continue adding new measures

and justice—that should be incorporated

to improve the model and include a larger scope of

into energy systems planning.”

stakeholder preferences.

Nock and her co-authors noted that the

DESTENIE NOCK

Their calculations emphasized providing the greatest

addressed how to ensure equality in developing areas like

“I am hoping to continue this research to incorporate

most effective technology for supplying

other preferences and electricity planning goals, including

a region differs, depending on its current

CO2 emissions, and climate mitigation planning,” said

energy infrastructure. Though connection to

Nock. “There are many different preferences stakeholders

a centralized electrical grid is often preferred, research shows

have regarding electricity, equity, and sustainability goals,

that decentralized systems are more economically viable in

which I feel are not currently incorporated in energy

regions without existing power system infrastructure.

optimization models.”

Nock’s team created a methodology for finding the optimal expansion of a power system that maximizes social benefit within a constrained budget. They chose the West African country of Liberia as an example study. Years of civil war have caused extensive damage to the country’s energy infrastructure, and the only major power generation facilities

MILL 19 GETS A DIGITAL TWIN

Digital twins are the future. Whether they

Ideally, a digital twin can be an accurate

first used laser scanning that casts numerous

know it or not, most Americans have already

representation of the object as it exists in

laser beams in every direction. As each

seen digital twins in science fiction and

real time, or a “living” digital twin.

beam meets a surface it reflects back to the

superhero movies. Through the magic of CGI,

This is incredibly difficult to create during

scanner, creating an array of dots called a

digital twins are often projected into the air

the construction of an object as complex

point cloud outlining the structure in space.

as floating maps and diagrams that can be

and dynamic as a large structure, yet that’s

Researchers took 120 scans between the

manipulated like a real object, effortlessly

exactly what Burcu Akinci and her Ph.D.

beginning of construction and completion,

combining and displaying real-time

student Yujie Wei have done. They’ve

capturing important features that would

information from an array of hidden sensors.

worked with construction and maintenance

eventually be concealed within the finished

personnel at Carnegie Mellon’s Mill 19 to

walls like mechanical, electrical, and

an object that exists in the physical world.

create a living digital twin of the university’s

plumbing infrastructure.

They can come in sizes as varied as the

state-of-the-art facility.

A digital twin is a digital representation of

objects they represent, from spark plugs, to sky scrapers, to human beings themselves.

Akinci, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and her team

Though accurate to a few millimeters, these scans must be performed often to include features like pipes and vents that

may later be hidden. This may not always be

An up-to-date model combining the

practical in the dynamic environment of an

precise location of every asset and object

active construction site. The team’s solution

integral to the building may save decision

was to fuse this method of digital twin

makers time, labor, guesswork, and money.

creation with another, using images collected

From a general standpoint, the ubiquity of

for various purposes during construction.

digital twin technology across numerous

Images from multiple angles can be

industries will only continue to increase. In

layered over the structure outlined by the

computing and electronics, a fully realized,

point-cloud data, acting like a scaffold.

living digital twin of a device might be able to

Advances in computer vision and image

sense and locate internal problems almost

analysis help the researchers match objects

instantly. In medicine, a patient’s digital

within the image to their corresponding data

twin could hold the secret to diagnosing

point coordinates within the point cloud.

the disease or injury ailing them. And Akinci

This means that this living digital twin can

and her team will continue to redefine

be updated in a streamlined manner as the

the accuracy and value that a living digital

building it represents changes throughout its

twin can provide for construction and

life cycle.

infrastructure managers.

A living digital twin with the flexibility and ease of use to grow with the building it mirrors is a valuable asset for infrastructure managers. Wei provides an example of a common scenario, in which a maintenance manager might have to identify the source of a water leak. Without the peek behind the drywall provided by a living digital twin, the manager might need to spend extra time to identify whether the leak source was from ducting, plumbing, an external source, or something else.

D igita l twin n i n g i s b l os s omi ng i nt o t he f ul l l i f e - c yc l e o f p r o d uc t s. It s use in op er at i on s , as wi t h t he ne w M i l l 1 9 d i gi t a l t w i n, p r o v i des a customiz ed d at a fr am ewor k t ha t e na b l e s p r e d i c t i v e m a i nt e na nc e, lo gg ing of i n fr as t r u c t u r e r evi si o ns, a nd i m p r o v e m e nt f e e d b a c k fo r fu ture d esi g n c on c ep t s . Ir on i c a l l y, M i l l 1 9 w i l l b e a ho m e f o r d i gi ta l twinning re s ear c h wi t h i n ma nuf a c t ur i ng e nv i r o nm e nt s, a nd so th e build ing ha vi n g i t s own d i g i t a l t w i n i s q ui t e a p p r o p r i a t e ! GARY FEDDER Howard M. Wilkoff Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Robotics

PA GE 1 3

Faculty Director, Manufacturing Futures Initiative (MFI)

AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE SYRINGE: MICRONEEDLE PATCHES CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY WILL PROVIDE MICRONEEDLE DRUG DELIVERY PATCHES TO SUPPORT COVID-19 VACCINATION AND TREATMENT RESEARCH.

As health care professionals battle the COVID-19 pandemic

support throughout this epidemic.”

on the front lines, engineers are working behind the scenes

Ozdoganlar has been developing and innovating

with innovative technologies to tip the scales in this global

microneedle array drug delivery devices since 2006.

fight. Carnegie Mellon University’s Burak Ozdoganlar, who

Microneedle arrays contain hundreds of tiny needles

developed the manufacturing technique for dissolvable

clustered on a miniature patch about the size of a contact

microneedle arrays, is offering to fabricate these patches for

lens. The microneedles are made from biodissolvable

researchers working on potential vaccines and treatments.

sugar-like natural materials, and the vaccine or drug to

These are the same microneedle patches co-developed

be delivered is mixed with this water-soluble material

by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of

when fabricating the microneedles. When applied onto

Pittsburgh Medical Center and announced for use with the

the skin, the microneedles quickly dissolve and deliver

PittCoVacc vaccine.

the medication. Due to the small size of the needles, the

“I’m seeking researchers who are working on a vaccine against, or treatment for, SARS-CoV-2 to collaborate with

microneedle patch causes no pain or bleeding. While the arrays are being tested on humans to deliver

me,” said Ozdoganlar, a professor of mechanical engineering

chemotherapy as a treatment for skin cancer, they also hold

at Carnegie Mellon. “My lab can fabricate hundreds of

strong potential for use in vaccination and other treatments.

microneedle arrays with your viable vaccine or antiviral

The technology is particularly promising for delivering

drug very quickly for testing in your vaccine and drug

vaccines or antibodies to fight pathogens since abrasions to

development, and we can ramp up to thousands if needed.”

the skin—even very tiny ones—produce an immediate and

“Furthermore, once a viable vaccine is identified, we

powerful response from the immune system. Traditional

can provide the necessary expertise, experience, and

syringe vaccines that enter muscle tissue do not elicit quite

connections to scale-up the manufacturing of the vaccine

as effective a response; they require a much larger dose

patches using Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines

of vaccine than microneedles do to achieve the desired

to the levels that will effectively address the COVID-19

immunity or treatment. Therefore, vaccination and treatment

vaccination needs. We are here to do our part in providing

through microneedle array patches can be significantly more effective and faster than using hypodermic needles.

ANALYZING CELLS FOR FUTURE BIOMEDICAL DEVICES

Yu-li Wang and his team are researching cell migration and using the technologies developed for potential applications in artificial organs and other devices. The team was awarded a five-year research grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of the National Institutes of Health to support this work. “We are one of the world leaders in the field of mechanobiology, and we show that if you want to design an artificial material or organ that works properly, you need to pay attention to how living cells interact with materials,” said Wang, a professor of biomedical engineering. “You have to look not only at chemical interactions but also the mechanical properties.” Cell migration is the directed movement of a cell or group of cells in response to chemical or mechanical signals. It is a fundamental cellular process throughout life, from embryonic development to death. Given the complexity of even the simplest tissue, it is almost impossible to put correct types of cells directly in the involving some forms of migration. This research toes the fuzzy line between foundational and translational research. Wang and his team have developed both tools and fundamental knowledge that are critical for the successful design of biomedical devices and interventions. At the center of the research is how cells communicate with each other mechanically. Cells have been observed to generate forces and apply them both to the environment and the neighboring cells—they tug on their neighbors to communicate with them. “We need to know how they conduct that kind of communication and then how we can design artificial materials that facilitate communication in order to direct cells to their destination,” said Wang. Experiments have been conducted in biomedicine to inject stem cells in part of a diseased heart where cells have died. If the stem cells are injected without paying attention to the surrounding environment (i.e. changes in the diseased tissue), they will never turn themselves into normally functioning heart cells. Researchers need to observe the environment and figure out how to modify it so the injected stem cells can successfully transform into part of a healthy heart. The same idea applies for artificial organs

and engineered tissue, meaning Wang’s work is capable of affecting many kinds of translational research. One of the technologies Wang and his team are developing is 3D printing for polymeric hydrogel, a material that could potentially be a base for artificial organs. This particular hydrogel is permeable and non-sticky and has been used in contact lenses. However, wider applications have not been possible, in part because there was no technology for forming complex shapes. The team has successfully developed 3D printing technology to solve this problem. The team has also developed a machine learning approach that tracks migrating cells over time and distance. With part of their research focused on detecting the mechanical forces generated by cells in the environment, machine learning allows the team to streamline the calculations and bypass common limitations and caveats of conventional methods. The broad impact of Wang’s research is why it is supported by the NIGMS. The grant he received is specifically designed to support senior researchers with strong track records in funded research. It gives them significant freedom to develop the direction of their work within a general frame of purpose. PA GE 1 5

correct location to form a native or artificial organ without

A BIG COMEBACK FOR A LITTLE SWITCH Researchers Maarten de Boer and Gianluca Piazza in Carnegie Mellon University’s

known as “1” or “0.” Digital switch technology has had a

Carpick who has expertise in examining nanometer-scale point contact behavior

College of Engineering are investigating how

transformational impact on society that

and the City University of Hong Kong’s David

to develop reliable, nanoscale mechanical

its benefits transcend economists’ ability

Srolovitz, an expert in materials theory.

