RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
In
American research universities often have been the
birthplace of new technologies, companies and even
industries. When futuristic ideas are combined with
knowledge, creativity and a penchant for problemsolving, conditions become ripe for innovation.
The College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon is
globally recognized for building and sustaining
such an environment.
The College has a long tradition of applying the “problemsolving” approach to both education and research,
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Biomedical Engineering 2
I n f o r m a t i o n Te ch n o l o g y & S e c u r i t y 6
which enables us to address multidisciplinary problems in
ways that very few universities can. We educate our
undergraduate and graduate students in the context of
real-world problems, and this plays out daily in the
College‘s more than 22 major research centers or “pillars
of excellence.” The pioneering work underway in these
centers addresses both immediate and emerging
Investigating Materials 16
Energy & Environment 20
challenges facing society and industry. We are making
tremendous advances in areas ranging from biomedical
engineering to information technology and security, to
Innovation Has No Bounds 3 0
R e s e a r ch C e n t e r s 32
energy and the environment. Contributing to our success
is the effective manner in which we collaborate with
industry partners and government entities; this further
empowers us to transfer our discoveries from the
lab to society. In this book, we want to share with
you examples of how the College of Engineering at
Carnegie Mellon is transforming our world.
Pradeep Khosla
Dean, College of Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
1
B i o me d i c a l
E ng i ne e r i ng
Biomedical engineering encompasses a broad
range of activities, ranging from basic cell
engineering to the creation of medical devices.
Carnegie Mellon researchers are investigating
how mechanical forces operate to influence
cell function and fate. To complement this
fundamental work, technologies that facilitate
the development of knowledge, such as
sophisticated computer programs that read
microscope images, are being fine-tuned. Other
research thrusts include nanobiotechnology,
bio-MEMS for sensing, and medical applications.
Ongoing work in the areas of bone tissue
engineering and cardiac devices is expanding.
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S T R I D E S I N I M AG E I N F O R M AT I C S
Faster Diagnoses and a Reduction in Invasive Medical Procedures
Pittsburgh has earned international recognition in the
time and is subject to human error. As a test model,
field of image informatics, and this is due in part to
the teratoma tissue types are codified by microscopic
Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Bioimage Informatics (CBI).
examination and automated image analysis tools are
CBI researchers are developing sophisticated mathemati-
used to “learn” tissue classifications. Researchers
cal tools derived from signal processing and machine
have already shown using these methods that tissue
learning to automatically and accurately extract informa-
types can be automatically distinguished with nearly
tion from biomedical images.
90 percent accuracy. On a similar front, in an attempt
In an ongoing collaborative project with the University
of Pittsburgh, engineers and medical doctors are using
computational and mathematical approaches to study
how teratoma tumors grow. These tumors contain
tissues and cells derived from the three basic germ
layers that form the basis for human tissues and organs.
To learn how germ layers develop, in a noninvasive
manner, the tumors are imaged using high-resolution
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Then, the tumors
to improve diagnostic accuracy of MRI, image data
obtained from MRI is compared to the information
inherently present in the histological images to develop
a histological picture from the MRI. In practical terms,
the ability to automate tissue identification would greatly
enhance the practice of diagnostic pathology. Improving
the diagnostic accuracy of MRI may obviate many
invasive biopsies and operative procedures to obtain
tissue for diagnosis.
are sectioned and processed for histological analyses.
For more information about this project and other
Analyzing actual tissue samples provides accurate and
bioimaging research, on the Web visit the Center for
in-depth information; however, this type of analysis takes
Bioimage Informatics at http://www.cbi.cmu.edu.
Students watch demonstrations of a four-armed
robotic surgery system that provides minimally
invasive options for complex surgical procedures.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
3
Big Plans for Ultra-Miniature
IMPLA N TA B L E M E D I C A L D E V I CES
A Tool that Predicts When
AO RT I C A N E U RYS M S
Will Rupture
In an effort to improve health care, researchers in the
Center for Implantable Medical Microsystems (CIMM)
are developing implantable microsystems that could
provide early diagnosis and precision intervention in the
treatment of disease and trauma. Researchers are
investigating electronic sensing and stimulation systems
that are ultra-miniature, ultra-low power, and largely
or completely biodegradable. In specific cases, these
systems will be engineered to safely degrade in the
body after the system is no longer needed.
As part of its mission, the center aims to develop
“near-zero invasive” implantable diagnostic monitors
and therapeutic tools. The resulting microsystems will
help in the treatment of cancer, hepatitis B & C, sudden
cardiac death, HIV, epilepsy, diabetes, musculoskeletal
disease, trauma, transplantation, obesity, resuscitation,
spinal cord injury, etc.
Some CIMM projects include:
•
•
supplying the body with blood. When an aneurysm,
for tissue and bone regeneration;
or a weakened, bulging area, develops in the aorta,
an electrocorticography system with neural signal
interface);
temperature and heat flux multisensors for
monitoring and controlling thermal surgery and
for monitoring brain ischemia;
•
human body, is the major artery responsible for
a bone strength monitor and an electrical stimulator
processing for prosthetic control (a brain-computer
•
The aorta, which runs through the center of the
the potential develops for it to rupture, resulting
in life-threatening bleeding. Nearly 2 million
Americans suffer from abdominal aortic aneurysms
and more than 15,000 of those die each year.
Fortunately, most aneurysms don’t burst if they
are detected on time, and patients are carefully
monitored to determine if surgery is necessary.
a bedside biochemical monitor capable of continu-
The problem that physicians encounter, however, is
ously monitoring proteins, glucose and drugs.
that they cannot predict when a rupture will occur.
For more information on the CIMM, on the Web visit
http://www.ices.cmu.edu/cimm.
They usually rely on measuring the size of the
aneurysm and how rapidly it grows to recommend
surgery. To help doctors identify those patients most
likely to suffer a dangerous rupture, researchers at
the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems have
developed a biomechanical tool that evaluates the
risk of a rupture by analyzing changes in the shape
and thickness of the arterial wall. The tool works in
a noninvasive manner by examining three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) and magnetic
resonance images of the aorta.
To learn more, on the Web visit http://www.ices.
cmu.edu/vascular-biomechanics.
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EN GI N E E R I NG
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Improving Aerosol Drugs for
C YST I C F I B RO S I S T H E R A P I E S
Inhaled aerosol drugs can deliver substantial doses of medication directly to the lungs.
Dispensing medications in this manner prevents drugs from amassing elsewhere in
the body and can spare patients uncomfortable side effects. Antibiotics are often
administered this way to treat infections that are associated with cystic fibrosis, a genetic
disorder that causes mucus to thicken, resulting in serious breathing problems. However,
patients with cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases breathe irregularly and this can cause
inhaled drugs to deposit non-uniformly in their lungs, creating wide variations in local dosing. This results in a reservoir of infection that is never effectively treated by the therapy.
To help these seriously ill patients, engineers from Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Complex
Fluids Engineering (CCFE) are teaming with researchers from the University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center (UPMC) to develop surfactant-based aerosol drug carriers. These carriers are designed to help inhaled drugs spread uniformly over airway surfaces. When the
drugs are inhaled, aerosol droplets are deposited near obstructions in the diseased lung.
Surfactants in the drugs modify the surface tension of the complex mucus liquids that
line the airways, producing a unique surface flow pattern that allows the medicine to
be evenly distributed. With support from the National Institutes of Health, the group is
fine-tuning the formulations of the surfactants to improve their ability to spread on
mucus gels. This research is now being tested in human volunteers at UPMC.
To learn more about research activities underway in the CCFE, visit http://cfe.cheme.
cmu.edu.
