The word “school” used to conjure images of books, pencils, and libraries. In Hoosier academia today however, those images have been replaced by visions of advanced technology. Things like artificial intelligence, aerospace science, and even smart medical devices are what Indiana students spend their time learning these days.
Some of the recent activity has been incredible. Truly amazing research in technology is happening all over the state in Indiana colleges and universities. Check out some of these high-tech highlights.
All Hands On Deck for AI Research
It’s a rare thing to have all three of Indiana’s premier universities teamed together on a single project, but that very thing is happening right now. Indiana University, the University of Notre Dame, and Purdue University were all brought together by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) to conduct artificial intelligence research and workforce development efforts.
Their work is being called the Embedded Systems/Trusted AI initiative. It’s part of a workforce development program called Trusted AI SCALE that is funded by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Officials have said this initiative is important and adapted to the needs of the Department of Defense.
“The Trusted AI program is a graduate-level program, driven by difficult challenges the Department of Defense faces. Our university partners take our hard problems and turn them into projects to both train students and develop technical solutions,” said Dr. Kara Perry, the education and workforce development co-lead for the Trusted & Assured Microelectronics (T&AM) program NSWC Crane.
Numerous disciplines from the three universities will be involved with this project, including Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Informatics, Intelligent Systems Engineering, Psychology and Brain Sciences, and Statistics. Officials have said this will spark collaborations that never would have happened otherwise.
Smart Fibers for Medial Use
A new research agreement was established between a Hoosier medical manufacturer and university partners to develop new smart fibers that can monitor the well-being of patients from inside of their bodies. The IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering is working with Cook Medical on fibers that can assist with real-time monitoring during procedures.
So-called smart fibers are materials that have embedded micro or nano sensors distributed along their length. The partners aim to develop a smart-fiber platform that can deliver sensors during interventional procedures, such as catheters and endoscopes, for example.
"Adding sensors to minimally invasive devices and implants will provide data to clinicians to not only improve care but potentially help our engineers improve device safety and performance in future products,” said Sean Chambers, director of Cook Medical's New Ventures Corporate Research Program.
Data provided by the sensors helps medical professionals provide better patient care and can even help with the development of better medical devices. Measuring health parameters in multiple locations along the catheter or endoscope rather than in just one spot at its end provides more complete information about a patient's well-being.
World’s First in Hypersonic Testing
A state-of the-art building under construction at Purdue University will provide the facilities for advanced hypersonic research. With this type of flight, aircraft could conceivably fly 2,800 miles across the United States in only 15 minutes.
The planned 65,000-square-foot Hypersonic Applied Research Facility (HARF) will house two cutting-edge wind tunnels. The $41 million facility will house the only Mach 8 quiet wind tunnel in the world as well as a hypersonic pulse (HYPULSE) shock tunnel. The tunnels recreate different scenarios such as spacecraft re-entry or missile flight through the atmosphere.
Hypersonic vehicles can travel more than five times the speed of sound and fly in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, significantly challenging an adversary’s ability to detect, track, target and engage. These systems are a top Department of Defense priority to ensure U.S. battlefield dominance.
“The diagnostic measurement techniques are almost going to make the Mach 8 quiet wind tunnel and HYPULSE like brand new tools to investigate the physics of what is happening in these conditions,” said Scott Meyer, managing director of Purdue’s Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories. “Researchers will be applying the techniques at the same conditions that would occur on real systems in flight and enable measurements that have never been made before under these extreme testing conditions.”
Cutting-Edge Learning
Education sure has reached a new level in the Hoosier state. The amount of amazing innovations from Indiana colleges never ceases, it only keeps finding ways to take things further. With each new advancement in technology, our profile on the world’s stage as a destination for science becomes more prominent. Here in our schools, we change the world.