switches, also called nanorelays. Their work

to quantify its value. Without transistor

has been funded by a $2 million grant from

technology, we wouldn’t have computers,

physics in a mechanical switch interface is

the National Science Foundation’s Leading

the internet, digital cameras, smart phones,

complex, and interdisciplinary challenges

Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health,

or monitoring devices for vital signs or

must be addressed,” de Boer said. “Due to

and Infrastructure (LEAP-HI) program.

poisonous gases.

a small degree of surface roughness, the

Because the problem is so complex,

Wall light switches are the same size

“Although simple in concept, the

mechanical stress levels at the contacting

the researchers are breaking down the

and have been manufactured in the same

surfaces are near the limit of what materials

project into separate components. Piazza,

way as they were 50 years ago. But, solid

can tolerate.”

a professor of electrical and computer

state switches have shrunk by a factor of

engineering, is working on developing

one million over the same time period,

can accumulate at the interface and

mechanical switches as small as modern

allowing billions of them to be used on

increase electrical resistance,” he added.

solid-state switches.

computer chips.

“The surfaces can become sticky and the

“Our goal is to build mechanical switches

Although solid state switches are

“Hydrocarbons from the atmosphere

switch may no longer open. Solid state

that are the size of a DNA molecule,” Piazza

extremely reliable, they can’t get much

switches circumvent these problems but

said. “To do so, we are using a solid-state

smaller. And, they tend to leak current,

now are reaching their own limits, so the

material that, when heated, undergoes a

even when they are supposed to be “off.”

mechanical switch is now back in play. We

phase transformation and expands by 10%.

Consequently, energy efficiency has

will investigate conducting oxide materials

That is approximately the same volume

decreased as solid state switches have

as a way to address the issues.”

change that occurs when water freezes. This

gotten smaller. Because digital logic is so

transformation results in enormous forces

ubiquitous, a huge amount of energy is

architecture to the nanoscale and to increase

and sufficiently large displacements to

being wasted.

the cycle counts. If successful, the team

bridge nanometer-scale gaps and form good electrical contacts as in wall light switches.”

A possible solution to this problem is to

The next steps are to extend this

expects the results to impact a range of

go back to a mechanical switch, in which

electronic devices used for data storage, computing and the Internet of Things.

Electrical switches—mechanical devices

a gap physically opens so that there is no

that make and break the connection in an

leakage of current. However, mechanical

electric circuit—are used everywhere. They

switches are still about 10,000 times

complement and enhance solid-state

turn on and off our lights, dishwashers and

bigger than transistors, even when similar

switches, which are now manufactured by

dryers. In circuit breakers, they interrupt

manufacturing processes as those of solid

some of the most advanced techniques

dangerous levels of current. A different type

state batteries are used. Also problematic is

known to society,” de Boer said. “We look

of switch, in solid state form, is at the core

their tendency to be much less reliable than

forward to facing the challenges with a

of the digital logic that underlies computer

solid state switches .

great team.”

technology. While these devices are in fact

De Boer, a professor of mechanical

transistors that can operate as amplifiers

engineering, will focus on improving the

like in a radio, in digital logic they act as

switches’ reliability. He is collaborating with

switches to hold an “on” or “off” state, also

the University of Pennsylvania’s Robert

“Our hope is that nanorelays can

Ou r go a l i s t o b ui l d m e c ha ni c a l sw i t c h es t h a t a r e t he si z e o f a D NA m o l e c ul e . GIANLUCA PIAZZA Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering

The team has also earned funding from Carnegie Mellon’s Kavčić-Moura

PA GE 1 7

Endowment Fund.

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE ON DEMAND The big brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a staple

Graphene has an impressive ability to transport electric

of the modern medicine cabinet, always on hand for first

charge. Building on Cohen-Karni’s fuzzy graphene research,

aid needs. Lesser known uses of hydrogen peroxide include

the team found that graphene-based materials with lots of

disinfecting hospital equipment and fueling spacecraft. Yet

edges, like the ones found at the tips of each fuzzy graphene

as common and beneficial of a substance as it is, hydrogen

flake, are highly reactive for synthesizing hydrogen peroxide.

peroxide is surprisingly hard to produce and transport.

So fuzzy graphene, an electrically conductive material with

Currently, hydrogen peroxide is made through what’s known as the “anthraquinone process.” This method is

many edges, is the perfect candidate for this new and improved method of hydrogen peroxide generation.

energy-intense, requires large-scale production, and produces

Viswanathan’s research over the last several years

large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a byproduct. While

has explored the exact properties needed of a catalyst to

directly reacting hydrogen and oxygen to make hydrogen

selectively create hydrogen peroxide from hydrogen and

peroxide would be ideal, thermodynamics prefers to form the

oxygen. Using the Titan, one of the world’s best transmission

more stable water (H2O) over hydrogen peroxide.

electron microscopes, the researchers showed that catalytic

be used to selectively, reliably, and efficiently form hydrogen

the flat surfaces. The team demonstrated that they can

peroxide whenever and wherever it’s needed, so that

control the kind of catalysis that occurs on fuzzy graphene,

transporting it isn’t necessary?

selectively creating either hydrogen peroxide or water as

So the challenge becomes: does a material exist that can

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University has set out to meet that difficult challenge. Associate

reactions happen right at the edge of each flake, not on

they choose by activating the sites at the tips of each flake. “We can now really controllably make hydrogen peroxide

Professors Venkat Viswanathan (mechanical engineering)

with high selectivity,” says Cohen-Karni. “We are now able

and Tzahi Cohen-Karni (biomedical engineering/materials

to make mostly hydrogen peroxide, and not that much

science and engineering) are leading an effort to develop

water. Thermodynamics really wants hydrogen and oxygen

a cheap, renewable, and sustainable method of creating

to form water when catalyzed, so being able to catalyze

hydrogen peroxide. The team has published a paper in ACS

so selectively, with 94% of the outcome being hydrogen

Catalysis on the work.

peroxide, means our process is highly novel.”

“The most difficult thing about hydrogen peroxide is

Other researchers on the paper include Materials Science

transporting it,” explains Viswanathan. “Hospitals and

and Engineering Ph.D students Daniel San Roman (first

space missions have particular uses for hydrogen peroxide,

author) and Raghav Garg; Mechanical Engineering Ph.D.

including rapid sterilization and as an oxidant. Transport

student Dilip Krishnamurthy (co-first author); Director of

of hydrogen peroxide to hospitals can be dangerous and

CMU’s Electron Microscopy & Materials Characterization

complicated, and you can’t take gallons of oxidants into

Facility Noel Nuhfer; Los Alamos National Laboratory’s

space due to weight restrictions, so with our method we

Hasnain Hafiz; and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Michael

hope to provide the capability of making hydrogen peroxide

Lamparski and Vincent Meunier.

when you need it, wherever you are.” For several years, Cohen-Karni and his lab have been developing a technique of growing graphene in a 3D topology, leveraging defects in the material to grow what he calls “fuzzy graphene.” Graphene, which is a form of carbon, is also highly abundant, cheap, and renewable. Cohen-Karni’s method allows graphene to grow away from a surface, rather than along it, creating long, thin, flaky graphene structures that look somewhat like nanoscale

PA GE 1 9

pine trees.

THINKING ABOUT BIAS IN AI

A company receives 1,000 applications for a new position, but which applicant should it hire? How likely is a criminal to become a repeat offender if they are released from prison early? As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly enters our

“AI decisions are tailored to the data that is

lives, it can help answer

been biases in data, with regards to race,

politically incorrect, to say that some biases

those questions. But

gender, nationality, and other protected

are okay, but there are situations where

how can we manage the

attributes. When AI makes decisions, it

common sense dictates that allowing some

inherently acquires or reinforces those

bias might be acceptable. For instance,

biases,” says Sanghamitra Dutta, a

firefighters need to lift victims and carry

doctoral candidate in electrical and

them out of burning buildings. The ability

computer engineering (ECE) at Carnegie

to lift weight is a critical job requirement,”

Mellon University.

says Grover.

biases that are in the data sets that AI uses?

available around us, and there have always

“For instance, zip codes have been

job applicants, among other applications. “At first, it may seem strange, even

In this example, the capacity to lift heavy

found to propagate racial bias. Similarly,

weight may be biased toward men. “This is

an automated hiring tool might learn

an example where you may have bias, but

to downgrade women’s resumes if they

it is explainable by a safety-critical, business

contain phrases like “women’s rugby team,”

necessity,” says Grover.

say Dutta. To address this, a large body of

“The question then becomes how

research has developed in the past decade

do you check if an AI tool is giving a

that focuses on fairness in machine learning

recommendation that is biased purely

and removing bias from AI models.

due to business necessities and not other

“However, some biases in AI might need

reasons.” Alternatively, how do you generate

to be exempted to satisfy critical business

new AI algorithms whose recommendations

requirements,” says Pulkit Grover, associate

are biased only due to business necessity?

professor of ECE, who is working with Dutta

These are important questions relevant to

to understand how to apply AI to fairly screen

U.S. laws on employment discrimination. If

an employer can show that a feature, such

features for a particular application is not a

as the need to lift bodies, is a bona fide

mere math problem, which is why computer

occupational qualification, then that bias is

scientists and social scientists need to

exempted by law. (This is known as “Title VII’s

collaborate to expand the role of AI in ethical

business necessity defense.”)

employment practices,” Dutta explained.

