Engineering FYI

The Center of Bioprocessing Research and Development at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is researching how to make biofuels efficient and economical.

The Center is working with KL Energy of Rapid City with funding from the U.S. government. KL research team leader Keith Flanegan (SD A ’02) says, “Collaborating with the government and the military is very helpful for us and ties in to our own company’s vision for having energy independence.” Read full article

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The Thermeleon roof tile is the result of a team of graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The color-changing roof tile’s polymer changes from black to white in cold and hot weather. This would help to absorb the sun’s heat in the winter to reduce heating bills and would reflect heat in the summer to cut global warming.

The group, including Nick D. Orf (IL A ’03), is testing the durability of the “pretty cheap polymers” in the roof tile.
Read the article for more information on the color-changing roofing materials.

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A recent article from the Los Angeles Times profiles the Transportation Security Laboratory in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Scientists at the laboratory are charged with the task of dreaming “up ways an enemy might slip a weapon or a bomb onto a plane, and then try to build defenses to detect or counter the danger.”

Calling the lab “one of the best in the world for the kind of work they do,” Dr. Colin Drury (NY N ’62), distinguished professor emeritus of engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, emphasized the importance of the laboratory in the evolving battle on terrorism. Read full article

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