Missouri S&T researchers are coming up with innovative ways to tackle grand challenges. Here’s a look back at highlights from 2024, demonstrating the variety and depth of research at S&T. 

Hypersonics: Hot topic, high speeds 

Several countries are competing to develop the most advanced hypersonic vehicles and technologies, and S&T researchers have received millions of dollars in federal funding to support their work to address extremely high speeds and temperatures. 

Dr. William Fahrenholtz is leading a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project backed by a $7.5 million U.S. Department of Defense grant. The team will develop new materials that stay strong and have low thermal conductivity when experiencing temperatures of 1,800 degrees Celsius and hotter. Fahrenholtz is a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of ceramic engineering at S&T.

Dr. Davide Viganò, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering, studies how turbulence associated with high speeds can be harnessed to improve hypersonic engine performance.

Dr. Arezoo Emdadi, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, is leading a study on advanced materials and welding techniques for use in extreme conditions that could lead to more durable hypersonic vehicles or safer nuclear reactors with funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. 

Dr. Zhi Liang, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is studying microdroplets of fuel to determine how droplets are mixed with air and how engine combustion could be improved. 

Students watch satellite they built launch into space 

On March 4, several members of the Missouri S&T Satellite Research Team were in California and watched in person as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which was carrying the team’s small, cube-shaped satellite, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base as part of the Transporter-10 mission. Even more members of the team, along with other S&T students, faculty and staff excited about the mission, attended S&T’s launch party in Toomey Hall and let out loud cheers as the rocket successfully took off into space. The S&T team refers to this satellite initiative, which is part of NASA’s Undergraduate Student Instrument Project, as the Multi-Mode Mission. 

Power for the future 

As demand for electricity increases and electric supply shifts from fossil fuel technology to cleaner technology, an S&T researcher is helping design a more agile process to plan for the future power grid. Dr. Rui Bo, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, received $500,000 in funding for a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program.  

Dr. Pourya Shamsi, also an associate professor of electrical engineering, is developing a modular power conversion system to provide electrical power in the event a natural disaster strikes and the power grid goes down. 

Spotting skin cancer

With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Joe Stanley is developing a comprehensive dataset of skin cancer images and related diagnostic features to aid health care professionals and researchers. Stanley is a professor of computer engineering at S&T. 

Highly cited researchers

A total of 67 current and former faculty of Missouri S&T are among the top researchers in their field as measured by their career research records, and 54 current or former Missouri S&T researchers were among the best in their fields in 2023, according to a recent analysis of standardized citation indicators of the Elsevier Data Repository published by Stanford University.

Fourteen researchers associated with Missouri S&T are listed as the most prolific contributors in their topics from 2019 to 2023 in Scopus — a multidisciplinary abstract and citation database and website, scopus.com, maintained by the Elsevier publishing company.  

When AI meets technical communication 

Dr. Ryan Cheek, assistant professor of English and technical communication, and department colleagues Dr. Carleigh Davis, associate professor, and Dr. Rachel Schneider, associate teaching professor, earned funding through the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) to launch a “Zine Lab” for advancing gender justice and promoting technological equity. The grant also funds a new course titled “AI to Zines: Imagining the Future of Technical Communication.”

Designing new crystals

Harmeet Bhoday, a Ph.D. student in chemistry from India, was the lead author of an article selected as a cover feature for an international chemistry journal. Editors of Chemistry – A European Journal selected the article as a cover feature and a separate profile. The research was also featured in “Hot Topic: Crystal Engineering.” Bhoday wrote the article with Dr. Nathan Knotts, a graduate of the University of Missouri, and Dr. Rainer Glaser, professor of chemistry at S&T.

Critical minerals 

Experts from across the United States came together this summer at Missouri S&T’s campus for the fourth annual Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals workshop funded by the National Science Foundation. Last year, Missouri S&T was selected as one of 31 Regional Innovation and Technology Hubs (Tech Hubs). The S&T initiative is called the Critical Minerals and Materials for Advanced Energy (CM2AE) Tech Hub.