AI algorithms have become amazingly

In addition to Dutta and Grover, the

good at identifying patterns in the data.

research team consists of Anupam Datta,

This ability, if left unchecked, can lead to

professor of ECE; Piotr Mardziel, systems

unfairness due to stereotyping. AI tools,

scientist in ECE; and Ph.D. candidate Praveen

therefore, must be able to explain and

Venkatesh.

defend the recommendations they are

Dutta presented their research in a

making. The team used their novel measure

paper called, “An Information-Theoretic

to train AI models to weed through biased

Quantification of Discrimination with Exempt

data and remove biases that are not critical

Features,” at the 2020 AAAI Conference on

to perform a job while leaving those biases

Artificial Intelligence in New York City.

considered business necessary. According to Dutta, there are some technical challenges in using their measure and models, but those can be overcome, as the team has demonstrated. However, there are important social questions to address. One key point is that their model can’t automatically determine which features

PA GE 2 1

are business critical. “Defining the critical

ADVANCING EEG FOR BRAIN IMAGING

Marking a major milestone on the path to meeting the

ideal technique for functional human brain imaging—one of

objectives of the National Institutes of Health BRAIN

the initiative’s top priorities—would depict brain activity with

initiative, research by Bin He advances high-density

high temporal resolution, high spatial resolution, and wide

electroencephalography (EEG) as the future paradigm for

spatial coverage.

dynamic functional neuroimaging. “This work demonstrates that EEG source imaging

He, head of Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, has made a major leap forward for

may become the non-invasive high-spatial, high-temporal

the field of functional neuroimaging. An NIH-funded study

resolution paradigm for human brain imaging technology, an

lasting several years and examining dozens of patients with

important goal of the BRAIN Initiative,” said He, who served

epilepsy has produced a novel source imaging technology

as a member of the NIH BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group

that uses high-density EEG recordings to map underlying

from 2015-2019.

brain networks. Published in Nature Communications, this

He’s research may be life-changing for those suffering

research is a big step toward establishing the ability to

from epilepsy and could benefit researchers and physicians

dynamically image human brain function and dysfunction.

across the field of neurology, neurosurgery, and human

This could provide important insight into both where and

neuroscience. This work brings the NIH and the scientific

how underlying information-processing occurs.

community one step closer to achieving a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain. The work is a multi-year collaboration with Gregory

EEG has long been one of the most effective functional methods available for human brain mapping. It takes readings in a matter of milliseconds; however, the technology

Worrell’s team at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. Other collaborators

still struggles with determining the spatial extent of activity

on the paper included first author Abbas Sohrabpour, a

within the brain. The approach proposed by He and his team

Carnegie Mellon biomedical engineering (BME) postdoctoral

can accurately estimate for the first time the size and scope

associate; co-authors Zhengxiang Cai and Shuai Ye, BME

of active areas within the brain using high-density EEG, as

Ph.D. students in He’s lab; and clinical co-authors Worrell

well as interactions between regions that are functionally

and Benjamin Brinkmann of the Mayo Clinic.

related. Their findings were validated using clinical recordings

This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of

made at the Mayo Clinic, analyzing a total of 1,027 EEG spikes and 86 seizures recorded from 36 patients.

Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institute of

The team’s method, termed the fast spatio-temporal

Mental Health, and National Center for Complementary and

iteratively reweighted edge sparsity (FAST-IRES) technique,

Integrative Health.

uses machine learning to objectively estimate signal

The NIH Brain Research through Advancing Innovative

sources and activity as they vary over time. Unlike prior

Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative motivates researchers

imaging techniques, it needs no ad hoc algorithm or human

to “produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the

intervention for determining source extent and requires

brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and

only minimal, intuitive input from physicians.

complex neural circuits interact in both time and space.” An

FAST-IRES could have a major impact on the research

and treatment of various neurological and mental disorders

determined objectively and noninvasively with high precision

like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke, chronic pain, and even

from scalp high density EEG recordings,” wrote He and his

depression. However, this method is uniquely and most

co-authors.

resistant epilepsy. Around one percent of the global population suffers from epilepsy, and roughly one-third of cases are drug-resistant, requiring surgical intervention. Yet until now, no current

Their findings were validated against readings from conventional invasive intracranial recordings and surgical outcomes from each patient, proving FAST-IRES’ effectiveness. The study also marks one of the first times high-density EEG

non-invasive imaging modality has the spatial specificity

has been used to study epileptic seizures. The more powerful

to accurately determine the epileptogenic zone (EZ), which

imaging technology, packing more than double the electrodes

represents the minimum amount of tissue that must be

generally used in a clinical setting, is now available to patients

removed to halt seizures.

treated at the Mayo Clinic. He believes that within the next five

“By analyzing epilepsy networks with our proposed FASTIRES framework, we have demonstrated that the EZ can be

years, the FAST-IRES methodology will begin to impact the way we understand a number of neurological disorders. PA GE 2 3

immediately impactful for those suffering from drug-

A REMOTE CONTROL FOR NEURONS

A team led by researchers at Carnegie

understanding how cells signal and interact

Mellon University has created a new

with each other, but also hold great potential

technology that enhances scientists’

for the development of new, therapeutic

ability to communicate with neural cells

interventions. Exploration into these

using light. Tzahi Cohen-Karni, associate

opportunities, however, has been limited by

professor of biomedical engineering and

the risk of cellular stress that existing optical

materials science and engineering, led a

remote-control technologies present. The

team that synthesized three-dimensional

use of NT-3DFG eliminates this risk by using

fuzzy graphene on a nanowire (NW)

significantly less energy, on a scale of 1-2

template to create a superior material for

orders of magnitude less. Its biocompatible

photothermally stimulating cells. NW-

surface is easy to modify chemically,

templated three-dimensional (3D) fuzzy

making it versatile for use with different cell

graphene (NT-3DFG) enables remote

types and environments. Using NT-3DFG,

optical stimulation without need for genetic

photothermal stimulation treatments could

modification and uses orders of magnitude

be developed for motor recruitment to

less energy than available materials,

induce muscle activation or could direct

preventing cellular stress.

tissue development in an organoid system.

Graphene is abundant, cheap, and

“This is an outstanding collaborative work

biocompatible. Cohen-Karni’s lab has been

of experts from multiple fields, including

working with graphene for several years,

neuroscience through the University of

developing a technique of synthesizing

Pittsburgh and University of Chicago, and

the material in 3D topologies that he’s

photonics and materials science through the

labeled “fuzzy” graphene. By growing

University of North Carolina and Carnegie

two-dimensional (2D) graphene flakes out-

Mellon,” said Cohen-Karni. “The developed

of-plane on a silicon nanowire structure,

technology will allow us to interact with

they’re able to create a 3D structure

either engineered tissues or with nerve or

with broadband optical absorption and

muscle tissue in vivo. This will allow us to

unparalleled photothermal efficiency.

control and affect tissue functionality using

These properties make it ideal for cellular electrophysiology modulation using light through the optocapacitive

light remotely with high precision and low needed energies.” Additional contributions to the project

effect. The optocapacitive effect alters the

were made by Maysam Chamanzar,

cell membrane capacitance due to rapidly

assistant professor of electrical and

applied light pulses. NT-3DFG can be

computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon.

readily made in suspension, allowing the

His team’s core expertise in photonics and

study of cell signaling within and between

neurotechnologies assisted in developing

both 2D cell systems and 3D, like human

the much-needed tools to allow both the

cell-based organoids.

characterization of the unique hybrid-

Systems like these are not only crucial to

nanomaterials, and in stimulating the cells

NOVEL MATERIAL FOR CONTROLLING NEURON CELLS COULD ENABLE NEW THERAPIES IN MEDICINE.

while optically recording their activity. “The broadband absorption of these 3D nanomaterials enabled us to use light at wavelengths that can penetrate deep into the tissue to remotely excite nerve cells. This method can be used in a whole gamut of applications, from designing non-invasive therapeutics to basic scientific studies,” said Chamanzar. The team’s findings are significant both for our understanding of cell interactions and the development of therapies that harness the potential of the human body’s own cells. Nanostructures created using NT-3DFG may have a major impact on the future of human biology and medicine. Other team members involved in the research included Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. student Sahil Rastogi; Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. students Raghav Garg and Daniel San Roman and master’s student Nicholas Johnson; Electrical and Computer Engineering Ph.D. student Matteo Giuseppe Scopelliti; the University of Chicago’s Francisco Bezanilla and Bernardo Pinto; the University of Pittsburgh’s Jane Hartung and Michael Gold; and the University of North Carolina’s Seokhyoung Kim, Corban

PA GE 2 5

Murphey, and James Cahoon.

