Illinois Innovators

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Professor Lav Varshney talks AI, Blockchain, and how it relates to science & urban planning Mar 15, 2019

Show notes

Lav Varshney, who leads the Information and Intelligence Group at the University of Illinois, talks about a number of topics related to artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, Professor Varshney led a session on Blockchain and the Scientific Method at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting in Washington. The chief scientist for Ensaras, Inc., he and the company began working with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to develop a solution to odor complaints near their reservoir system. In 2017, Professor Varshney and his team of researchers received a $50,000 Siebel Energy Institutes seed grant to develop their project “Incentives, Choices and Analytics for Electric Vehicle Fleets in jointly managing Urban Traffic and Smart Grid.”

Quantum Information Science -- the Next "Space Race" Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

Quantum information science has been called the next technological “space race.” And the University of Illinois is positioning itself to be at the forefront of that race. In November, the U of I pledged $15 million for the formation of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (or IQUIST). Two of the leading experts in the field, Illinois physics professors Brian DeMarco and Paul Kwiat join the show to discuss its vast future applications. Both professors represented the University of Illinois at the first ever Chicago Quantum Summit in November. DeMarco was invited to the Advancing American Leadership in Quantum Information Science Summit at the White House last fall.

Women and Ideas in Engineering series featuring PhD student Sakshi Srivastava Jan 03, 2019

Show notes

A native of India, Sakshi Srivastava came to Illinois to study engineering, earning a bachelor of science degree in 2015 and a master of science in 2017. She has served as a research assistant under associate dean and ECE professor Jennifer Bernhard on investigating the role of antenna parameters in reducing interference. She has also worked as an intern at Microsoft. Most recently, she is featured in a chapter of a book co-authored by Illinois engineering’s Laura Hahn and Angie Wolters titled Women and Ideas in Engineering: Twelve stories from Illinois. The chapter is titled “Inspiring the Future Generation” and talks about her role in the creation a woman engineer statue on the Illinois campus.

MakerGirl CEO Stephanie Hein Dec 06, 2018

Show notes

MakerGirl, a non-profit founded at the University of Illinois in 2014, has a mission to inspire the next generations through educational STEM sessions led by college mentors and instructors. In less than four years, they have impacted 3,000 girls in 18 states. This year they are expanding to Northwestern University and have hired their first CEO in Stephanie Hein, who joins us to talk about the organization.

Interviews from the 5th Health Care Engineering Systems Symposium Oct 19, 2018

Show notes

The University of Illinois hosted the 5th Health Care Engineering Systems Symposium, which brought experts to discuss simulation/virtual reality/augmented reality in health care and education, wearable computing, voice user interface, artificial intelligence in health care, medical and social robotics, and assistive living technologies. The program includes interviews with Darrin D’Agostino, Executive Dean, College of Osteopathic Medicine and Vice President for Health Affairs at Kansas City University; Citali Lopez Ortiz, professor of kinesiology and community health at Illinois; Stephen Boppart, Director of the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at Illinois' Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology; Scott Barrows, Director of Medical Visualization at Jump Simulation Peoria; Judy Rowen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, John Vozenilek, Vice President & Chief Medical Officer for the Jump Simulation Center Illinois; and Kesh Kesavadas, Director of the Healthcare Engineering Systems Center at Illinois.

Nadya Mason on first year of NSF-funded Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Oct 04, 2018

Show notes

Almost a year ago to the day of this recording, the University of Illinois announced the opening of the $15.6 million NSF-funded Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and Professor Nadya Mason as the center’s director. The goal of the center is to build highly interdisciplinary teams of researchers and students. One of the rock star physicists on the Illinois campus, she specializes in condensed matter physics.

Illinois research professor Deepak Kumar discusses advances in biofuels Sep 28, 2018

Show notes

In this episode, we talk alternative fuels with our guest Deepak Kumar, a research assistant professor in the department of agricultural and biological engineering with a focus on sustainable production of biofuels and biomaterials. He is a part of several projects, one of which is called PETROSS (Plants engineered to replace oil in sugcane and sweet sorgum). He is also leading a project developing fermentation technology for high solid use in the corn ethanol process.

Naira Hovakimyan on how drones and ride sharers could team up for package delivery Sep 24, 2018

Show notes

If you live in a metropolitan area, then you are no doubt familiar with gridlock on the highways and roadways. An even greater percentage of those vehicles creating that gridlock are making deliveries, whether it be lunch from a favorite eatery, important B-to-B documents, or simply a package purchased through Amazon. What could delivery service look like in the future. University of Illinois Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering Naira Hovakiyman and her team has received an NSF proposal for a study titled Synergetic Drone Delivery Network in Metropolis.

Alison Dunn discusses designing hydrogels that interact with biological tissues Sep 11, 2018

Show notes

Alison Dunn discusses her NSF Faculty Early Career award to study how hydrogels interact with biological tissues. Her work also has the potential to further develop general rules for designing hydrogels with specified surface requirements.The assistant professor of mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois specializes in "non-traditional" tribology. For more on the project visit https://bit.ly/2NySVHr.

Cybersecurity: Preventing hackers from achieving their plan with Adam Bates Jul 26, 2018

Show notes

When you think cybersecurity, you’re probably thinking about measures to keep hackers out of your network. Adam Bates, is focused on next steps after an attack begins. The assistant professor of computer science at the University of Illinois was granted a National Science Foundation CAREER AWARD to advance the use of data provenance, the goal of which is to identify the attacker, figure out their grand plan and prevent them achieving that plan. His work has attracted interest from VISA and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

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