Carnegie Mellon Professor Jeffrey Hollinger, director
R E G E N E R AT I V E T H E R A P I E S
to Treat Severely Wounded Soldiers
of the Bone Tissue Engineering Center, received $2.75
million for 5 years from the Department of Defense
(DoD) to lead the Craniofacial Program of the Armed
Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM).
Hollinger will lead scientific and clinical teams that
will develop treatments for U.S. troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan who suffered severe face and jaw injuries
during combat. Within one to three years, the team,
comprised of national and international experts and
in conjunction with corporate partners, will advance
novel bone regeneration therapies to the clinic.
These therapies include biodegradable, biocompatible
polymers and recombinant proteins.
Another Carnegie Mellon researcher, Newell Washburn,
is participating in a different DoD-sponsored project that
will develop therapies to promote scarless wound healing by making polymeric materials that regulate inflammatory responses and encourage healing. The products
developed in DoD-sponsored research projects will
ultimately be of use to civilian trauma and burn patients.
To learn more about Dr. Hollinger’s craniofacial research,
on the Web visit http://www.btec.cmu.edu. For
information about Dr. Washburn’s research, on the Web
go to http://www.chem.cmu.edu/groups/washburn.
5
I n fo r m a t i o n
Te c h no lo g y
&Security
Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering is
recognized worldwide for its expertise in designing and building devices and computer systems
used for sensing, processing, communicating
and storing information. Areas of research
include mobile systems, distributed computing,
data storage, networking, VLSI chips, sensors,
MEMS, design, simulation, signal processing and
sensor exploitation, embedded systems, etc.
Vital to our mission is the development of
secure, trustworthy, and sustainable computing
and communications systems.
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A U T O N O M O U S Driving
Carnegie Mellon has teamed up with General Motors Corporation
to create the Autonomous Driving Collaborative Research Lab; this
partnership could fundamentally change how people use their cars.
Through advances in electronic and software technologies, someday it may be possible for your car to safely chauffeur you to work
while you eat breakfast or respond to email.
The technology for driverless vehicles exists, as proven by GMCarnegie Mellon and other partners in 2007, when they worked
together and won the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge. During the competition, driverless vehicles navigated through 55-miles of urban and suburban
roadways. Researchers believe it’s possible to bring autonomous
vehicle technology to the consumer market within the next
10 to 12 years, which would change the face of transportation by
reducing auto accidents and by making the time spent in cars
more comfortable.
The research lab will develop the underlying technologies required
to build autonomous vehicles, including mission and path planning, safe and rule-abiding driving behaviors, real-time obstacle
detection, fault-tolerant electronics and software infrastructure. The
Autonomous Driving Lab is the second GM lab at the university.
In 2000, the first GM Collaborative Research Lab was established
to advance “smart car” technologies. This lab is continuing its
work in the areas of vehicular networks, dependable embedded
systems, and wired and wireless multimedia.
For more information about the GM-Carnegie Mellon Autonomous
Driving Collaborative Research Lab, contact Raj Rajkumar, co-director, at email: raj@ece.cmu.edu.
For information about the original GM Collaborative Research Lab,
on the Web visit http://gm.web.cmu.edu/research.
Boss, the Carnegie Mellon
driverless vehicle, won the
2007 DARPA Urban Challenge.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / SECURITY
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Seeking Innovation in C I R C U I T D E S I G N
Moore’s law predicts that semiconductor devices double
Digital Circuits and Systems: Memory, logic and on-
in speed and density every 18 months, and this has held
chip communication circuits, designed in aggressively
true for the last two decades. Unfortunately, ultimate
scaled technologies, targeting extreme performance,
physical limits are being reached as transistors continue
power, and reliability goals.
to scale toward atomic limits, making life “complicated”
— especially for circuit designers. Circuits are the essential insulating layer between the increasingly unpleasant
physics of nano-scale transistors and the simplifying
abstractions (logic gates, amplifiers, etc.) necessary for
system building.
How will we design successful circuits from ill-behaved
nano-scale silicon devices? And what might circuits
look like as promising post-silicon technologies start to
Analog Circuits and Interfaces: Analog, RF and mmwave circuits, converter and communication circuits,
with an emphasis on “mostly digital” architectures
using scaled digital devices, and very high performance
applications.
Microarchitecture: Targets the unique problems of
performance, power, and reliability posed by leadingedge microprocessor circuits and systems.
come online? This is the Center for Circuits and System
Emerging Circuits and Applications: Targets new
Solutions’ (C2S2) mission: figuring out how to convert
application domains that may lead to novel markets
tomorrow’s transistors into useful performance, no
for future electronics (e.g., biological interfaces) and
matter how strange they might be.
hybrid circuits that augment today’s silicon platform
The research conducted within C2S2 falls under five
major themes:
Silicon Infrastructure: Models, statistics, circuit-oriented design and analysis and test tools, on-chip diagnosis
and adaptation circuits, and novel manufacturable circuit
fabrics.
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with promising future device types (e.g., nanotube
and graphene devices).
To learn more about C2S2, on the Web visit
http:// www.c2s2.org.
I N T E G R A T E D S Y S T E M D E S I G N and Manufacturing
Innovations in design automation tools have led to phe-
Manufacturing: This area focuses on the process and
nomenal advancements in semiconductor technologies.
product design for technology nodes, i.e., 45nm and
But as system sizes loom toward trillions of transistors,
below, where optical lithography is reaching fundamental
the escalating progress rate of integrated circuit (IC)
limits. The goal is to optimize objectives that include per-
design can not be sustained by advances in electronic
formance, leakage, power dissipation, yield and reliability.
design automation (EDA) alone. Now when creating
Approaches to ensure manufacturability by co-optimizing
electronic systems in silicon, we must consider new
device design, layout and manufacturing process, and
forms of design and structure along with advancements
test/diagnosis are being investigated.
in design automation.
Circuits: This area focuses on the design, optimization
The Center for Silicon System Implementation (CSSI)
and implementation of the next generation of analog,
conducts research on all aspects of integrated system
RF, mixed-signal and digital integrated circuits. The goal
design and manufacturing, spanning from network-on-a-
is to provide solutions for the increasing need for higher
chip architectures to ultra low-power nano devices, bio-
integration and performance while simultaneously
chips, and the CAD methodologies that enable them.
addressing the challenges presented by nanometer
Building on more than 25 years of experience in the field
CMOS processes.
of EDA, the CSSI has four major research thrusts:
Systems: This area focuses on tools and design methodologies for modeling, analysis, and optimization of
critical design constraints (performance, power, reliability,
etc.) at the system and architecture level. Research in
this area targets scalable performance, power and reliability modeling, and novel design paradigms for dealing
with on-chip communication, power management, and
variability-aware design.
Emerging: This area focuses on fabrication technologies
and design methodologies for emerging areas that
rely on classical deposit-pattern-etch cycles inherent
to IC manufacturing. Technologies being investigated
range from nanotechnologies such as molecular transistor-based circuits, spin-based devices and circuits to
multi-physics devices and circuits such as those found
in MEMS, electrochemical applications, biochips and
lab-on-chip devices.
For more information about the CSSI, on the Web visit
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~cssi.
When creating electronic systems in silicon, we must
consider new forms of design and structure along
with advancements in design automation.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / SECURITY
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Defenders of the
INTERNET UNITE!
Teaching fourth and fifth graders about Internet safety
in a fun setting is the purpose of Carnegie Cadets:
The MySecureCyberspace Game, an interactive game
designed by the Information Networking Institute and
Carnegie Mellon CyLab.
Kids learn about Web and computer security and other
topics, like viruses and cyberbullying, from an animated
team of plucky cyber defenders. Players join the
“Carnegie Cyber Academy,” where they get sent on
training missions that teach basic skills such as how to
spot spam, how to keep personal information private,
and how to identify Web site traps, including dangerous
pop-up windows or Web pages that show inappropriate
content. The game teaches kids how to be safe,
educated cyber citizens before they enter the Internet
on their own. Classroom lesson materials are available
for elementary teachers, too.
The game is a free download that’s available at the
Carnegie Cyber Academy site
(http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com).
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E NGI N E E R I NG
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S E N S I N G Infrastructure
Maintaining the nation’s roads, bridges, water and power systems and other
public infrastructures is crucial for our well-being, yet too often, vigilance fails, and
problems go undetected until a water main breaks or there’s a rolling blackout.
Visual inspections of pipelines and bridges are not as effective as desired, and the
people responsible for managing our transportation or utility systems don’t have
the reliable, high-tech tools that could help them to make more proactive decisions.
Researchers in Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Sensed Critical Infrastructure Research
(CenSCIR) are working to change this scenario by delivering electronic “nervous
systems” to critical infrastructure through the use of sensors systems, processes
and technologies. For example, CenSCIR researchers believe that if appropriate,
small sensors were sited throughout a water system or on a bridge, they could
detect the first signs of trouble — small leaks in water lines or the sound of minute
fractures. The sensors could wirelessly transmit this data to networks that would
gather and process it, and create models that forecast future problems. Yet, for
sensor use to become commonplace, the systems that process the data, including
the middleware, must be robust, and CenSCIR is conducting research in all
these areas.
For more information about the wide-range of sensor-oriented research underway at
Carnegie Mellon, on the Web visit CenSCIR at http://www.ices.cmu.edu/censcir.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / SECURITY
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D A T A S T O R A G E at Carnegie Mellon
The field of information technology encompasses the
maintains state-of-the-art facilities for its research pro-
transmission, processing and storage of information.
grams including high-tech recording test stands, materi-
Researchers in the Data Storage Systems Center (DSSC)
als synthesis and characterization facilities and various
are developing the next generation of information stor-
scanned probe capabilities. The DSSC makes use of the
age technology, moving beyond the current frontiers of
extensive nanofabrication labs at Carnegie Mellon.
magnetic recording, optical data storage, probe-based
systems, holographic and solid-state memory.
The DSSC has been helping industry design nanometerscale technology that will ultimately lead to very fast,
Research topics include:
Alternative storage
Channels
implementations
low-cost and compact information storage devices. The
center works closely with industry partners to define
projects to help the $60 billion information storage
market continue to grow and expand. The DSSC also
algorithms and coding, hardware
Heads
read, write
Mechanics
disk, tape
Media
HAMR, patterned,
perpendicular, tape
Memory
MRAM, probe, RRAM, servos
Tribology
contamination and wear,
lubricants
For information visit www.dssc.ece.cmu.edu.
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M O B I L I T Y Research
Mobile systems, including notebook computers, phones, and specialized devices,
are becoming the dominant mechanism for Internet access, thanks to networking
technologies that enable anywhere-anytime computing, communication and
collaboration. Business travelers and young people have adopted these technologies which are transforming the way people work, shop and play. Embedded
wireless sensors in appliances, vehicles, infrastructure and the environment will
dramatically increase the availability of information.
Mobility presents many business opportunities for both established and startup
companies, including network operators, handset manufacturers, and vendors
of systems and networking equipment, embedded systems and software, and
mobile software and services. Emerging applications will include services,
products and platforms for accessing (portals), connectivity (email, IM, etc.),
advertising, and entertainment.
To accelerate the growth and adoption of these technologies, new data and
media management interfaces are crucial. The development of more powerful
wireless networks and advances in the Internet could provide richer collaboration
and customization opportunities. Equally important is the development of
underlying systems that will ensure privacy, security, and reliability of these
systems as they are entrusted with sensitive and valuable information. The
development of context-aware services will combine with mobile social networks
to add intelligence to the systems and allow them to interact with people in a
nonintrusive and natural manner.
In light of the technical, economic, and social importance of mobility technology,
Carnegie Mellon CyLab has launched a Mobility Research Center. This center
will link research, education and entrepreneurship programs offered at Carnegie
Mellon Silicon Valley and Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh. The west coast campus
is the ideal location for this center, given the presence of major players in the
mobile systems market and the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.
In addition to advancing hardware and software technology, the center will
conduct usability studies to improve the value of mobile technology and ease
of use and will build on existing software engineering expertise to develop
new applications.
To learn more about mobility research, on the Web visit www.cylab.cmu.edu.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / SECURITY
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O N E L O O K Says It All
Whether we’re shopping at the local quick mart or
sensor network. Only people who pass authentication and
waiting for a flight at the airport, making the places we
verification processes will be granted access. Currently,
frequent more secure is the goal of the biometrics
most authentication systems rely on single biometric
research that is underway at Carnegie Mellon. Cameras
modality (like fingerprints) to perform identification and
and sensor networks are being developed that rapidly
verification. The advantage of face and iris systems is
identify people by homing in on their faces and especially
that they employ nonintrusive, touchless interactions
their eyes. While a quick pass through a checkpoint
(during the past SARS outbreak, people were scared to
that’s outfitted with these high-tech devices could flag
touch fingerprint sensors in airports). While it is possible
criminals, the same technology can be used in verifi-
for an attacker to access one biometric ID system, it is
cation and authentication processes, giving people
very difficult for someone to slip past a system that relies
access to computers or even buildings.
simultaneously on two or more biometric measures—
The Carnegie Mellon CyLab building has become a test
bed for several of these innovative technologies. At key
entrance ways and outside of select offices, Multi-Modal
Sensor nodes, consisting of pan-tilt-zoom cameras
(PTZ) and iris acquisition cameras will be installed. The
such as the face and iris. By installing these devices on
campus, CyLab’s researchers will be able to test their
theories and develop methods for improving deployment.
This same technology is being harnessed to enhance
national security and to protect U.S. borders.
cameras and sensors will have both wired and wireless
To learn more about biometric research, on the Web visit
capabilities and be able to interface with a wireless
http://biometrics.cylab.cmu.edu.
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E NGI N E E R I NG
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The current practice in high-performance library development is to carefully hand-tune and hand-optimize code
whenever a new platform is released, which happens
annually or bi-annually. This is a costly effort that requires
several months to complete. The difficulty lies in the
complexity of modern computing platforms that make it
hard to extract the performance that is possible. Further,
the fast evolution of these platforms necessitates the
constant rewriting and retuning of libraries.
Spiral Library Generator
The Spiral team has developed a library generator (also
called Spiral) that automates the development of linear
transforms and other functionality. The generator takes
as input a formal description of the desired function
and automatically derives and launches an optimized
implementation. In many cases, this implementation runs faster than any existing human-written code.
Hence, with Spiral it becomes possible to dramatically
reduce the implementation time and cost of libraries,
which means applications can be ported to new
platforms faster and cheaper.
The S P I R A L P R O J E C T
Spiral successfully tackles traditionally difficult problems
like parallelization, memory hierarchy optimizations, and
platform-specific tuning. Spiral’s approach integrates
The goal of Spiral is to enable the computer generation
a number of techniques from mathematics, symbolic
of software and hardware libraries that are found in
computations, programming languages, compilers, and
applications ranging from signal processing, multimedia,
computer architecture. Current research aims to expand
and communications to scientific computing and other
the generator’s technology to a larger set of functionality,
domains. Traditionally, libraries are fine-tuned by hand,
emerging computing platforms, and to the problem of
a time-consuming and expensive process that causes
automatic platform design.
bottlenecks when porting applications to new computing
platforms.
The Problem
Computers are getting faster and, accordingly, the
software that runs on them is faster, too. However, this
is not an automatic process. Software applications rely
on libraries that implement performance-critical components within them. In other words, if the libraries run
Spiral has been funded for 10 years by the National
Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), and companies including
Intel, National Instruments, and Mercury. Spiral is
well-known in the computer science and software
engineering community and has impacted the field of
automatic performance tuning.
For more information visit www.spiral.net.
fast, then so will the applications. For example, diverse
applications, such as the OFDM wireless communication
standard, molecular dynamics simulations, JPEG image
compression, and MP3 audio decoding (think iPod),
spend most of their time computing linear transforms.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY / SECURITY
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I n ve s t i g a t i ng
M a t e r i a ls
Novel technologies and products, ranging
from opto-electronics for communications,
biomaterials for prosthetics and drug delivery,
batteries for laptops, sensor materials, and
high strength-to-weight materials for airplanes
or automobiles, all rely on materials development. Materials research at Carnegie Mellon,
which is inherently interdisciplinary, concentrates on four areas: electronic materials,
magnetic materials, microstructural science,
and iron and steelmaking.
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R E S E A R C H
H I G HL I GHTS
Innovations in I R O N A N D S T E E L M A K I N G
More than a billion tons of steel are produced worldwide each year. Sustainability
issues, environmental concerns, and market pressures are prompting industry to innovate steelmaking processes. The Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research at Carnegie
Mellon has been working with corporate partners for more than 25 years to address
fundamental challenges facing the steel industry. Today, in light of efforts to reduce
energy costs and CO2 emissions, the center’s research is even more vital to companies
in the U.S. and abroad. Several major research areas include:
1> Developing new manufacturing processes to address sustainability issues.
It takes large amounts of coal-generated reductant and energy to turn iron ore into
steel, and as a result, pollutants, namely CO2, are produced. Alternative manufacturing
processes and materials, like low-grade coals and waste biomass, are being explored in
an effort to reduce the energy needed to produce from ore and control CO2 emissions.
2> Improving methods for using recycled materials.
A significant portion of the steel produced today in the U.S. is made from recycled
materials. Problems arise because scrap iron contains ever-growing amounts copper.
Extracting copper from iron is complicated, which makes it difficult to process recycled
iron into steel. Researchers are looking for ways to better process high residual copper
containing scrap into steel.
3> Producing high-strength steel for the automotive industry.
The automotive industry needs strong, lightweight steel. Lighter vehicles use less
fuel, which ultimately results in lower CO2 emissions. New grades of steel are being
developed, but to make steel that exhibits characteristics that industry desires, such
as ductility and strength, alloys are added. The problem is that a number of these
alloys start reacting as the steel is being made during both melt and thermomechanical
processing. Researchers are working to control the behavior of materials during
various phases of the steelmaking process.
For more information, on the Web visit http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cisr.
INVESTIGATING MATERIALS
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Nanomaterials F O R E N E R G Y P R O D U C T I O N
Solar cells, sometimes known as photovoltaic cells,
Center for Nano-enabled Device and Energy Technologies
convert light (photons) into electricity. These devices
(CNXT) believe that nanostructured materials (such as
are often used to power calculators, wristwatches, com-
organic and inorganic semiconductors with engineered
munications satellites, and space probes; sometimes
quantum structures in them) could hold the key to making
they supply remote regions of our planet with limited
high-efficiency solar cells. By appropriately varying the
amounts of electricity. Sunlight holds great promise as
size of engineered quantum nanostructures and the
an abundant and pollution-free source of energy, yet
composition of the materials in which they are embedded,
the widespread use of solar devices to generate large
researchers think that they can capture and convert en-
amounts of electricity is limited because of the immatu-
ergy from the broad spectrum of colors found in sunlight.
rity of the technology and its currently high cost.
In addition to a focus on new materials, researchers
Silicon is now the material most commonly used in
at CNXT are investigating advanced architectures for
photovoltaic cells despite the fact that silicon solar cells
photovoltaic devices and novel methods for integrating
in the field are not very efficient. If solar electric energy
these devices into existing energy systems.
is to become commonplace, new materials that convert
sunlight to electricity more efficiently (and economically)
must be found. Researchers at the Carnegie Mellon
For more information on this topic and other CNXT
research areas visit on the Web, http://cnxt.web.cmu.edu.
Sunlight holds great promise as an
abundant source of energy, yet
widespread use of solar devices to
generate electricity is limited
because of the immaturity of the
technology.
18
E N GI N E E R I NG
R ESE A RC H
H IG HL IGHTS
D E V E L O P I N G M A T E R I A L S from Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes are comprised of carbon atoms that
Center for Multiscale Modeling for Engineering Materials
are intricately arranged in helices, which are mere
(CM2EM) are developing methods that could bridge
nanometers in width. These minute molecules have
this troublesome gap between timescales and allow
important properties: they are incredibly strong and
engineers to understand better, and eventually exert
display an amazing variety of electrical and thermal
greater control, over the behavior of carbon nanotubes.
properties. Engineers envision novel composite materials
made with carbon nanotubes being used in everything
from automobile bumpers and electronics to chemical
processing and energy management applications.
However, our understanding of these complex molecules
is incomplete and hinders our ability to design devices
This multiscale problem is representative of the work
underway in the CM2EM, whose goal is to understand
materials from the smallest to the largest relevant
scales, with an emphasis on emergent behavior in
complex materials systems.
To learn more about CM2EM, on the Web visit
made from them.
One particular challenge researchers face is that the
http://www.ices.cmu.edu/cm2em.
bonds that link the carbon atoms vibrate more than a
trillion times every second. The timescale of these
vibrations is exceedingly smaller than the timescale
engineers need to work with, making it difficult
to design reliable technologies. Researchers in the
MICROSTRUCTURE
Provides Clues to How Materials Perform
Most metallic and ceramic materials used in aircraft, automobiles, and computers
are comprised of microscopic crystals or polycrystals that are joined together at grain
boundaries. The types of grain boundaries in a material and how they connect or
interface affect a material's performance and lifetime. Our knowledge of these matters
is incomplete and limits our ability to predict and control a material’s behavior.
Major research is underway at Carnegie Mellon that is broadening our understanding
of grain boundary networks. In one project, researchers are studying the differences
between synthetic microstructures (computer generated materials that are fabricated
from statistical data) and microstructure samples that have been taken from actual
materials. Subtle differences are being detected in the way the grain boundaries
interface, which begs the question: How do these differences affect a material’s
performance? What researchers have discovered is that “hot spots” or areas of
increased stress lie near the grain boundaries. These hot spots reveal where a material
is most likely to falter or break down. This fundamental research will allow engineers
to create and control the behavior of new materials that could have a wide range of
industrial applications.
For more information, visit the Materials Research and Engineering Center on the Web
at http://mimp.materials.cmu.edu.
INVESTIGATING MATERIALS
19
Energy &
Environment
The College of Engineering has identified
the environment and energy as major research
thrusts. In our research centers, we are
investigating everything from alternative fuels
to CO2 sequestration to urban water quality
and climate change policy. Attaining reliable
energy, while protecting our environment and
economic well-being, is one of our society’s
most pressing challenges.
20
E N G I N E E R I N G
R E S E A R C H
H I G HL I GHT S
A I R B O R N E P A R T I C L E S : What You Can’t See Will Hurt You
Every day we inhale airborne particles. These particles are
microscopic clusters of organic chemicals, acids, metals
and other compounds, and they can aggravate chronic
illnesses like heart and lung diseases and even diabetes.
