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Illinois professor to receive $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Nick Holonyak Jr., a John Bardeen Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as the 2004 recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize – the world’s largest single cash prize for invention. Holonyak will receive the prize – awarded annually to an […]
Like ozone hole, polar clouds take bite out of meteoric iron
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Polar clouds are known to play a major role in the destruction of Earth’s protective ozone layer, creating the springtime “ozone hole” above Antarctica. Now, scientists have found that polar clouds also play a significant role in removing meteoric iron from Earth’s mesosphere. The discovery could help researchers refine their models of […]
Measurement technique can image how heat moves through material
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Infrared cameras create images by detecting the heat given off by an object, including the body of a soldier hidden in the dark of night. Now, researchers have developed a technique for imaging how fast heat can move through an object. Thermal conductivity – the rate at which heat flows through a […]
New technique uses household humidifier to create nanocomposite materials
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In what may sound like a project from a high school science fair, scientists are using a household humidifier to create porous spheres a hundred times smaller than a red blood cell. The technique is a new and inexpensive way to do chemistry using sound waves, the researchers say. In the home, […]
CARMA groundbreaking set for March 27
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Astronomers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be major participants in the construction and operation of a new millimeter-wave telescope array to be located in the high desert of California. Groundbreaking for the facility – called the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy – is set for 2 p.m. […]
New polyelectrolyte inks create fine-scale structures through direct writing
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Like spiders spinning webs, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are creating complex, three-dimensional structures with micron-size features using a robotic deposition process called direct-write assembly. As reported in the March 25 issue of the journal Nature, Jennifer Lewis and her research team have developed novel inks that readily flow […]
High-performance, single-crystal plastic transistors reveal hidden behavior
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Printing circuits on sheets of plastic may offer a low-cost technique for manufacturing thin-film transistors for flexible displays, but maximizing the performance of such devices will require a detailed, fundamental understanding of how charge flows through organic semiconductors. Now, an unusual way of fabricating single-crystal organic transistors has allowed scientists to probe […]
Hidden order found in cuprates may help explain superconductivity
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Like the delicate form of an icicle defying gravity during a spring thaw, patterns emerge in nature when forces compete. Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found a hidden pattern in cuprate (copper-containing) superconductors that may help explain high-temperature superconductivity. Superconductivity, the complete loss of electrical resistance in some […]
Controlling material structure at nanoscale makes better thermal insulator
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Heat may be essential for life, but in some cases – such as protecting the space shuttle or improving the efficiency of a jet engine – materials with low thermal conductivities are needed to prevent passage of too much heat. As reported in the Feb. 13 issue of the journal Science, researchers […]
Etching holes in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers creates better beam
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found a way to significantly improve the performance of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers by drilling holes in their surfaces. Faster and cheaper long-haul optical communication systems, as well as photonic integrated circuits, could be the result. Low-cost VCSELs are currently used in data communication […]
Engineering Open House highlights ingenuity
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Wild and wacky Rube Goldberg machines, robots fighting for possession of wooden blocks, and more than 120 fun-filled exhibits are among the attractions awaiting visitors to the 84th annual Engineering Open House at the University of Illinois. The event, organized by students in the Engineering Council at Illinois, will take place from […]
Puzzling height of polar clouds linked to solar radiation
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Scientists have discovered why polar mesospheric clouds over the South Pole are nearly two miles higher than those over the North Pole. A variation in solar radiation – a result of Earth’s elliptical orbit – is responsible, they say. In the Jan. 29 online version of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists […]