all School of Engineering and Applied Sciences stories

Materials scientists find better model for glass creation

404132862 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:09:50 -0500

Harvard materials scientists have come up with what they believe is a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass.

Glasses form through the process of vitrification, in which a glass-forming liquid cools and slowly becomes a solid whose molecules, though they’ve stopped moving, are not permanently locked into a crystal structure. Instead, they’re more like a liquid that has merely stopped flowing, though they can continue to move over long stretches of time.

Bringing new meaning to the term scientific paper

404132862 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:00:57 -0400

An insight from the labs of Harvard chemist George M. Whitesides and cell biologist Donald Ingber is likely to make a fundamental shift in how biologists grow and study cells – and it’s as cheap and easy as reaching for a paper towel.

From stem cells to functioning strip of heart muscle

404132862 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0400

A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and collaborators at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has taken a giant step toward the possibility of using human stem cells to repair damaged hearts.

Stimulus funds provide welcome research boost

705287540 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:15:58 -0400

In remarks last month at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., President Barack Obama said not only do we need stimulus money to create thousands of jobs in the sciences and technology, but also to get the progress of the nation’s research back on track.

Need a new heart? Grow your own

404132862 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:07:34 -0400

Three-dimensional structure of human genome deciphered

404132862 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:40:21 -0400

Scientists have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of the human genome, paving the way for new insights into genomic function and expanding our understanding of how cellular DNA folds at scales that dwarf the double helix.

Donald Ingber awarded the 2009 BMES Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship for outstanding achievements, originality and leadership

404132862 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:00:54 -0500

Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, has been awarded the Biomedical Engineering Society’s prestigious Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship for 2009. The lectureship recognizes outstanding achievements, a high level of originality and leadership in the science and practice of biomedical engineering.

NIH funds risky, potentially transformative research by Harvard faculty members

404132862 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:17:05 -0400

Eighteen faculty members at Harvard and Harvard-affiliated institutions are among 115 scientists nationally whose promising and innovative work was recognized today with the announcement of three grant programs by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Opposites attract - but they may not stay together

404132862 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:02:13 -0400

Opposites may always attract. But they may not remain together long-term.

In a counter-intuitive discovery published in the current edition of the journal Nature, researchers from Harvard, the University of California at Davis, Princeton, and Penn State University report that oppositely charged drops of water will not attract permanently, but instead will bounce off each other indefinitely when subjected to a force of attraction created by what physicists call an electric field that is too strong.

Huybers and Mahadevan named MacArthur Foundation Fellows

404132862 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:36:02 -0400

Two Harvard faculty members who study present and past ice sheets and the science behind familiar objects and everyday events have been named recipients of prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants.

China could meet its energy needs by wind alone

404132862 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:26:40 -0400

A team of environmental scientists from Harvard and Tsinghua University has demonstrated the enormous potential for wind-generated electricity in China. Using extensive meteorological data and incorporating the Chinese government’s energy-bidding and financial restrictions for delivering wind power, the researchers estimate that wind alone has the potential to meet the country’s electricity demands projected for 2030.

Research team at Harvard to develop small-scale mobile robotic devices

404132862 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:02:10 -0400

A multidisciplinary team of computer scientists, engineers, and biologists at Harvard received a $10 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Expeditions in Computing grant to fund the development of small-scale mobile robotic devices. Inspired by the biology of a bee and the insect’s hive behavior, the researchers aim to push advances in miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources; spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic “smart” sensors; and refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent machines.

Scientists expect wildfires to increase as climate warms in the coming decades

404132862 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:30:09 -0400

As the climate warms in the coming decades, atmospheric scientists at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and their colleagues expect that the frequency of wildfires will increase in many regions. The spike in the number of fires could also adversely affect air quality due to the greater presence of smoke.

Four from Harvard win Presidential Early Career Awards in Science and Engineering

404132862 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:02:46 -0400

Four Harvard researchers have been named among the winners nationwide of this year’s Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). They are Roland G. Fryer Jr., Patrick J. Wolfe, Robert J. Wood, and Nonie K. Lesaux.

The announcement came today from the White House.

Computer scientists model cell division

50443248 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:36:48 -0400

Computer scientists at Harvard have developed a framework for studying the arrangement of tissue networks created by cell division across a diverse set of organisms, including fruit flies, tadpoles, and plants.

The finding, published in the June 2009 issue of PLoS Computational Biology, could lead to insights about how multicellular systems achieve (or fail to achieve) robustness from the seemingly random behavior of groups of cells, and provide a road map for researchers seeking to artificially emulate complex biological behavior.