The particles that cause the greatest concern are “fine
particles,” which are 2.5 micrometers in diameter and
smaller. (A human hair is about 70 micrometers thick.)
When we breathe, contaminants that are emitted from
power plants and automobile exhausts, like sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxides, are pulled deep into our lungs,
sometimes entering our blood stream. Nationwide, tens
of thousands of premature deaths are attributed to
airborne particulate matter (PM).
Carnegie Mellon researchers are striving to understand
how fine particulate matter behaves in the atmosphere.
This work will improve human health, enhance our understanding of how these particles affect climate change,
and finally, how the particles react with minerals on the
earth’s surface, influencing the acidity of our water. Much
of this work is taking place in the Center for Atmospheric
Particle Studies (CAPS).
In this center, engineers, scientists and policy experts
are studying the origins, behavior and effects of airborne
particles and the center is assuming an active role in
shaping environmental policy related to particulate matter.
The study of particulate matter is fraught with complexities, and the diversity of the research in CAPS reflects
this. Research in atmospheric science, fundamental
chemistry, and computer modeling, along with advanced
knowledge in the areas of combustion, aerosols and
more are essential if we aim to breathe cleaner air.
For more information on this topic, visit CAPS at
http://caps.web.cmu.edu.
Air quality research
involves modeling,
laboratory studies, and
ambient measurements,
and CAPS maintains
state-of-the-art facilities to
support these activities.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
21
Clean, Safe W A T E R
Throughout many cities, water flows through aging
industrial runoff that seeps into ground water. Electrode
pipes. Pounding rains, sudden thaws or even broken
technology is being used to clean metal-contaminated
water mains cause water to rush through streets and
environments. New spectroscopic methods are being
into antiquated storm water systems that overflow into
developed to detect pathogens rapidly. These are
our streams and rivers. Deceptively, an abundance of
just several examples of the novel techniques we are
water does not necessarily mean that we have enough
investigating.
high quality water to meet our needs. Toxins and
microbial contaminants, both anthropogenic and natural,
can work their way through rivers and streams or even
public water systems, and make water unfit for drinking
and other uses. Another issue is the concern that our
water supplies may be deliberately attacked. As urban
areas grow, especially in developing countries, so do
the challenges associated with supplying water and
removing wastewater to maintain our quality of life.
Equally important to maintaining a safe and sufficient
water supply is the development of better infrastructure,
and monitoring and modeling play a significant role in
this area. By deploying sensors, we can monitor water
quality or gather vital environmental data that can
influence policy decisions. Education and outreach
activities are integral components of our research, too.
We work with elementary and secondary school
students and the public, including citizen-monitoring
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon are working to keep
groups, to cultivate awareness of the issues affecting
water, whether it courses through the ground, in surface
water management in urban areas.
rivers and streams, or through municipal waterworks,
free of pollutants. Projects underway aim to remove
PCBs in river sediment and other harmful substances,
For more information on this topic, visit WaterQuest at
www.ce.cmu.edu/~wquest.
like cyanide and pathogenic organisms, from surface
water, drinking water and wastewater. We’re fabricating polymer-coated nanoparticles that seek and destroy
22
EN G I N E E R I N G
R E S E A R C H
H I G HL I GHTS
Shedding Light on the
ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY
A traditional electric power grid functions as a giant
network—if there is a major disruption on the network it
affects the entire network, which can have detrimental
effects, such as blackouts. Worse, if a disruption occurs, it
may not become quickly evident, allowing an undetected
problem to grow. The electricity industry can take steps
to reduce large-scale power failures, yet they can not be
eliminated, and thus, the industry is forced to develop
methods for managing uncertainty.
One research thrust within the Carnegie Mellon Electricity
Industry Center focuses on reliability and security of
the electricity infrastructure. Projects are underway that
examine the means for preserving essential missions
during large cascading failures; network architectures
for electric power grids which can survive disruptions,
including cyber attacks; and protocols for improving
grid reliability.
The problems facing the electricity industry are
inherently interdisciplinary, and to find solutions, Carnegie
Mellon is merging engineering, economics, risk analysis,
and decision science. In addition to the ongoing work
on reliability and security of power grids, the university’s
Undergraduate students gather
researchers are examining electricity markets and
samples from Pittsburgh’s rivers
investment; distributed energy resources; advanced
for analysis.
generation, transmission, and environmental issues;
and demand estimation and response.
For in-depth information on the Carnegie Mellon
Electricity Industry Center, on the Web visit
http://www.cmu.edu/electricity.
23
Predicting How Buildings Will Hold Up During E A R T H Q U A K E S
Understanding how earthquakes behave in large urban
buildings and other infrastructure to the mix. By
areas, like Los Angeles, could save an untold number of
understanding how groups of buildings react when the
lives. Researchers in the College of Engineering want
ground shakes, people will be better able to prepare for
to expand on this concept by developing models that
earthquakes and mitigate the damage they may cause.
can protect the economies of earthquake-prone areas,
as well.
In these new models, an area’s geology is extremely
important because there can be hot spots within a city
A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon and the
where, because of land basins that trap earthquake
University of California was awarded $1.6 million from
waves, the earth will shake more. The researchers
the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop
want to learn how a collection of structures that vary
computer models that will predict how different types
in height and other attributes (i.e., they may have
of infrastructure will perform during earthquakes.
different types of foundations) and are sited on different
For more than a decade, Carnegie Mellon engineers
have worked with the Southern California Earthquake
Center (SCEC) to develop highly evolved models that
predict how the ground behaves during a quake. These
models consider, among many things, the magnitude of
the quake, its source, the speed and direction it moves
geological locations (rocky ground versus soft soil) will
hold up during earthquakes of varying magnitudes. In
addition to buildings, the simulations will include bridges.
Results from this work will help people determine how
to build and site buildings so that they sustain the least
amount of damage during a quake.
along a fault, and the geology of ground basins. Build-
To learn more about earthquake engineering at Carnegie
ing upon this extensive body of work, the NSF grant will
Mellon, visit the Civil and Environmental Engineering
enable researchers to expand these models by adding
Web site at http://www.ce.cmu.edu.
By understanding how groups of buildings react
when the ground shakes, people will be better
able to prepare for earthquakes.
24
EN GI N E E R I NG
R ES E A RC H
H IGHL IGHTS
Learning to Make Intelligent Decisions in the Face of U N C E R T A I N T I E S
There it no uncertainty about whether burning coal, oil and natural gas is causing the
climate to change. However, there is considerable uncertainty about many of the
details of that change. We can’t say exactly how patterns of rainfall will shift, how much
or how fast sea level will rise as ice in Greenland melts, or whether or how soon we
will lose all coral reefs or polar bears. Research can reduce some of these uncertainties, but many will remain, even as climate change becomes ever more severe.
Researchers in Carnegie Mellon’s Climate Decision Making Center (CDMC) are
working to describe more precisely the uncertainties about climate, which ones can be
reduced, and how soon that could happen. They are also identifying and analyzing
decisions that could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, and studying decisions that
could help us to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
There is nothing unusual about making decisions with uncertainty. In our private lives
we decide what school to go to, what job to take, who to marry, whether to have kids,
all in the face of considerable uncertainty. Companies and governments do the same
thing. The CDMC is working to help people and organizations make better decisions in
the face of uncertainties about a changing climate. Those decisions are complicated
by the fact that over coming decades there will also be big, but uncertain, changes in
technology, the economy, social structures and people’s needs.
Some of the CDMC’s research on how best to make electricity without emitting
large amounts of carbon dioxide and on how to use energy more efficiently is done
in collaboration with the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center.