REVOLUTIONIZING AGRICULTURE NANOPARTICLE COATINGS WILL BE ESSENTIAL FOR MEETING FUTURE AGRICULTURAL DEMANDS

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization

lead to a major reduction in the roughly four million tons of

predicts that by 2050 the world population will have reached

pesticides applied yearly.

almost 10 billion people, increasing global food demand

In their research, Lowry’s team coated gold nanoparticles

by 70 percent. With little prospect for new agricultural land

(AuNP) with different types of coatings: non-targeting citrate

and increasing pressure to decrease environmental impact,

or LM6-M, an antibody with an affinity for functional groups

current agricultural techniques will not be able to support

unique to stomata on leaf surfaces. They then immersed

human demands.

leaves of the Vicia faba (fava bean) plant in one of the AuNP

Carnegie Mellon University’s Greg Lowry is creating

solutions, allowing it to soak for two minutes before rinsing

nanoparticle (NP) coatings that will revolutionize the

in cold water. Finally, images were taken at Brookhaven

agricultural industry. His research has demonstrated that

National Laboratory using dark field microscopy and

molecules, such as vital nutrients, coated with his team’s NPs

synchrotron x-ray fluorescence mapping, revealing where

can be applied to plants with 99 percent uptake efficiency.

the AuNPs had been transported.

This is in stark contrast to current methods of delivery, in

As hypothesized, the LM6-M coated AuNPs were found to

which as little as one percent of the desired molecules will

have collected on and around the stomatal guard cells, a pair

actually enter the plant—the other 99 percent will drain into

of large cells that control entry into the plant through the

the surrounding environment.

stomata. Alternatively, the non-targeting citrate AuNPs were

Now Lowry, a professor of civil and environmental

dispersed randomly across the leaf surface. In this way, the

engineering, and his team have demonstrated for the

researchers were able to show for the first time that live leaf

first time the ability of engineered NPs to target specific

structures had been actively targeted using NPs coated with

structures on plant leaves. Their research, published in

biomolecular recognition molecules.

Nanoscale Communications, showed that molecules could be

The greatest potential for nanoparticle targeting may

delivered to stomata (pores) on the leaf’s surface by coating

be in pesticide application. Once a pathogen penetrates

them with NPs with an affinity to those structures. This

a plant’s defenses, often through the stomata, there is

research mirrors similar efforts to treat specific areas within

little that can be done to save it. The current solution is to

the human body using targeted medication.

douse the entire plant in pesticides in an attempt to kill any

The ability to target stomata on a plant leaf is an

dangerous microbe in its immediate environment before

incredible breakthrough for the agricultural industry.

it may enter the plant; yet 20 to 40 percent of potential

Not only could this allow farmers to deliver nutrients or

agricultural productivity is still lost to pathogens.

pesticides directly to where they’re needed, but it could also

By reducing this number, Lowry’s NPs could help

the agricultural industry save billions. Antimicrobial

applications similar to inoculation. These could then lie

nanoparticles targeted toward stomata and other common

dormant until triggered by environmental stress to release

pathogen entry points could intercept these invaders before

their lifesaving contents.

they have a chance to enter the plant. This increases the

The potential for future applications only adds to the

likelihood of pesticide contacting pathogen, and could

impressive abilities Lowry’s NPs have demonstrated.

greatly decrease the overall amount of pesticides necessary.

The incredible efficiency and pinpoint targeting of these

Lowry and his fellow researchers are continuing to

nanoparticle coatings will be essential for meeting the

explore other opportunities presented by their novel

environmental challenges and agricultural demands of

method of targeted NP delivery. NPs made from important

the future.

micronutrients or polymeric nano-carriers could guide nutrients and pesticides to other plant structures desirable for crop nourishment or protection. In another medical parallel, they’re also interested in exploring whether NPs

PA GE 2 7 9

could be delivered into a plant through the leaves in

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING RESEARCHERS ARE PART OF A COLLABORATION THAT HAS CREATED EASY-TO-USE TOOLS TO ESTIMATE THE SOCIETAL COSTS OF AIR POLLUTION.

AIR POLLUTION, SIMPLIFIED

You might hear an old-timer say “things were

of Engineering and Public Policy and lead

equations in a computer program to describe

simpler then” when reminiscing about the

author of the study, that he says “RCMs are

the complex processing of pollutants released

past. That sentiment applies to the vexing

ready for primetime.”

to the atmosphere. Building such models took

choice of what show to stream next, but for

“For the purpose of recommending

months or years just to design, and weeks

estimating the economic and health impacts

policy decisions, the differences between

for a supercomputer to crunch through the

of air pollution, it does not. “Back in the day”

RCMs were small enough that they would

numbers. “You had to hope you didn’t have

was so complicated that most researchers

recommend the same course of action,” said

some bug in your code, because you wouldn’t

were unable to do such estimations. Those

Adams.

find out for two weeks,” said Adams.

who could mostly didn’t. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon

Consider a societal change likely to affect

The information contained in CTMs is of

air pollution, like the energy transition

interest to many groups, but few have the

College of Engineering, however, are part

underway in the U.S. power sector. What

expertise and time required to use them.

of a collaboration that has begun to change

will happen to air pollution exposures in the

“RCMs are not meant to replace CTMs.

that, by creating easy-to-use tools to

eastern U.S. as falling energy prices cause

They’re for all the people that will never

estimate the societal costs of air pollution.

high-emitting coal plants to be retired early?

run a CTM,” Adams said. Even for air quality

Published in the journal Environmental

Who will breathe the resulting cleaner air,

researchers that do use CTMs, RCMs can be

Research Letters, a new study compares these

how much cleaner will it be, how many lives

preferable when they want to quickly explore

tools, called “reduced complexity models”

may be saved, and what economic impact

a broad range of emissions scenarios.

(RCMs), and verifies that they can be used to

will that have? This example is far from

give accurate estimates. And, importantly,

abstract; it is playing out currently in this

research teams have worked to make

the tools are simple enough to use that

country and other parts of the world.

such tools available. Adams, an air quality

a much broader community—from city

A decade ago, Adams and his graduate

Over the past decade, a few separate

engineer, developed the “EASIUR” model

planners to citizens’ groups, state regulators

students were some of a select few

(pronounced “easier”). Nick Muller, a

to affected industries—will have access to

researchers who could readily address

professor of engineering and public policy

estimating the social costs of air pollution.

such questions. An expert in building and

and the Tepper School, developed his own

The team, which also includes

running chemical transport models (CTMs),

RCM (“APEEP”) at a previous institution.

collaborators from Clark University,

the gold-standard method for estimating air

Scientists from the University of Washington

University of Washington, and University of

pollution concentrations, Adams was able

developed “InMAP,” another RCM.

Minnesota, compared three different RCMs

to predict ambient pollution levels and how

to one another and to a more complex

those levels might change under different

different, but fundamentally they all do the

modeling technique serving as the “ground

emissions scenarios, like burning less coal.

same important thing: connect changes

These gold-standard CTMs, however,

in emissions to changes in atmospheric

truth.” The results were so encouraging to Peter Adams, head of the Department

required implementing thousands of

The inner workings of each model are

concentrations without having to use a CTM.

Now, these different research teams have

research, almost 10,000 premature deaths

come together under the collaborative CACES

can be attributed to the increase. In another

group (Center for Air, Climate, and Energy

study, he quantified the damages from

Solutions) to test their models against one

different air pollutants across each sector of

another, and make their models accessible

the U.S. economy. University of Washington

to anyone wanting to use them.

researchers, using InMAP, recently showed

In short, said Adams of the team’s

how exposure to air pollution from power

comparisons, the models work. Each RCM

generation is distributed differently across

compared well to the ground-truth CTM.

racial groups and income levels across

As stated in the paper, “that different

the U.S. CTMs will still be used for the

independent methods converged on

most accurate predictions of air pollution

similar results bolsters confidence.” While

concentrations, but RCMs can shine in

RCMs do introduce some uncertainty in air

considering many different scenarios due to

pollution estimates compared to a CTM,

their comparative simplicity and speed.

the uncertainty is not large in the context

Unaffiliated research groups have begun

of other uncertainties associated with

using these RCMs too, and Adams hopes

estimating social costs.

more will follow. The CACES open-source

“We’re at the point where you can now go

data website makes evaluating air quality

to our website, download RCM results, and

impacts quick and easy at spatial scales even

in an afternoon of spreadsheet work start to

finer than city neighborhoods.

estimate social costs,” said Adams. “Nobody

Using RCMs, as the insights above show,

should do an energy-systems analysis

meaningfully furthers our understanding of

anymore where they stop their analysis

the impact of air pollution on society, and

at changes in emissions. It’s now easy to

this latest study should bolster confidence in

estimate the health costs or benefits.”

their accuracy. The proof of the pudding is in

The utility of these RCMs has been demonstrated many times just this year.

the modeling; something that anyone with Excel and an afternoon can now do.

Using APEEP, Muller recently estimated the negative economic impact (“damages”) the U.S. from 2016 to 2018, a reversal of the previous decade’s decline. According to that

PA GE 2 9

from rising levels of particulate matter in

EMPHASIS IN INFRASTRUCTURE

BUILDING SMART CITIES WITH TAXIS In a smart city, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors collect data

areas—the plan actuates drivers to collect data via monetary

to better manage infrastructure and services, such as traffic

incentives. The researchers emphasized two goals for data

congestion, noise, and pollution control, etc. This leads to

collection: a larger percentage of city area covered and a

a major problem with smart city development: cities are

more evenly distributed coverage.

large. Accurate learning requires good data. To collect data,

“Basically, the algorithm would tell the driver: ‘follow my

sensors need to be throughout a city, but it is impossible

route, you may find more customers, but if you don’t, we’ll

to deploy sensors everywhere due to costs and limited

pay you the difference,’” said Zhang.

accessibility to certain areas. Pei Zhang, associate research professor of electrical and

The actuation system for city-wide crowdsourcing of data has reaped positive results. The researchers saw a 40

computer engineering, turned to taxis as a mobile sensing

percent improvement in sensing coverage quality. They have

platform. A fleet of taxis has a long operational time, large

collaborated with Chinese company Environmental Thinking

spatial coverage, and great potential for data collection.

and currently have 146 deployments in Shenzhen and 19 in

However, taxis present challenges. Data can be incomplete

Tianjin. “As cities becomes smarter, our system will provide

because taxis naturally do not travel to every part of a city.

high resolution and accuracy sensing information to city

Zhang and his colleagues developed an algorithm for a plan that motivates taxi drivers to drive to less popular

managers or occupants,” said Zhang.

