Visions

When we converted a former e-newsletter into this blog way back in February 2006, we promised you a see-thru look at some of the more noteworthy and interesting research occurring on this campus. In the five years since, we've shared insights about various projects. We've covered a broad range, writing about research on flappers, frogs, fiber-reinforced polymers and focused ion beam microscopy. We've used this space as a forum for students to report back about their spring break trips to Guatemala and summer research trips to Taiwan. Overall, it's been a good effort.

But the time has come to bid Visions a fond farewell.

Yangchuan Xing has a big idea that could change the game of electric-powered vehicles.

The unassuming associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Missouri S&T is one of the few researchers in the nation working on a potential breakthrough in green energy. His research holds promise for turning a decade-old idea of lithium-air technology into the ultimate battery for future electric vehicles.

Xing received a $1.2 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which was created through stimulus funding for the purpose of supporting potential game-changers in clean energy. ARPA-E's funds go to high-risk research projects -- but these are the types of projects that hold the greatest opportunity for high payoffs.

Here at Missouri S&T, we've been pretty proud of our research growth in recent years. But when compared to the research expenditures of a giant corporation like Microsoft, we're pretty small potatoes.

Kevin Turner, the chief operating officer at Microsoft, spoke via teleconference to Missouri S&T MBA students and others on Thursday. One of his messages to the students was that research matters.

Some strains of the bacterium E. coli are best known for causing food poisoning. But a group of Missouri S&T students sees the notorious microorganism as a potential fuel source for the future.

Participating in the recent iGEM 2010 Jamboree at MIT, the students presented their concept for creating an electron transport system out of E. coli -- in essence, turning the bacterium into a microbial fuel cell. (iGEM is the acronym for the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.)

"The growing need for alternative fuel sources has sparked interest and research across many scientific and engineering disciplines," the S&T iGEM team explains in the project abstract. "The fledgling field of microbial fuel cell development has previously relied on anaerobic metal reducing organisms such as Geobacter sulfurreduccens. This project sought to isolate genes from the electron shuttling pathway in Geobacter and transform them into the more manageable aerobic Escherichia coli. The Missouri University of Science and Technology iGEM team isolated four outer membrane cytochrome (omc) genes from Geobacter, vital to the extracellular transportation of electrons. The four genes; omcB, omcE, omcS and omcT, were cloned into individual plasmids. The eventual goal is to combine all four genes into one plasmid to transform into E. coli to create an aerobic, electron transporting microbial system."

Congratulations to the S&T iGEM team -- the Missouri Miners -- for taking on such a challenging research project.

Several students and faculty from the geological sciences and engineering department presented the results of their research at the Geological Society of America's 122nd annual meeting, held Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Denver.

The presenters covered a broad range of topics -- from results of field mapping in the western desert of Egypt to a discussion of the risks associated with CO2 sequestration. After the jump, a summary of the presented research.

One of Missouri S&T's most prominent nanomaterials experts, Dr. Jay A. Switzer, served as guest editor for the October issue of MRS Bulletin, the publication of the Materials Research Society. Along with co-guest editor Gary Hodes of Weizmann Institute of Science, Switzer discusses the state of electrodeposition and chemical bath deposition for nanomaterials in the issue's cover story (PDF).

Nature utilizes solution deposition -- the process known as biomineralization -- to form very elegant, sophisticated, and highly functional structures. We are now learning how to mimic nature -- to some extent -- by using chemical or electrochemical processing to grow thin films and nanostructures with special properties on solid surfaces in solution. A common theme in these methods is that the material is deposited at the solid/solution interface. Because solution deposition takes place, in most cases, at relatively low temperatures (at or near room temperature), it is a suitable method for forming nanostructures that may not be stable under high-temperature growth conditions.

Switzer is the Castleman/Foundation for Chemical Research Professor of Discovery at Missouri S&T. Earlier this year, he reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that a certain class of nanostructures - known as superlattices -- could become faster and more energy efficient computing devices. We also reported on Switzer's journal article.

Clever resident Mary Delores Fisher has no idea what is happening underground on her property, but she's excited about finding out.

Fisher is talking about a seismic monitoring station installed by Dr. Stephen Gao and some of his students. Read the full story here.

P.S. We'll remind the newspaper that we're not MST.

The process described in the latest research journal article by nanomaterials expert Nicholas Leventis and his team may be about room-temperature synthesis, but the article is among the hottest topics in the materials research community.

Leventis' paper -- One-step room-temperature synthesis of fibrous polyimide aerogels from anyhdrides and isocyanates and conversion to isomorphic carbons -- is one of this week's hot features on the Journal of Materials Chemistry blog.

"In this study," writes the JMC's Anna Simpson, "Nicholas Leventis and co-workers in the USA have described polyimide aerogels synthesized via a low temperature process through the rather underutilized reaction of dianhydrides with diisocyanates. These polyimide aerogels are compared with those obtained by the classic high-temperature amine route and are shown to be chemically identical but morphologically different. Overall, the isocyanate route has several distinct advantages over the classic route."

The full paper is available for download.

Leventis' earlier research has been the subject of a couple of previous blog posts: One discussing his efforts to mix materials at the nano-level, reported in the April 8, 2009, edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and another about a process to interweave nanomaterials to make them stronger.

Missouri S&T's nuclear engineering program may be celebrating its 50-year history this weekend, but much of the discussion during Friday morning's commemorative sessions focused on the future of nuclear engineering education instead of the past.

Speakers during Friday morning's program included Dr. Starnes Walker, director of science and technology research for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Dr. John Gilligan, director of Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) for the U.S. Department of Energy; Dr. John Gutteridge, manager of Nuclear Education Programs for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and Dr. John C. Wagner, group leader and technical integrator in the Nuclear Science and Technology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Each speaker offered his take on the future of nuclear energy -- and nuclear engineering -- relative to R&D and education.

Of particular interest to S&T educators may be the comments from Gilligan and Gutteridge, who are both responsible for managing federal funding to universities.

When Delbert Day was told that he could receive the Phoenix Award anywhere in the world -- he chose St. Louis. One of the reasons is because he wanted to bring people from the glass industry to tour Mo-Sci in Rolla.

Mo-Sci manufactures glass products for medical uses, including glass microspheres. The only successful way to treat inoperable liver cancer is to inject radioactive glass microspheres into the tumors. If we heard right, a single vial of microspheres (1,000 doses) ends up being worth approximately $16 million.

Day is currently very excited about the use of glass fibers/scaffolding in promoting re-growth of bone and tissue. Put this stuff (looks and feels a little like a cotton ball) on an open wound and it will heal very quickly. Nobody's sure exactly why yet.