For more information, visit the Climate Decision Making Center at http://cdmc.epp.
cmu.edu.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
25
Web Site Provides Fast Facts about T R A F F I C S A F E T Y R I S K S
Research in the Center for the Study and Improvement
32.61 fatalities. This makes motorcycles 30 times riskier
of Regulation (CSIR) focuses on regulatory policy issues
than cars per mile traveled.
with significant scientific or technical components.
These include risk regulations for carbon capture and
sequestration, transportation fuels and automobile
emissions and safety.
When it comes to risk, there’s a chasm between perceptions and reality. For example, research demonstrates
that school buses are the safest vehicles for children to
travel in, and yet the public, for the most part, is unaware
As the result of a joint effort between the CSIR and
of this. When a school bus crashes, it’s national news,
the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, researchers have
and that thought lingers, creating an erroneous percep-
developed TrafficSTATS, an easy-to-use Web site that
tion about bus safety. By pinpointing, retrieving and com-
calculates, on the fly, travel safety risks. See www.
paring figures, TrafficSTATS gives users an unvarnished
traffic-stats.us. An important goal of this Web site is
look at what is really happening on our highways.
to help people understand the concept of risk. Risk is
more than a general number that expresses how
many people die while traveling. For example, in 2004,
3,779 people died in motorcycle accidents, while
18,819 deaths were attributed to passenger cars. More
people die in cars, but are cars riskier? To find out, you
As expected, policy makers and safety officials are
interested in this research. Efforts are underway to
broaden the capabilities of the Web site by expanding
its database to include data that allows for injury and
property damage calculations.
have to consider several factors: number of deaths and
To learn about other projects underway in the Center
miles traveled. If you look at deaths per miles traveled,
for the Study and Improvement of Regulation, on the
in passenger cars, there were 1.05 fatalities per million
Web visit http://www.epp.cmu.edu/csir.
miles traveled, whereas, with motorcycles there were
26
EN GI N E E R I NG
R ES E A RC H
H IGHL IGHTS
The S T E I N B R E N N E R I N S T I T U T E
Carnegie Mellon has a long tradition of innovative,
collaborative research with industry in environmental
science, technology and policy. Building on past
and current work, the Steinbrenner Institute for
Environmental Education and Research is positioned
to offer next-generation thinking about corporate
environmental performance. The mission of the
Steinbrenner Institute is to conduct cooperative worldclass research in environmental science, technology,
management and policy to provide innovative
solutions to today’s environmental challenges within
a broader theme of “Transitioning to an Environmentally Sustainable Society.“
To learn more about Carnegie Mellon’s environmental
research and educational activities or the Steinbrenner
Institute Corporate Partnership Program on the Web
visit http:// www.cmu.edu/steinbrenner.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
27
Enterprise-wide O P T I M I Z A T I O N
The Center for Advanced Process Decision-making
A multidisciplinary team from three Pennsylvania-based
(CAPD) is engaged in process systems engineering
universities, Carnegie Mellon, Lehigh University and the
research for the process industries. Its main focus is
University of Pittsburgh, is working on the project. The
to develop advanced computer-based techniques for
team, comprised of chemical and industrial engineers
process synthesis, process optimization, planning
and operations researchers, is developing novel models,
and scheduling, process control, energy systems, and
algorithms, decomposition methods, and computational
molecular computing.
techniques to explore and analyze alternatives of the
A major project within the center deals with enterprisewide optimization (EWO), which involves optimizing
the supply, manufacturing and distribution activities of
chemical manufacturing companies to reduce costs and
inventories in their supply chains. EWO, an emerging
area that lies at the interface of chemical engineering
and operations research, has become a major goal
in industry due to the increasing pressure to remain
competitive in the global marketplace.
supply chain to achieve overall optimum economic
performance and a high level of customer satisfaction.
The project involves close collaborations with industry,
including ABB, Air Products and Chemicals, BP,
Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, NOVA Chemicals, PPG,
Praxair and TOTAL. This project is jointly funded by
the Pennsylvania Technology Alliance, the National
Science Foundation, and various companies.
To learn more about CAPD activities, on the Web visit
http://capd.cheme.cmu.edu.
Teaching Engineers about
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
Today’s engineers are challenged to use
the earth’s resources more efficiently
and produce less waste. Engineering that
meets our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs is referred
to as sustainable engineering. Some
examples include:
•
providing people with food, water,
shelter, and the means for mobility, all
while minimizing environmental damage;
•
•
In addition, a benchmark assessment of sustainable
designing products and processes so that wastes
engineering programs and courses around the U.S. is
may be used in other products;
being conducted. Based on the information collected,
incorporating environmental and social constraints
the center will develop a roadmap for achieving excel-
and economic considerations into engineering
lence in sustainable engineering education.
decisions.
The center is a collaborative effort between Carnegie
Promoting education in sustainable engineering in
universities around the world is the goal of the Center
for Sustainable Engineering. Efforts within the center
include workshops that help engineering faculty
incorporate sustainability concepts into their courses
28
and a Web site with peer-reviewed educational materials.
Mellon University, the University of Texas at Austin
and Arizona State University, and it is supported by the
National Science Foundation and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
For more information, on the Web visit http://www.
csengin.org.
EN GI N E E R I NG
R ES E A RC H
H IGHL IGHTS
The C C S R E G U L A T O R Y P R O J E C T
Avoiding catastrophic climate change over the coming
decades will require the entire world to reduce its
emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by roughly 80 percent.
In the long run, new—perhaps unimagined—technologies
may allow us to sustain such a low-carbon future without
the use of coal, oil and natural gas (fossil fuels). However,
for at least the next half-century, there does not appear to
be any way to sustain modern society and allow the rest
of the world to develop rapidly without continued use of
fossil fuel.
Fortunately CO2 can be captured from power stations
and large industrial plants before it enters the
atmosphere and safely disposed a half mile or more
underground in appropriate geological formations. This
technology is called carbon capture and sequestration,
or CCS for short. Most of the technology required
to perform CCS exists today. However, it has yet to be
used for making electricity (or other clean energy) at
commercial scale. This means that there is an urgent
need for a lot of research, development and large-scale
testing over the next few years.
Investigators in the CCS Regulatory Project are working
with a range of stakeholders and experts to design
and facilitate the rapid adoption of a U.S. regulatory
environment for the capture, transport and geological
sequestration of CO2. Our objective is to assure that CCS
will be done in a manner that is safe, environmentally
sound, affordable, compatible with evolving international
carbon control regimes (including emissions trading) and
socially equitable.
Results from the CCS Regulatory Project will include
detailed policy recommendations, regulatory approaches,
and—where appropriate—drafts of legislative language
that address CO2 capture, transportation, and injection,
as well as long-term stewardship of sequestration sites.
The project is anchored in Carnegie Mellon’s Department
of Engineering and Public Policy. Other members of the
project team are located at the University of Minnesota,
the Vermont Law School, and the Washington, D.C. law
firm of Van Ness Feldman.
To learn more, on the Web visit http://www.ccsreg.org.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
29
Innovation
has no Bounds
To combat the many challenges facing society,
including those in the areas of climate change,
energy, healthcare, cybersecurity, civil infrastructure, etc., it will take innovative thinking.
We need innovators to create new technologies
and processes, and we need entrepreneurs to
bring these achievements to market. The College
of Engineering is broadening its research and
educational efforts to teach people how to
identify and realize the social and commercial
value that technical opportunities present.