When surveyed, about half of Americans feel their office is either too hot or cold. A number of factors affect thermal comfort, but the hardest factor to control for is humans ourselves. Clothing and body shape are intrinsically tied to what temperature an individual finds most comfortable. Mario Bergés, professor of civil and environmental engineering, believes that environments should be more adaptive and consider our physical characteristics, clothing, and thermal comfort preferences when deciding how to condition spaces. Bergés and collaborators have created the first model that combines environmental information with data on an individual’s body shape to determine what temperatures that a person will feel comfortable. That information is aggregated to find the temperature that most occupants will find comfortable, in a system his team calls OccuTherm. The system, the authors note, “works without the need for frequent user comfort feedback reports and leverages data from depth-imaging sensors, which are quickly becoming commonplace in indoor environments.” Systems like OccuTherm could reduce energy costs and, by extension, carbon emissions. About 50 percent of energy used in human-occupied spaces is expended on heating, cooling, and ventilation. Thermostats are usually set for an entire building, even if most of it is unoccupied. Eliminating energy waste and putting the individual needs of occupants first could lead to a more productive and content workplace and major savings for both managers and the environment.

PA GE 3 1

IS IT TOO HOT IN HERE?

DEPARTMENT NEWS

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

The 3rd Carnegie Mellon Forum on Biomedical Engineering was held on September 18-19, 2020. The Forum was organized by the Biomedical Engineering Department and endorsed by the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE). During a special event, new IAMBE Fellows were inducted, and the IAMBE Symposium on Grand Challenges in Biomedical Engineering was held.

CYLAB

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Hidden cameras have been found

Osman Yağan and Princeton’s

in hotels worldwide. In a study

Vincent Poor received a National

titled, “I’m All Eyes and Ears:

Science Foundation Rapid Response

Exploring Effective Locators for

Research grant for applying their

Privacy Awareness in IoT Scenarios,”

work on modeling disease spread

Jason Hong and others explore

to COVID-19. In a paper, “The effects

solutions to the hidden IoT device

of evolutionary adaptations on

conundrum. “Our hope is that

spreading processes in complex

the findings in this paper can

networks,” the pair modeled how

help industry and policymakers in

mutations play into the spread

adopting the idea of locators for IoT

of a virus. Now, they intend to

devices,” says Hong.

model how social distancing and travel bans will affect the spread of COVID-19.

INTEGRATED INNOVATION INSTITUTE

MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

In the Integrated Product

Elizabeth Dickey, a leading

Development capstone course, a

researcher in the field

student team collaborated with

of materials science and

Volvo Group to outline a plan for

engineering, has been named

recruiting and retaining technicians

head of the Department

to support the machines of

of Materials Science and

the future in the construction

Engineering at Carnegie Mellon

industry. The plan addressed a

University effective January 2021.

short-term problem—technician shortages—and the long-term challenge of landscape changes in the construction industry and fast-paced adoption of new technologies.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Elizabeth Wayne received funding

Mario Bergés is the principal

from the National Science

investigator for the Autonomous

Foundation through their Rapid

Technologies for Livability and

Response Research program to

Sustainability initiative, which

study an often-ignored cellular

won funding from the College

factor in the mortality rate of SARS-

of Engineering’s Moonshot

CoV-2 induced disease, COVID-19.

2020 competition. United by a

According to Wayne, monocytes

bold vision, people from across

that play a role in the body’s innate

the university, industry, and

immune system could be key in

local government will explore

understanding why COVID-19 is

methodologies and technologies

deadly to some, but not others.

to solve ethical and sustainability concerns around autonomous systems.

ENGINEERING & PUBLIC POLICY

INFORMATION NETWORKING INSTITUTE

A first-of-its-kind study by CMU

Waiting in line is a universal part

students led by Engineering’s Ed Rubin

of the shopping experience. Yet

and John Miller (Economics) estimates

machine learning and AI are poised

the carbon footprint of the entire

to transform the retail industry

food system of Allegheny County,

through autonomous checkout. A

Pennsylvania. The study tabulates

team of Information Networking

the emissions of greenhouse gases

Institute students placed first

associated with the sum of activities

in the inaugural AutoCheckout

required to get food from farm to

Competition, organized by AiFi

table. They found the emissions from

Research and CMU. The competition

the food system are more than the

brought together researchers to

yearly emissions from the generation

develop better, faster and more

of electricity required to power all

accurate autonomous checkout

households in the county.

software solutions.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

After a baby’s birth, doctors sometimes examine the placenta for features indicating health risks in future pregnancies. This is time-consuming, so most placentas go unexamined. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon Mechanical Engineering and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center developed a machine learning approach to women can be informed of their health risks.

PA GE 3 3

examine placenta slides so more

INSIDE THE COLLEGE

W e a r e d e l i ght e d t ha t t he se e a r ly c a r e e r f a c ul t y a r e b e i ng r e c o gni z ed w i t h NS F C A R E E R a w a r d s, ” sa i d B i l l

EARLY CAREER FACULTY SHINE Five College of Engineering faculty have

S a nd e r s, d e a n o f t he C o l l e ge o f E ngi ne e r i ng. “ Thi s sup p o r t hi ghl i gh ts t he c r e a t i v e c o nt r i b ut i o ns o ur f a c u l ty a r e m a k i ng t o t he i r r e sp e c t i v e f iel ds.

received CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The awards, which are part of the Faculty Early Career Development Program, are given to people early in their careers who are believed to play a part in furthering their area of science. The awards support their research and educational goals.

AARON JOHNSON Aaron Johnson, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded a CAREER award for his work

VANESSA CHEN

on robot mobility. Johnson’s research seeks to improve a robot’s ability to walk, jump, and grasp. Currently, robots aren’t bad at moving—if they’re in a carefully controlled

Vanessa Chen, assistant professor of

environment with known terrain. Johnson wants robots

electrical and computer engineering, was

to be successful without this prior knowledge so they

awarded a CAREER award for her work on

can adapt to changing conditions. He plans to create a

machine-learning and encryption. Chen

new control generation that is better equipped to handle

hopes to make the internet more secure

these challenges. The changing conditions will be a closer

using the chaos of true randomness.

match to the real world, increasing robotic applications,

Without a patterned code to break, it

which Johnson says could be found in the healthcare,

should be nearly impossible for hackers

environment, and manufacturing industries. The award

to access secure information such as

also details a plan for K-12, undergraduate, and graduate

credit card and social security numbers.

outreach through robotic activities.

In addition, Chen’s award describes an outreach plan, bringing her complex research into the reach of our next generation. She hopes this will encourage women and other underrepresented minorities to pursue jobs in STEM.

SWARUN KUMAR

KATE WHITEFOOT

Swarun Kumar, assistant professor of

Kate Whitefoot, assistant professor of

electrical and computer engineering,

mechanical engineering and engineering

received a CAREER award for his work

and public policy, also received a CAREER

on low-power wide-area networks (LP-

award. Whitefoot’s research bridges

WANs). LP-WANs are designed to provide

engineering design and economics

a wireless network over a large area. Since

to understand product design in the

many of these currently use maintenance-

context of markets and regulations.

requiring batteries,

The award will support her research on

Kumar wants to find a

product differentiation. This work will

better power source. This

better understand the optimal variety of

new power source could

product designs under different market

provide wireless network

and policy conditions. It will also develop

to a larger area including,

computational models to inform product

he hopes, an entire city.

design strategies.

The award also proposes a K-12 outreach program.

REBECCA TAYLOR Rebecca Taylor, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received her CAREER award to support her research on nanostructures made using an artificially synthesized DNA-mimicking polymer. She will study the structure and formation of these novel nanostructures made using programmable gamma peptide nucleic acid (gammaPNA)-based materials. In particular, she will be studying the effects of different “weaving” patterns, chemical modifications and organic solvent mixtures as she seeks to learn more about peptide nucleic acid self-assembly. Taylor suggests this could one day be used to enable sequence-specific nanostructures can be built with a synthetic DNA-mimic and how the solvent and chemical modifications relate to the resulting form of the structures.