Dr. Lana Alagha was awarded $875,000 from Rio Tinto, a global mining group, for a two-year project researching new techniques to recover critical minerals in the waste byproducts that come from extracting and refining copper. Alagha is a Robert H. Quenon Associate Professor of Mining Engineering.

Add to your bookshelf

Check out the latest books by S&T faculty. 

• Dr. Kathleen Sheppard’s book, Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age, received rave reviews from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the BBC and Nature, to name a few media outlets. Sheppard, a professor of history and political science, shares never-before-told stories of women who laid the foundation for modern Egyptology.
• Dr. Ross Channing Reed wrote his latest book, Mindscapes: A Short Introduction to Philosophy, to introduce university students to the field and study of philosophy. Reed is a lecturer in arts, languages and philosophy. 
• Dr. Michael Peterson, assistant professor of philosophy, examines environmental ethics and the responsibilities the current generation has to future ones regarding the removing and storing nuclear waste. His book is titled Derrida and Inheritance in Environmental Ethics: The Half-lives of Responsibility. 
• Dr. Shane Epting’s book, Meaning in the Metropolis: Toward an Urban Existentialism, reveals how urban existence is a multifaceted affair that, once examined, can change the way readers think about their place in a city and what it means to live in one. Epting is an associate professor of philosophy.

Strengthening the state

Using technology to strengthen the global competitiveness of Missouri manufacturers while supporting the defense industry is one of the primary goals of a three-year project awarded $5 million by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation. 

The grant, led by Dr. Richard Billo, establishes the Missouri Defense Manufacturing Consortium, a partnership of colleges and universities, companies, and manufacturing organizations led by Missouri S&T. Billo is director of the Kummer Institute Center for Advanced Manufacturing and the Missouri Protoplex. 

Building for the future

The University of Missouri Board of Curators and university leaders broke ground in April to celebrate a major expansion and renovation of S&T’s Applied Research Center. Originally named the Engineering Research Laboratory, the name change reflects the facility’s evolution from a traditional laboratory setting to a hub of innovation, partnership and discovery that fosters collaborative research.

In November, the Curators approved construction plans for a new research facility at S&T. The university’s largest capital project to date, the Bioplex will support advanced research and education in life sciences, biomedicine and biomedical engineering. It will be funded by private gifts. Construction will begin in October 2025 and is expected to be completed by June 2028.

Crash course in bridge collapse

Dr. Mohamed ElGawady’s team has constructed a 60-foot-long, 12-foot-tall railway system to transport a 7,000-pound cart that crashes into a full-size, 46-foot-long bridge girder for bridge collision research. ElGawady is Kaplan Faculty Scholar and chair of civil, architectural and environmental engineering. 

Stop bleeding, save lives

Dr. Mark Towler has developed a glass powder that can quickly stop blood loss. A U.S.-based biotechnology company has licensed the invention and is providing funding to drive it toward commercialization. Towler is a Doshi Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.  

Using social media to support 911 system

When disaster strikes, 911 dispatchers may quickly be inundated with phone calls, and people in desperate situations may face long waits before someone answers and dispatches emergency responders. 

Dr. Ademola Adesokan, who earned a Ph.D. student in computer science at Missouri S&T in December, feels so passionate about this issue that he dedicated his doctoral research to a method to support the 911 system. 

Searching for the link between growth and longevity

Scientists have long believed that there’s a tradeoff between growth and better health in mammals. However, Dr. Chen Hou shows in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that lifespans increase when more energy is allocated to the creation of better cellular materials.

Tracking movements in buildings and bridges

The smallest movements in building or bridge materials can cause big problems. Dr. Genda Chen has been awarded a patent for a sensor he says can track if composite building materials have even the tiniest of movements and help prevent structures from collapsing or having less integrity. Chen is S&T’s Robert W. Abbett Distinguished Chair in Civil Engineering and director of the Center for Intelligent Infrastructure and the INSPIRE University Transportation Center.