30
ENGI N E E R I NG
R ES E A RC H
H IGHL IGH TS
A S C I E N T I F I C A P P R O A C H to Business and Product Development
It takes more than luck to conceptualize, design, manufacture
and successfully market great products that consumers want.
Yet people often don’t realize that innovation, which encompasses product development and business strategy, can be
examined in a formalized manner—and it should be. Innovation
not only provides future revenue streams for companies, but
it defines a company’s future direction.
As important as innovation is to the bottom line, many
companies struggle as they try to incorporate the concept
into their business plans. Evidence shows that there is often
a gap between R&D and market penetration. An effective
innovation process should entail the creation of a value
proposal that maintains a company’s uniqueness, uncover and
fulfill customer needs, allocate resources, connect corporate
strategies to product strategies, define and promote brands,
transfer emerging technologies to practice and execute the
creation of breakthrough products.
In the Center for Product Strategy and Innovation, projects
are underway that will help companies address the challenges
inherent with innovation and develop practical processes to
meet their needs. Research within the center is quantitative
and qualitative and explores a variety of topics, ranging from
the exploration of the cognitive mechanisms of creative design
to the development of industry trend models. The result is a
scientific and practical understanding and implementation of
innovation strategies. Faculty and students in the center work
with corporate partners and this ensures that research efforts
address real-world challenges.
To learn more about the Center for Product Strategy &
Innovation, on the Web visit www.cmu.edu/cpsi.
Innovation provides future
revenue streams for
companies and defines a
company's future direction.
INNOVATION
31
Research laboratories in the
Department of Chemical Engineering
underwent a $27 million dollar
renovation, resulting in state-of-theart facilities for research in the
following areas: Process Systems
Engineering, Complex Fluids
Engineering, Bioengineering,
Solid State Materials, and
Envirochemical Engineering.
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTERS
Bone Tissue Engineering Center
Jeffrey O. Hollinger, Director
Contact: hollinge@cs.cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.btec.cmu.edu
Blending the background and talents of molecular cell biologists, polymer chemists, clinicians and engineers, research
in this center focuses on understanding the molecular basis
for bone formation and wound healing and applying this
knowledge to engineer tissues using therapeutic systems
of biomaterials, cells and signaling molecules.
Carnegie Mellon CyLab
Pradeep Khosla, Founding Director
Virgil Gligor and Richard Pethia, Co-Directors
Contact: Gene Hambrick at hambrick@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.cylab.cmu.edu
CyLab is one of the largest university-based cybersecurity
education and research centers in the U.S. It is multidisciplinary and university-wide, involving six colleges from
Carnegie Mellon and more than 50 faculty and 130 graduate students. The center’s goal is to build public-private
partnerships to develop new technologies for measurable,
available, secure, trustworthy, and sustainable computing
and communications systems and to educate individuals at
all levels. CyLab provides resources and expertise in four
areas: Technology transfer to and from the public sector;
technology transfer to and from the private sector; development of information assurance professionals; national
awareness programs and tools.
32
Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center
Lester B. Lave and M. Granger Morgan, Directors
Jay Apt, Executive Director
Contact: apt@cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.cmu.edu/electricity
The U.S. electricity industry accounts for $300 billion in
sales, and demand for electricity is increasing. Meeting
this demand is difficult because of slow rates of technology
adoption, a transmission system designed for an earlier
era, a hybrid of regulated and deregulated jurisdictions, and
incomplete markets. Researchers in this center merge
engineering, economics, risk analysis, and decision
science to study problems facing the electricity industry.
Center for Advanced Process Decision-Making
Ignacio E. Grossmann, Director
Contact: grossmann@cmu.edu
Web site: http://capd.cheme.cmu.edu
The Center for Advanced Process Decision-making develops
methodologies and computer tools for process systems
engineering. The center’s goals are to understand and aid
complex design and operation issues faced by industry and
to advance modeling and solution methods for process
systems engineering. Research areas include modeling
and simulation, process synthesis, process optimization,
molecular modeling, scheduling and planning, and supply
chain management.
EN G I N E E R I NG
R ES E A RC H
H IGHL IGHTS
Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies
Neil M. Donahue, Director
Contact: nmd@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://caps.web.cmu.edu
The Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies has a simple
mission: It strives to be a world leader in science, engineering, and policy covering the full role of fine particulate
matter in the atmosphere. Areas of study include climate,
health, atmospheric modeling, combustion sources, aerosol
characterization, condensed-phase processing, gas-phase
processing, radical measurement, atmospheric science and
fundamental chemistry.
Center for Bioimage Informatics
Jelena Kovacevic and Robert F. Murphy, Co-Directors
Contact: jelenak@cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.cbi.cmu.edu
The Center for Bioimage Informatics brings together faculty
from engineering, biology and computer science to identify
important biological problems in which images are the
primary data source. Researchers strive to frame solutions
to these problems, collect relevant images, identify criteria
for evaluating success, implement solutions, and evaluate
and disseminate the results.
Center for Circuits and System Solutions (C2S2)
Rob A. Rutenbar, Director
Contact: rutenbar@ece.cmu.edu
Web site: http:// www.c2s2.org
these implantable microsystems; and to partner with
physicians to drive design, implementation, and clinical
studies of implantable microsystems.
Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research
Richard J. Fruehan and Sridhar Seetharaman, Co-Directors
Contact: sridhars@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cisr
The Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research (CISR) is
devoted to research and education related to the production
of iron and steel. The CISR conducts research projects
in ironmaking, steelmaking, clean steel, and casting. The
center currently has 20 major industrial members and is the
largest academic center for steelmaking research in the U.S.
Center for Multiscale Modeling for Engineering Materials
Amit Acharya, Director
Michael Widom, Associate Director
Contact: acharyaamit@cmu.edu
or widom@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.ices.cmu.edu/cm2em
This center strives to coordinate research and educational
activity in multiscale materials modeling across Carnegie
Mellon University. Researchers aim to quantitatively
understand materials from the smallest to the largest
relevant scales, with a special emphasis on emergent
behavior in complex materials systems, in order to better
design applications for existing engineering materials
and to engineer new materials with targeted functionality.
C2S2 is a multi-university research center chartered by
the U.S. semiconductor industry and U.S. government to
develop solutions for the enormous design challenges
that arise from scaling semiconductor devices toward
fundamental atomic limits. Researchers work in three
fundamental areas: digital circuits and systems; analog
circuits and interfaces; tools, flows and infrastructure.
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering
Robert Tilton, Director
Contact: tilton@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://cfe.cheme.cmu.edu
Researchers in this center attack problems associated
with the formulation, control and engineering of processes
involving complex fluids. The center targets processing
operations in the coatings, pharmaceutical, consumer
product and mining industries, such as spraying, granulation,
solid/liquid and protein separations. Significant research is
conducted in nanotechnology, biotechnology and environmental technology as well.
Center for Implantable Medical Microsystems
Gary Fedder, Director
Contact: fedder@cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.ices.cmu.edu/cimm
The Center for Implantable Medical Microsystems, which
is housed in the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems,
will impact medical practice and quality of life through the
use of implantable microsystems for early diagnosis and
intervention in the treatment of disease and trauma. The
mission of the center is to develop “near-zero invasive”
implantable diagnostic monitors and therapeutic tools; to
develop modular technologies that enable rapid design of
RESEARCH CENTERS
The Particle Flow & Tribology Lab at Carnegie Mellon
researches new methodologies to predict the behavior
of granular, powder, and slurry flows in sliding contacts.
Research is conducted through the synergistic use of
experiments, physics-based modeling, and computational simulations. This research has applications in the
semiconductor, energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology,
agricultural, space, and defense industries.
