Invention & Innovation

With the cleanup of oil in the Gulf of Mexico ongoing, The Chronicle of Higher Education profiled a new powerful sponge that is helping pull oil from the Gulf waters.

The Osorb is a powerful sponge and filter created by Paul L. Ediston, professor at College of Wooster. According to sources in the article, the Osorb “materials cost less and soak up more” than other similar filters.

Dr. Berrin Tansel, P.E. (FL Q ’78), also details, in the article, other options for separating oil from water.

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Through the creation of a faith-based nonprofit that manufactures wheelchairs for those in need in developing nations, Don Schoendorfer, NY A ’72, has put his engineering background to work on a new “life mission.”

His company, Free WheelChair Mission, “has give away nearly 500,000 wheelchairs in 77 developing nations.” Read the full article from the Los Angeles Times for more on Don’s spiritual journey.

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In a recent story from The New York Times, research on devices that “consume so little power that they can be drawn from ambient radio waves” is highlighted.

Two engineering professors are working on a low-power hat, the SmartHat, that can be worn at construction sites to warn the hat’s wearer when they are too close to construction equipment.

Click here, to read more about the wireless and battery-free sensors.

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