PA GE 3 5

polymer synthesis. The goal of the project is to understand how complex

INDUSTRY PIPELINE: ENGINEERING THE FACE OF COSMETICS Every day, millions of people around the world look in the

cosmetics companies are looking for world-class chemists

mirror, open their eyes wide, and brush mascara onto

and chemical engineers for formulating cosmetics, they

their lashes. For many of these people, picking up the tube

turn to Carnegie Mellon’s Colloids, Polymers and Surfaces

and painting their lashes is an unconscious part of their

(CPS) program.

daily routine. But to a chemical engineer, mascara is anything but

“Cosmetics are composed of many ingredients,” says Annette Jacobson, teaching professor of chemical

commonplace—it’s carbon black and iron oxide, with a

engineering and Director of the CPS program. “These

polymer to form a film that coats the lashes, combined with

ingredients include colloids, which are very fine particles

preservatives and thickening waxes such as lanolin, mineral

such as pigments; polymers, which are large molecules

oil, paraffin, petrolatum, castor oil, carnauba or candelilla

that help disperse the pigment or provide important

wax. That’s because, without chemical engineers, mascara

properties to the product; and surfaces, created at the

wouldn’t be the incredible product that it is today.

interfaces between these fine particles and the liquids they

Chemical engineers and chemists are responsible for

are dispersed into. Colloids and polymers are combined in

the vast majority of products we use every day, from the

unique ways to create cosmetics, but if they don’t spread

paint on our walls, to the gas in our cars—to makeup and

and adhere properly to the intended surface—in this case,

personal care products. Chemists and chemical engineers

your face or skin—then they aren’t worth very much at all.”

are important in the cosmetics and personal care industry,

This emphasis on understanding the surface or

innovating the chemical formulations that make lipsticks

interfacial side of things is unique to Carnegie Mellon’s

last, mascaras waterproof, and lotions hydrating. And when

CPS program, and the reason that many graduates find

themselves with job opportunities at companies in the

the practical applications of the concepts she was learning

cosmetics and personal care industry. Prashansa Desai,

in the classroom.

who graduated from the program in 2014, now works

“For anyone hoping to build a future in the cosmetics

on the Hair Care and Styling Team at L’Oréal, where she

industry,” Prashansa says, “Though you can learn

creates new and exciting products, investigates novel

to formulate on the job, you must be sure to have

ingredients, and experiments in the lab to come up with

your chemistry base clear and strong. Be passionate

innovative hair care and styling formulas, which she then

about creating new products, and develop an acute

tests on actual hair to evaluate its performance.

inquisitiveness. Start questioning everything you see.

“I was always fascinated by the chemistry behind the products we use in our daily lives,” says Prashansa. “So I started looking into the ingredients of the products I use,

Take the research-oriented approach. And lastly, don’t be frustrated by trial and error.” Graduates from the CPS Program have had internships

and studying their interactions at molecular level. And soon,

and full-time employment at companies such as L’Oréal,

I wanted to create something that really made a difference in

Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser (Lysol),

the user’s quality of life.”

Johnson & Johnson, Merck and PPG.

According to Prashansa, her time in the CPS program was an integral stepping stone that helped her get into the industry. Because of the program’s balance of hands-on experimentation and theoretical study, she was able to spend a good fraction of her time in the lab, playing with

PA GE 3 7

When cosmetics companies are looking for chemists and chemical engineers to develop their next-generation products, they turn to Carnegie Mellon University s Colloids, Polymers, and Surfaces program. It takes a unique expertise in all three areas to create truly revolutionary formulas.

ADAMS NAMED HEAD OF EPP

Peter Adams, a Carnegie Mellon University

air pollution—premature mortality risk

professor and leading researcher in the field

per unit emissions—which help facilitate

of air quality and environmental policy, has

considerations of air quality and public

been named head of the Department of

health in policy analyses.

Engineering and Public Policy (EPP). Adams has been a jointly-appointed

Given his expertise in air quality and energy systems, Adams has played a

faculty member in EPP and the Department

significant leadership role in the Center for

of Civil and Environmental Engineering since

Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions, a $10M

2001. In 2013, Adams was named director of

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-

the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies

funded research center housed at CMU,

(CAPS), a cross-campus collaboration and

which has fostered deep collaborations

one of the world’s leading research groups

between air quality researchers in the

focused on particulate matter and its effects

center and energy systems researchers in

on global climate and public health.

the EPP department.

“EPP is a jewel of CMU’s College of

Adams has served on the United

Engineering. Peter possesses the drive and

States EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory

deep understanding of EPP’s strengths,

Committee Particulate Matter Review Panel,

which will enable the department to sustain

the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s

and build on its historical preeminence,”

Department of Environmental Protection Air

says Bill Sanders, dean of the College of

Quality Technical Advisory Committee, and

Engineering. “He has demonstrated his

the Allegheny County Health Department Air

strong ability to lead the department after

Toxics New Guidelines Proposal Committee.

he stepped up to serve as interim head

He is a member of the Air and Waste

last summer, and I look forward to working

Management Association, the American

closely with him in the coming years.”

Association for Aerosol Research, and the

Adams’ research interests lie at the intersection of air quality, climate, and

European Geosciences Union. Prior to his tenure at CMU, Adams

energy systems. Viewing these areas

received his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical

through a policy-focused but technically

engineering from the California Institute

robust lens, Adams’ group has developed air

of Technology and his B.S. in chemical

quality models to help inform researchers

engineering from Cornell University.

and policymakers alike. For example, he led the development of a model that provides estimates of the social costs of

PETER ADAMS, A LEADING RESEARCHER IN THE FIELD OF AIR QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, HAS BEEN NAMED HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING

PA GE 3 9

AND PUBLIC POLICY.

VIZZY IS A ROBOT FROM THE COMPUTER AND ROBOT VISION LABORATORY (VISLAB) THAT FOCUSES ON RESEARCH BASED ON COMPUTERVISION AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF ROBOTICS.

CMU PORTUGAL PROGRAM ANNOUNCES $23M FUNDING FOR R&D PROJECTS

are through the CMU Portugal Program at CMU; and $3.85

A new round of research and development funding has

Projects launched in May 2019 by Portugal’s Agência Nacional

been announced by Carnegie Mellon Portugal. More than

de Inovação with an initial plan to fund three to four projects.

$23 million will go to projects that partner Portuguese

Recognizing the high quality of the 17 proposals submitted,

companies with research institutions including Carnegie

the evaluation panel recommended 10 projects for funding

Mellon University.

during the next three years.

Top information and communication technology (ICT) companies in Portugal will lead all projects in partnership with 13 research groups from Portuguese universities and eight CMU departments. The companies include the CMU Portugal Program startup Feedzai, Compta, Farfetch, First Solutions, Glintt, GLSMED Learning Health, Ingeniarius, Outsystems, Unbabel and Mobileum. The call for these Large-Scale Collaborative Research

“It was an excellent surprise to see the number of

Mellon and the Government of Portugal and encourages

applications, but above all the high quality and number of

collaboration between academia and industry in Portugal’s

approved projects,” said Nuno Nunes and Rodrigo Rodrigues,

innovation economy.

national co-directors of the CMU Portugal Program. “We have

The funded projects cover the areas of data science and

some of the best national companies involved in the program

engineering; artificial intelligence and machine learning;

over the next three years, which makes us extremely excited

design and engineering applied to social problems;

about the results we can achieve through these partnerships.”

addressing problems in the health sectors; forest fire-

José M. F. Moura, the director of the CMU Portugal

prevention; data management; mobility; and language

Program at CMU, said, “These new projects reflect CMU

technologies.

Portugal’s commitment to foster the cooperation between

These projects represent a total investment of $23

Portuguese university researchers and Portuguese

million by Portugal, of which $12.54 million come from the

companies, promoting innovation and technology

European COMPETE 2020 Program and from the Portugal

development with direct impact in the competitiveness of

Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT); $6.6 million

Portuguese companies in the global market.”

PA GE 4 1

CMU Portugal is a partnership between Carnegie

million from participating Portuguese ICT companies.

SECOND ROUND OF SECURE AND PRIVATE IOT INITIATIVE FUNDED PROJECTS ANNOUNCED Carnegie Mellon CyLab’s Secure and Private IoT Initiative

Listed below are the funded projects with each project’s

(IoT@CyLab) announced its second round of funding,

principal investigator(s) (PI).

which will support ten IoT-related projects for one year. While all Internet of Things security and privacy topics are

TRUSTWORTHY PLATFORMS

within scope, IoT@CyLab is especially targeting the practical systems solutions for security of industrial control systems

• Hardware Redaction via Designer-Directed FineGrained eFPGA Insertion

and Industrial IoT.

Funding for these projects was made possible by sponsorships from Amazon Web Services, AT&T Business, Infineon Technologies, and Nokia Bell Labs. These sponsors were active in working with IoT@CyLab co-directors Anthony Rowe and Vyas Sekar on the request for proposals and proposal review.

PI: Ken Mai, Principal Systems Scientist, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

• Lightweight Security Architectures for IoT Fog Networks

Co-PI: Osman Yagan, Associate Research Professor, ECE

Co-PI: Soummya Kar, Associate Professor, ECE

trends toward ‘Industry 4.0’ it is critical that we develop a

• Quantized Deep Neural Networks for Fingerprint Recognition

suite of solutions to secure these infrastructures and inform

“With the increasing interest in industrial automation and

PI: Shawn Blanton, Trustee Professor, ECE

this critical transition,” Rowe and Sekar shared in a joint statement. “We have an exciting array of research projects for year two spanning both novel hardware solutions, new ways of reasoning about cyber and cyber physical threats, as well as new applications of machine learning techniques in this setting.” The projects are grouped into three broad research

ACCOUNTABILITY • Third-party Network Traffic Attribution for IoT, TV, Web, and Mobile

• IoTSniffer: Detecting Unauthorized Traffic in Industrial IoT

themes: (1) Trustworthy platforms (2) Autonomous Healing Networks and (3) Accountability. In addition to these three research themes, we are also excited to add a new educational component, building on the success of CyLab’s picoCTF platform to create custom modules for Industrial IoT Security. During the execution of these projects, CyLab faculty and students will collaborate with industry sponsors towards the mission of creating the knowledge and capabilities to build

summit later this year. For information on how your company

contact Michael Lisanti, CyLab’s director of Partnerships, at mlisanti@andrew.cmu.edu.

