PULLMAN, Wash. – Demand on neck muscles increases 3-5 times when using tablet computers compared to sitting with the head in a neutral position, according to recent research by Anita Vasavada at Washington State University. The lowest demand on the neck was when the tablet was in a high propped position.
The paper was published in February in the journal Ergonomics.
A number of Voiland undergraduate students performed exceedingly well at the recent Showcase for Undergraduate Research and creative Activities (SURCA).
Congratulations to the following winners:
Washington State University professor Xiao Zhang has received a prestigious National Science Foundation award to junior faculty for his work in converting tough plant material to liquid fuels.
He is developing an innovative chemical pathway to convert lignin to open chain hydrocarbons similar to those that make up jet fuel. The results will lead to new processes for producing sustainable fuel and improving economic and environmental sustainability of biorefinery operations.
“This is a potentially transformative technology, which can lead to large scale utilization of lignin,” said Zhang, assistant professor in the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at WSU Tri-Cities.
Washington State University has been selected to participate in an innovative program to build entrepreneurship into undergraduate engineering education.
WSU is one of 25 U.S. institutions and one of only two schools in the Northwest selected by the NSF-funded National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter) to join the Pathways to Innovation Program. The program helps institutions incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into undergraduate engineering education.
The students from WSU’s student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) secured a spot in the national student conference and chemical car competition on Nov. 14-17 after taking second place in last spring’s Pacific Northwest regional competition. The competition, which included 35 teams from around the U.S., requires that a chemically-powered car travel 25 meters while carrying a sizeable cargo and then stop as close as possible to the finish line. A group of WSU students originally developed the idea for the national AIChE competition more than a decade ago.
View the entire story at the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture ↗
Emily Davenport, a WSU graduate student in chemical engineering, recently won two awards in the Inland Northwest Micrograph Contest for her micrographs for the research on electrochemically active biofilms. A biofilm is a group of microorganisms that have colonized a surface. These photos, taken through a scanning electron microscope, illustrate how biofilm structure and formation can facilitate the transfer of electrons and produce electricity. Davenport’s research focuses on the protective functions of a biofilm’s extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), a matrix of biomolecules produced by the biofilm. Davenport is especially interested in how EPS interacts with antibiotics used to treat infections. The Inland Northwest Micrograph Contest is an annual competition put on by the Materials Research Society of WSU.
“Conversion of Microalgae to Jet Fuel: Process Design and Simulation” by Hui-Yuan Wang, David Bluck, and Bernard J. Van Wie was recently selected as the cover story for the June 2014 edition of Bioresource Technology.
Accompanied by over-population and further industrialization, energy shortages are becoming the biggest challenge that our hydrocarbon-driven society will face in the near future. The non-renewability of fossil fuels will be the main impediment for energy sustainability in human society. At the same time, use of fossil fuels leads to a net production of CO2, a greenhouse gas believed to be directly related to global warming. In contrast, biomass is a renewable resource and carbon neutral in principle. The utilization of biomass as an energy feedstock is one of the most promising ways to reduce the energy dependence on non-renewable fossil resources and at the same time reduce the overall carbon footprint.
In the paper, the researchers show the utility of PRO/II software for simulating biomass related processes and use a PRO/II simulation to demonstrate the feasibility of jet fuel production from microalgae. They also use a PRO/II case study to show optimal hydrotreating conditions for making Jet B fuel and show that recovering hydrogen from the byproduct reforming adds up to 15 percent of the product’s value.
This work was partially supported by Schneider Electric S.A. (formerly Invensys Ltd.), the makers of Pro/II, through a project entitled “Pro II Simulation Comparison with Pilot Plant or Plant Data for Biomass Conversion to Biofuels” and partially by the Washington State University Agricultural Research Center though Hatch Project #WPN00807 entitled “Fundamental and Applied Chemical and Biological Catalysts to Minimize Climate Change, Create a Sustainable Energy Future, and Provide a Safer Food Supply” through the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institutes for Food and Agriculture program.