33
Center for Nano-Enabled Device and Energy Technologies
Elias Towe, Director
Contact: towe@cmu.edu
Web site: http://cnxt.web.cmu.edu
The mission of the Carnegie Mellon Center for Nanoenabled Device and Energy Technologies is to work on
real-world problems whose solutions could be found in
appropriate nano-enabled technologies. The center pursues
basic research in science and engineering activities at the
nanometer-scale. Current areas of interest include nanostructured materials for applications in sensors, energy,
and advanced information technologies. Researchers at the
center are investigating, for example, materials for use
in innovative fuel cell systems, physical, chemical, and
biological sensors, groundwater remediation approaches,
photovoltaic solar cell devices and systems.
Center for Product Strategy & Innovation
Jonathan Cagan and Peter Boatwright, Directors
Contact: cagan@cmu.edu
Web site: www.cmu.edu/cpsi
The Center for Product Strategy & Innovation researches
approaches and methods to navigate the gap between
R&D and market penetration. Efforts define corporate value
and branding propositions, elicit unmet marketplace needs,
strategize product and technology planning, develop and
refine the early product development process to deliver on
a value proposition, and create tools to fulfill marketplace
needs. The result is a scientific and practical understanding
and implementation of pragmatic innovation strategies.
Center for Sensed Critical Infrastructure Research
(CenSCIR)
James H. Garrett, Jr. and José Moura, Co-Directors
Contact: Matthew Sanfilippo at mattsanf@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.ices.cmu.edu/censcir
Governments and industry must build their critical infrastructures with “nervous systems” that collect, analyze and
interpret information in real-time to allow for better decision
making. Research in this center provides sensor data-driven
awareness of the usage and condition of infrastructure
systems (both for components and entire networks), and
proactive, decision support and control of these critical
infrastructure systems over their lifetime.
Center for Silicon System Implementation
Shawn Blanton, Director
Contact: blanton@ece.cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~cssi
The Center for Silicon System Implementation (CSSI) is
focused on all aspects of integrated system design
and manufacturing that spans from network-on-a-chip
architectures to self-adaptable analog and digital circuits,
to ultra low-power nano devices, bio chips, and the CAD
methodologies that enable them. The center builds on
more than 25 years of experience in the electronic
design automation industry and is supported by the U.S.
government, various consortiums and industry.
The NanoRobotics Lab is equipped to explore and manipulate
objects at the micro- and nano-scales. In the lab, prototypes of
novel micro-robots are fabricated. The other main motivation is
to contribute to the understanding and controlling of adhesion
and friction at the nanoscale.
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In the areas of soft materials and nanomaterials,
Center for the Study and Improvement of Regulation (CSIR)
Paul S. Fischbeck, Director
Contact: David Gerard at dgerard@cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.epp.cmu.edu/csir
CSIR research focuses on regulatory policy issues with
significant scientific or technical components. These
include risk regulations for transportation fuels, automobile
emissions and safety, petroleum refineries, and carbon
capture and sequestration. These projects span a number
of areas of regulatory policy, from how regulations are
set and enforced to how regulations affect technology
choice to estimating effects on environmental quality and
public health.
Center for Sustainable Engineering
Cliff Davidson, Director
Contact: cliff@cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.csengin.org
Sustainable engineering may be defined as engineering for
human development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs. As the global population grows,
stress on the world's limited resources increases. Engineers
are now being asked to use the earth’s resources more
efficiently and produce less waste. The goal of this center
is to enhance education in sustainable engineering at
universities around the world.
IRNEFSOERAMR A
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E NTTEECRHSN O L O G Y / S E C U R I T Y
researchers investigate the microscopic structure
and dynamics of synthetic and biological soft
matter to better understand traditional concepts
such as phase transitions, self-assembly and the
relationship between microscopic structure and
macroscopic properties.
Center for Water Quality in Urban Environmental Systems
(WaterQUEST)
Jeanne VanBriesen, Director
Contact: water-quest@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.ce.cmu.edu/~wquest
The goal of this center is to advance the scientific basis for
decision-making in urban watersheds. Critical components
of the center’s efforts include: research on environmental
sources and fate of contaminants in urban water systems;
developing monitoring and modeling capabilities for urban
watersheds; developing policy and decision-making tools;
and outreach and education.
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Climate Decision Making Center
M. Granger Morgan, Director
Contact: Meryl Sustarsic at meryls@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://cdmc.epp.cmu.edu
There is no uncertainty about whether burning coal, oil and
natural gas is causing climate change. However, there is
considerable uncertainty about many of the details of that
change. If policy makers are to do anything about global
warming, they have to make decisions now, in spite of
the uncertainty. At the Climate Decision Making Center,
researchers are studying the limits in our understanding
of climate change and its impacts. They are also studying
decisions that could help to slow climate change or make its
impacts less severe. Part of their work involves creating and
evaluating decision strategies and tools for policy makers
that incorporate uncertainties about future climate, future
technology, and social changes.
Data Storage Systems Center
Jian-Gang (Jimmy) Zhu, Director
Contact: dssc@ece.cmu.edu
Web site: http://www.dssc.ece.cmu.edu
The Data Storage Systems Center is an interdisciplinary
research and educational organization where researchers
collaborate in pioneering theory and experimental research
that will lead to the next generation of information
storage technology, moving beyond the current frontiers
of magnetic recording, optical data storage, probe-based
systems, holographic and solid-state memory. The center
is funded by 14 companies worldwide, various U.S.
government agencies, and the Information Storage
Industrial Consortium in the U.S.
Affiliated Carnegie Mellon Centers and Institutes
Green Design Institute
http://www.ce.cmu.edu/greendesign
Human-Computer Interaction Institute
http://www.hcii.cmu.edu
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
http://www.psc.edu
Robotics Institute
http://www.ri.cmu.edu
Software Engineering Institute
http://www.sei.cmu.edu
Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental
Education and Research
http://www.cmu.edu/steinbrenner
Departments in the College of Engineering
Department of Biomedical Engineering
http://www.bme.cmu.edu
Department of Chemical Engineering
http://www.cheme.cmu.edu
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
http://www.ce.cmu.edu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
http://www.ece.cmu.edu
Department of Engineering and Public Policy
http://www.epp.cmu.edu
General Motors Collaborative Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon
Ragunathan (Raj) Rajkumar, Co-Director
Contact: gmcrl @ece.cmu.edu
Web site: http://gm.web.cmu.edu
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
http://www.materials.cmu.edu
This collaborative laboratory aims to speed up research
efforts on the next generation of vehicle information
technology and ultimately improve automobile safety and
reliability. Experts in vehicular networks, dependable embedded systems, and wired and wireless multimedia are working toward a vision: “smarter” cars that share the driver’s
workload and keep their eyes on the road. For example,
wireless communications systems are being developed to
facilitate the exchange of information between vehicles
on the road, between vehicles and fixed network access
points, and between vehicles and portable appliances
within the vehicles.
Information Networking Institute
http://www.ini.cmu.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering
http://www.me.cmu.edu
Institute for Complex Engineered Systems
http://www.ices.cmu.edu
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
Gregory Rohrer, Director
Contact: Francine Papillon at francine@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: http://mimp.materials.cmu.edu
Most metallic and ceramic materials used in aircraft,
automobiles, and computers are polycrystalline, in other
words they are made of many microscopic crystals held
together by grain boundaries. The grain boundaries in a
material affect a wide range of properties and, ultimately,
a material’s performance and lifetime. This center is
dedicated to the understanding, control and optimization
of grain boundary dominated materials properties.
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I N F O R M A T I O N T E C H N O L O G Y / S E C U R I T YY
College of Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
www.cit.cmu.edu