PI: Carlee Joe-Wong, Assistant Professor, ECE

AUTONOMOUS HEALING NETWORKS • Systematic Attack Generation for Industrial Control Systems

PI: Eunsuk Kang, Assistant Professor, Institute for Software Research (ISR)

• Robust Machine Learning-based anomaly detection for Industrial IoT

can get involved in IoT@CyLab or other security and privacy research at CMU,

PI: Swarun Kumar, Assistant Professor, ECE

• Privacy Tradeoffs in Distributed Learning

secure and privacy-respecting IoT systems. The outcomes from this funding will be presented at the IoT@CyLab annual

PI: Tim Libert, Special Faculty Instructor, ISR

PI: Lujo Bauer, Professor, ECE and ISR

• Zero-Knowledge Network Security Analysis using Generative Adversarial Networks

PI: Giulia Fanti, Assistant Professor, ECE

EDUCATION • Expanding picoCTF into Industrial IoT

Co-PI: Hanan Hibshi, Research and Teaching Scientist, Information Networking Institute (INI)

Co-PI: Maverick Woo, Systems Scientist, CyLab

EDITOR SHERRY STOKES (DC’07) COPY EDITOR EMILY FORNEY (DC’12) DESIGNER TIM KELLY (A’05, HNZ’14) WRITERS •MADISON BREWER •KRISTA BURNS •DANIEL CARROLL •HANNAH DIORIO-TOTH (DC’17) •ADAM DOVE •EMILY DURHAM •LISA KULICK •ELLIS ROBINSON •DANIEL TKACIK (E’13)

PA GE 4 3

•MARIKA YANG

STUDENT NEWS

SUCCESS ON AND OFF THE COURT

Like many young engineers, electrical and computer engineering (ECE) student Vivian

include teamwork and adaptability. “Being able to learn very quickly

Beaudoin is drawn to the versatility of

from mistakes is something that’s really

technology, especially computers. She loves

important,” Beaudoin said. “Also...volleyball

problem-solving and played with Legos and

is a big team sport...but if they’re not

puzzles growing up. However, Beaudoin

working together, you’re not going to be as

isn’t just an engineer — she’s also a member

successful.”

of Carnegie Mellon’s volleyball team. Beaudoin fell in love with computer

In addition to being on the volleyball team, Beaudoin is involved in the Society of

science in high school after taking a class at

Women Engineers and Women in ECE. She is

the suggestion of her older brother. She went

also a teaching assistant for an introductory

on to take every class offered and looked

programming class. In this fast-paced

for a college to continue her technological

course, students learn to code, some with no

education. Around the same time, at the

prior experience.

suggestion of a coach, she tried her hand at volleyball, finding an instant match. “It was immediately the best sport ever, in my opinion,” Beaudoin said. “I very quickly kind of focused on it.”

“[The class] can be really overwhelming and really stressful,” Beaudoin said. “I want... to help people in that introductory class.” As for the future, Beaudoin has a difficult choice ahead. She must choose between a

As a student, CMU was attractive

concentration in hardware systems — the

to Beaudoin because of its renowned

physical makeup of the computer — and

engineering program. As a volleyball

software systems — the code used to make

player, Beaudoin was impressed by CMU’s

it run. Regardless of her concentration,

tournament wins. So she reached out to

Beaudoin has one thing in mind: helping

CMU’s team and the coaches came to see

people.

her play. “It just fell into place from there,” Beaudoin said. Since coming to CMU, Beaudoin has

“I always find really interesting technologies...that can help people who have disabilities,” Beaudoin said. “I think that would be something cool to work with.”

succeeded on and off the court. Beaudoin earned the top grade in Structure and Design of Digital Systems, a course required

W e ’ r e so p r o ud t o h a ve

of all ECE majors. In the same semester,

Vivian as a member of

she was an honorable mention regional All-American and received 2nd team All-UAA honors for her prowess on the court. Beaudoin said being on the volleyball team is a lot of work, but since she enjoys playing so much, it’s worth it. She’s already learned a lot from her time on the team, but she said the best lesson she’s learned has been about time management. “[Volleyball] forces you to time manage... because you have a commitment of practice one to two hours every single day, and you’re traveling on the weekends,”

o ur E C E c o m m uni t y, she i nsp i r e s a l l o f us w i t h he r p a ssi o n f o r v o l l e yb a l l a nd a c a d e m i c s, ” sa ys L a r r y Pi l e ggi , he a d o f e l e c t r i c a l a nd c o m p u ter e ngi ne e r i ng.

Beaudoin said. “You need to plan and you need to prioritize.”

PA GE 4 5

Other important skills she’s learned

CATHERINE PAVLOV TRAVELED TO THE ATACAMA DESERT IN CHILE AS A NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH FELLOW

TO CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS TO GAIN NON-GRASPING FUNCTIONALITY FROM SPACE ROVERS.

MANIPULATIONS IN THE DESERT The ground was dry, dusty, and rocky, with small rolling

the ground as a target for modification. In her research,

hills, peppered with the track marks of a rover. The place

she investigates how the rover’s wheel-terrain interaction

could have been the surface of Mars except that the sky

can be used to move along slopes by leveling paths, making

was a bright, cloudless blue, and the temperature had

terrain compact, and removing material. Pavlov developed a new model for this research. While

Desert in Chile, the driest non-polar desert on Earth and

models already exist for wheel-terrain situations, they

one of the best analogs for Mars on the planet.

focus on the mobility and driving ability of the vehicles, not

Pavlov, the winner of a competitive NASA Space

the movement of the soil. Pavlov uses terramechanics to

Technology Research Fellowship, was in the dry heat of the

predict how deep a wheel sinks, so that her new model can

Atacama conducting experiments that aim to add additional

predict where the soil goes after the wheel passes over it

functionality to space rovers. Pavlov’s research centers

and the shape of the remaining trench.

around non-prehensile terrain manipulation, or put more

In the summer of 2019, Pavlov spent time at NASA Ames,

simply, using non-grasping methods to interact with terrain.

a major NASA research center in Silicon Valley, as part

Basic examples of general non-prehensile manipulation

of the fellowship program. There, she worked in model

include moving a ping pong ball with paddles and a robot

development and interfaced with rover software to set up

using its arm to clear a table.

sensors to track the rover in real time. In September, she

“I look at how we can use the wheels of planetary

joined NASA researchers in the Atacama Desert to test her

exploration rovers to modify the environment around

model on the experimental KREX-2 rover in an environment

them,” said Pavlov, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical

similar to Mars. With little wild- or plant-life and a rocky

engineering advised by Assistant Professor Aaron Johnson

terrain of shallow slopes, the environment was a great

of mechanical engineering. “We are trying to expand

substitute for Mars.

what rovers can do both in a manipulation context and a mobility context.” Robotics systems used in space missions are extremely

“The trenching experiments went well. This was the first time we tested it on a substrate that actually looks something like what we might expect to see on Mars. It was

costly and made to optimize functionality and reliability

awesome to see it work.” Pavlov presented her research in

while being lightweight and fuel-efficient. Adding a

a poster session at NASA’s research grant day on Capitol

manipulator, with multiple motors and sensors, adds mass

Hill in December 2019.

and complexity, two big things to avoid for space missions.

Currently in her fourth year of the Ph.D. program, Pavlov

Mass directly increases launch cost and requires more fuel.

sees several different avenues for the future of the project,

Via non-prehensile terrain manipulation, Pavlov is

including variations in wheel and rover design, expanding to

exploring how to utilize existing interactions with the world

other terrain types, and adding other terrain manipulators.

that were previously considered disturbances or accidents

Conducting experiments at NASA Ames and the Atacama

and use them intentionally. Rather than see wheel tracks

Desert gave her the opportunity to get out into the field, and

on the ground as a consequence of driving, Pavlov treats

Pavlov is looking forward to continuing her research.

PA GE 4 7

reached 90 degrees. Catherine Pavlov was in the Atacama

ALUMNI NEWS

Chemical Engineering alumnus E. Gerald Meyer proves that age is just a number. Meyer, who turned 100 last November, is not slowing down. Meyer’s hobbies include traveling, art collecting, competitive running, and up until about ten years ago—motorcycling. He has competed in the National Senior Games several times and notably took the gold in four running events at the 2019 National Senior Games. Semi-retired, he is emeritus professor of chemistry and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wyoming. Still involved in his field, he is collaborating on chemical engineering research, and in particular, a refining project whose purpose is to “crack” the ring structure of hydrocarbons in coal to produce products used in the chemical industry with no CO2 emission. Meyer has many stories to tell about his life, his career, and his time at what was then called Carnegie Institute of Technology, or Carnegie Tech. Meyer was encouraged to pursue a college education by his mother—a 1915 Wellesley College graduate. He chose the College of Engineering for its reputation, and Pittsburgh seemed far away from his New Mexico home. He wanted to explore a new part of the country. “I think the thing that struck me about Carnegie Tech was the atmosphere. The commitment of the people, the students, and the faculty,” says Meyer, “people understood the importance of an education, and the opportunities that come from education, and the ability of Carnegie [Tech] to furnish students with the right tools needed for success.” While earning his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering (’40), Meyer worked part-time at the United States Bureau of Mines research station. After graduating, he worked at the Harbison Walker Refractories Company while taking a night class at Carnegie Tech. The course—chemical thermodynamics with Professor of Chemistry Harry Seltz—was a turning point

GERALD MEYER SHARES 100 YEARS OF STORIES

for Meyer. He did his master’s research with Seltz. The grim realities of World War II had intensified, and after graduating in 1942, Meyer was drafted into the Navy where ALUMNUS E.

he served until the end of the war. With

GERALD MEYER

his engineering and science background,

(’40 ’42), WHO TURNED 100 LAST NOVEMBER, IS IMPRESSIVELY BUSY AND NOT SLOWING DOWN.

