Engineering

The molecular engineering (ME) program at the Transromantic Interfaces and Coatings is accepting applications to fill two research positions for conducting research at the frontier of materials discovery, exploring the organic networks and frameworks with applications in carbon capture, carbon dioxide conversion, oxygen reduction, molecular separation, and ion sorption. This project is in line with two recently awarded grants from National Science Foundation proposing to develop a new approach to ME.

This can be potentially a long-term research project. It can also be served as a UCARE project or Capstones so that students can get good research credits besides financial support. We are looking for several enthusiastic students who are interested in and good at full stack website (javascript, php, angular, nodejs etc) and database (mysql, mongodb etc.) development. You can work individually or as a team. We are a research lab with good publication records on biological websites and databases.

Modernizing the agricultural industry is critical in building a sustainable future. One important component of agricultural modernization is to manage agricultural wastes from the perspective of circular economy. A waste-to-resource approach should be developed to convert the organics in animal wastes to clean energy (e.g., hydrogen gas) or value-added products (e.g., medium chain carboxylic acids, or MCCAs). Hydrogen gas is an important form of energy in decarbonizing the economy, while MCCAs can be used as feedstocks to produce valuable chemical compounds.

The current research will focus on Chronic Liver Diseases. Liver fibrosis represents hepatic insufficiency and leads to end-stage liver disease and failure. Liver fibrosis results from repeated liver injury causing excessive scar tissue to build and liver to get stiff and impair hepatic function. This can limit the flow of blood to the healthy liver tissue causing a momentum of scar tissue buildup.

There is an emerging interest in smart (or programmable) network hardware for new Internet applications and architectures, such as machine learning, edge computing, data centers, Internet of Things, and Virtual/Augmented Reality. One example of smart network hardware is SmartNIC that offloads network protocols from CPUs to FPGA on network interface cards. However, there are big differences between traditional CPU-based software implementations and new FPGA-based hardware implementations of network protocols.

Critical infrastructure needs to be designed considering the extreme hazards that may present over its lifetime, including earthquakes. However, the loads imparted on structures due to very rare and significant earthquakes are largely unknown. This project aims to address this knowledge gap by harnessing what are known as precariously balanced rocks (PBRs). PBRs are naturally occurring rocky features that have eroded into structurally precarious or fragile positions.

Flooding and other unanticipated events resulting directly (or indirectly) from climate change have significant impacts on the efficient functioning of transportation networks. In response to such events, it is often necessary to evacuate local populations to ensure their safety. These evacuations can place an atypical demand on roadways. This project seeks to simulate and assess these impacts for eastern Nebraska. A wider analysis will consider resilience measures.

Electric vehicles adoption is anticipated to constitute a major component of decarbonization in the United States. However, many households remain hesitant to purchase an EV due to "range anxiety" and a lack of available charging infrastructure. On the other hand, both public and private sector actors are reticent to invest in infrastructure without a known demand source. The federal infrastructure package currently under review includes $7.5 billion for EV infrastructure.

This project will involve modeling the physics of artificial microfluidic robots using concepts from mathematical modeling, acoustics, and microfluidics. Undergraduates with strong interest in physics/math/programming are encouraged to apply.

The project aims to use 3D bioprinting to fabricate in vitro tissue models. Specifically, the ongoing work is to recreate a 3D layered skin tissue. The research work will take advantage of the different types of state-of-the-art 3D tissue printing platforms to contribute to the broad literature of biotechnology. In addition, the students will learn tissue culture and regeneration, biological characterization, advanced microscopy as well as engineering design.