How to Remove Metals from Water with Polymers

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Gerardo Lopez, Arizona State University, NEWT Center

Heavy metals in our water sources have been an ongoing contamination issue that has been growing, especially since the industrialization era. Methods such as adsorption have been previously developed to try to remove these metals from the water in the most cost-effective and as efficiently...

BNNTs

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Shawna Lee-Paul, Rice University

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are nano particles with unique properties, including high mechanical strength, high thermal conductivity, and neutron shielding capacity. These properties are beneficial for numerous applications, such as aerospace, electronics, and energy-efficient...

Cleaning Household Greywater for Reuse as Toilet Water

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Elliot Hall, Arizona State University, NEWT Center

Freshwater is becoming scarce while we use it as a limitless resource. Roughly 30% of our daily water usage is from toilets. Our project, funded by Gate Foundation is to recycle household greywater, clean it, and reuse it in toilets. In this work, the physical foam fractionation is...

Introduction to Microfluidics

Online Presentations | 11 Oct 2022 | Contributor(s): Terry Kuzma, NACK Network

Prof. Terence Kuzma will discuss how modern manufacturing processes are used to create lab on a chip devices. He will discuss the unique physics of fluids on the microscale, and the solutions to meet these challenges.

Your Smart Brain

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Rubiona Grainger, Rice University, NEWT Center

Researchers have differentiated hESCs into forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. However, observing cell interpretation of signals to form dorsal-ventral patterning tissues with sonic hedgehog (SHH) gene is necessary. We used micropatterning within different timeframes to determine how cell fates...

Designing a System that will Prevent Membrane Fouling in the Event of a Power Outage

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Enrique Gomez, University of Texas - El Paso, NEWT Center

This project focuses  on finding a solution to prevent membrane fouling in the CERRO units located at the lower valley plants in the event of a power outage. Power outages are common in the 79907 area of El Paso, Texas especially during the summer season. In the event of a power...

Forever Chemical Gone Forever Using Nanotechnology By Converting PFAS Into Graphene Nanoparticles

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Robert Garza, Rice University

Forever chemicals are in a class of chemicals commonly known as PFAS (Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances). These chemicals are found in items such as microwave popcorn and fast food containers. Consequently, they are now being found in drinking water causing health problems such as a...

Microstructure Modeling with OOF2 and OOF3D

Online Presentations | 26 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Andrew Reid, Stephen Langer

The OOF object-oriented finite element software, developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, provides an interactive FEM tool which packages sophisticated mathematical capabilities with a user-interface that speaks the language of materials science...

Detecting Cancerous Pollutants

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Julia Dolive, Rice University, NEWT Center

Developments in machine learning software and nanoparticles-assisted Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) techniques have remarkable potential in improving the detection accuracy and sensitivity of pollutants molecules. A cancerogenic class of environmental and biological pollutants of...

Terahertz Materials for 3D Printing

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Ariel Delos Reyes, Rice University

Terahertz (THz) represent the portion of the electromagnetic radiation between the microwave and the infrared region. Potential applications range from communication, pharmaceutical, medical and dental. However, the fabrication of photonic devices are challenging due to the limited choices...

The Importance of Fish Poop

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Julie Cooper, Rice University, NEWT Center

Stony corals engage in symbiotic relationships with photosynthetic dinoflagellates (Family Symbiodiniaceae). As corals become more susceptible to bleaching events the rate at which they reacquire Symbiodiniaceae into their framework is key to their survival. Symbiodiniaceae can be dispersed...

The Vital AMP

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Emanuel Byas, Rice University

Antimicrobial Peptides (AMP)s are naturally produced in nature by organisms and have been known for a while to aid in the combat of fighting off harmful microbes. AMPs alone, however, have their own limitations in nature such as becoming toxic to individuals at certain concentrations, low...

Why You Should Care About Crystals

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Aerielle Rodriguez, Rice University

Why are Crystals important for material engineering? This project tested different crystals with varying band gaps in order to demonstrate the relationship between observable optical properties and physical properties of crystals.

Machine Learning Predicts Additive Manufacturing Part Quality: Tutorial on Support Vector Regression

Online Presentations | 26 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Davis McGregor

This tutorial introduces and demonstrates the use of machine learning (ML) to address this need. Using data collected from an AM factory, you will train a support vector regression (SVR) model to predict the dimensions of AM parts based on the design geometry and manufacturing parameters.

Microfluidics: Hands-On Computational Examples

Online Presentations | 12 Oct 2022 | Contributor(s): Atilla Ozgur Cakmak, NACK Network

Simulation of a microfluidic channel to separate red blood cells will also be covered as an immediate application.

Aggregation Effect of Near-Infrared Boron Difluoride Formazanate Dyes

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Jessica Robicheaux, Rice University

How are near-infrared (NIR) dyes used for their enhanced capability in fluorescence detection and imaging, tissue penetration depth and low background with minimal fluorescence from surrounding tissues? This research focuses on Aggregation Induced Emission (AIE) in order to utilize boron...

Nanocomposite Hydrogels

Animations | 21 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Francisco Padron, Rice University

What are Nanocomposite Hydrogels? Sodium alginate (SA) is a natural hydrophilic biopolymer, typically obtained from marine brown macroalgae, and suitable for making hydrogels for biomedical applications due to its biocompatibility, chelating ability, water solubility, and low-cost. The...

Optical Property of Single Wall Carbon Nanotube

Animations | 20 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Usha Devathosh, Rice University

What are the optical properties of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes? Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are 1D cylindrical nanomaterials that resemble a rolled up graphene sheet and have many interesting properties, including the strong fluorescence emission of semi-conducting SWCNTs in the...

Building & Testing a Component of Synthetic Genetic Circuit in Mammalian Cells

Animations | 20 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Ariel Delos Reyes, Rice University

Oscillations in protein levels within cells help facilitate a variety of biological processes, from circadian rhythm to cell cycle progression. This research focuses on developing a platform for creating oscillatory circuits in mammalian cells by using several interrelated DNA constructs....

Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticles

Animations | 20 Aug 2022 | Contributor(s): Rafferty Deeds, Rice University

Plasmonics has proven applications in improving photocatalysis, photothermal and photovoltaic cells. There are some issues with optimizing energy transfer and the decay of the plasmon oscillation in conjunction with semiconductors. Direct charge transfer results in chemical interface...