Meyer was assigned to the Naval Research Laboratory to work on insulation for shipboard cabling. After the war, Meyer became involved in research at the University of New Mexico, developing timed fuses for explosives. He earned this Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1950. He did his dissertation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and remained

MEYER AT CARNEGIE TECH IN 1940.

a consultant for many years. With his Ph.D. in hand, he began his long career in academia. Meyer served in faculty and leadership positions at New NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES. SOURCE: BRIT HUCKABAY/NSGA

Mexico Highlands University for ten years

Committed to supporting students,

and the University of Wyoming for over 50

Meyer has given back to Carnegie Mellon

years. During his career, Meyer mentored

University generously. He created the

many students. So, when students ask for

Meyer Scholarship in the College of

career advice, he looks at his own path to

Engineering in 2004. This scholarship

offer guidance.

will support undergraduate engineering

“You need to look in the mirror and say, ‘What am I interested in?’ And keep in mind that what I might be interested in today

students in need, specifically students from rural western areas in the United States. As a final bit of advice, Meyer says, “be

could change, so I’ve got to keep flexible.

honest with yourself and with the people

And you need to say to yourself, ‘Whatever I

you work with. And keep your eyes open

do, I’m going to give it my best shot, I really

for what opportunities can come up.”

am. I’m going to remain true to myself,” says Meyer.

MEYER TURNED 100 LAST NOVEMBER. SOURCE: E. GERALD MEYER

PA GE 4 9

MEYER RUNNING IN THE 2019

EDUCATION CHANGES LIVES AND COUNTRIES Kandathil Chacko (K.C.) Thomas was born

and headed for Pittsburgh by way of New

in 1922 in the rural village of Vallamkulam

York City.

in British-occupied India. It was an

Thomas quickly made an impression at

impoverished area with few opportunities

Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his

for education, but aid from friends and

M.S. under the tutelage of mentors like Civil

relatives allowed Thomas to attend

Engineering Professor Harold Thomas and

intermediate schooling in nearby Trivandrum,

was asked to remain at Carnegie Mellon

and then to continue on to attend the newly

to earn his Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.).

opened engineering college there. Civil

This level of accreditation was rare for an

engineering was one of the few disciplines

engineer of the time, and Thomas turned

offered and he took to it naturally, obtaining

down a job offer at Alcoa to pursue it. As a

his degree and remaining to lecture at the

foreign student in 1940’s America, Thomas

college for a time.

dealt with occasional racial prejudice,

Thomas soon applied for the Sargent

though at Carnegie Mellon he had a safe

Scheme scholarship, a government program

and supportive environment to pursue

that sent Indian students to international

his studies. He successfully defended his

institutions to further their higher education.

doctoral thesis on hydraulic engineering

In late 1945 he boarded a U.S. troop ship in

in 1948, and in a letter Civil Engineering

Calcutta returning from the end of WWII,

Department Head F.T. Mavis writes, “[Mr.

K.C. Thomas] is one of the ablest students

had been named chairman of the CWC and

I have known. His scholastic record is

Secretary to the Government of India, the

superior and he has demonstrated unusual

top official in his field.

capacity in analysis and in the preparation of discerning reports.” That year Thomas returned to a newly

He recalled a moment of particular pride during a dispute between India and Pakistan over water tributaries. Pakistani

independent India. As stipulated by his

officials were so impressed by Thomas’

scholarship, Thomas took a position with

knowledge and persuasive arguments that

the Indian government as an assistant

they allowed him to tour several of their

engineer in the Central Water and Power

facilities, despite contentious relations

Commission, later reorganized as the

between the two countries.

Central Water Commission (CWC). The next year he and his wife Susy were married.

At 58 he reached the government age of retirement. Thomas’ desire to share the

Thomas spent the next decades rising

knowledge built over a long, successful

through the ranks at the CWC. His relaxed,

career led him to serve as an advisor on

western style of relating with superiors

U.N. dam projects around the world. On

drew the ire of some colleagues, but a

March 20th, 2020 Dr. K.C. Thomas passed

keen mind and no-nonsense attitude kept

away at the age of 97 at his residence in

Thomas advancing. Over the years he built

Trivandrum, survived by his wife, Susy

his expertise in the office and the field,

Thomas, their four children, and many

participating in and managing a number

grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

of dam projects, as well as heading a graduate training program for engineers from developing economies. By 1978, he THOMAS (RIGHT) MET WITH HER ROYAL HIGHNESS AT CHUKHA

PA GE 5 1

HYDRO-ELECTRIC PROJECT IN BHUTAN.

KAPOOR, WHO IS CHIEF STRATEGY

WORLD WITHOUT COVID IS A FREE GLOBAL PUBLIC

OFFICER AT LYFT, HAS HAD A CAREER

HEALTH INITIATIVE THAT MATCHES VOLUNTEERS WITH

OF INNOVATION AND NOTABLE

OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN COVID-19 CLINICAL

PARTNERSHIPS.

TRIALS SUCH AS VACCINES, TREATMENTS, ANTIBODY TESTING, AND BLOOD PLASMA TRANSFUSIONS. SOURCE: WORLD WITHOUT COVID

ALUMNUS MEETS CHALLENGE OF PANDEMIC When he and his wife contracted COVID-19, alumnus Raj

require a volunteer to report in person need over 1 million

Kapoor (MechE ’92) learned of a huge barrier in the battle

volunteers and trials that don’t require in-person volunteers

against the disease they were fighting: a lack of volunteers for

need about 20 million volunteers. The database of clinical

clinical research. As the couple recovered from the disease,

trials is automatically updated daily based on data from the

Kapoor was inspired to bridge this gap by creating a way

National Institutes of Health.

to connect people from all over the world to time-sensitive

“There is something for everyone. There are COVID-

clinical trials in their local communities. In just two weeks,

positive studies like antibody testing for people like me, or

Kapoor teamed up with health-tech startup Clara Health to

plasma donations. If you’re COVID-negative, they need you

create and launch World Without COVID: a free, global, public

in a vaccine development trial. And if you’re untested, they

health initiative that matches volunteers with opportunities

want to observe you in an observational trial,” says Kapoor.

to participate in COVID-19 clinical trials such as vaccines, treatments, antibody testing, and blood plasma transfusions.

The platform is the first of its kind. It draws on the expertise of Clara Health, using humans to walk volunteers

Kapoor, who is chief strategy officer at Lyft, has had

through the pre-qualification process—a process that,

a career of innovation and notable partnerships. He has

without the proper support, can cause many people to

cofounded and run several successful companies including

abandon becoming volunteers. Kapoor explains that before

Snapfish and Fitmob (now ClassPass). Having also spent

World Without COVID, 65 percent of people who wanted to

seven years working at a venture capital firm, Mayfield

participate in research ended up abandoning the process

Fund, Kapoor has experience creating and scaling products

because it was too complicated. Experts are also available to

across different sectors. His entrepreneurial background

answer questions about the clinical trials, taking the burden

helped him to come up with the idea for the COVID-19

off of principle researchers who may normally be tasked with

clinical trial platform.

communicating with volunteers.

“I realized this is a marketplace problem, similar to what I

As the relentless coronavirus constrains the globe, World

did when I was at Mayfield,” says Kapoor. “There are a bunch

Without COVID’s goal is to encourage people to act during

of people like me, volunteers—they don’t have to just be

this unprecedented crisis. Kapoor says that signing up takes

COVID positive, they could be COVID negative, they could be

about two minutes and can make an impact right away.

untested—that really want to help and make a difference but they don’t know how.” With more than 1400 different clinical trials in the site’s database, the need for volunteers is astronomical: trials that

“This is all about time. We don’t have time,” says Kapoor. “If we can compress the time of these [clinical] trials, and one of these trials is a winner—we’ve compressed the time of the pandemic. It’s a huge impact.”

AUD R EY ( HA M O R I ) FI TZG E R A L D MEC HE ’8 5

Audrey remembers her time as a student as an interesting era in computing. Personal computers were becoming more common, changing the way people learned and worked. She spent her engineering career at Draper Laboratory where she developed concept designs of autonomous undersea vehicles. At Draper, she was one of only a few female engineers. Supporting women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields is a passion of hers. Audrey and her husband Bill have given a gift to the College of Engineering in their will to recruit more women to STEM fields, support them while they’re pursuing their education, and help them throughout their careers. Giving back is important to Audrey because she says she wouldn’t have been able to go to Carnegie Mellon if it wasn’t for scholarships.

G I VE S T RAT E G I CALL Y, S U PPORT G E NE ROUSLY. Learn how easy it is to achieve your philanthropic vision through a planned gift by visiting giftplanning.cmu.edu. Contact the Office of Gift Planning today

Audrey enjoys spending her time skiing, traveling, boating, running, and going to baseball games.

at 412.268.5346 or mickkoster@andrew.cmu.edu.

Office of the Dean College of Engineering Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 251

In this life many demolitions are actually renovations. – Rumi Old Scaife Hall, the beloved but beleaguered home of Mechanical Engineering, was demolished. Construction on new Scaife will start soon, and in a few years, we will have the modern, state-of-theart facilities needed to educate world-class engineers.