Author: Alan Scher Zagier

Missouri S&T biochemical engineer patents low-cost method of removing bacterial toxins from fluids

Posted by on July 12, 2018

By some estimates, 18 million people die each year from sepsis triggered by endotoxins – fragments of the outer membranes of bacteria. A biochemical engineer at Missouri S&T has patented a method of removing these harmful elements from water and also from pharmaceutical formulations. Her goal: improve drug safety and increase access to clean drinking water in the developing world.
The technique, as outlined in a July 2016 article in the journal Nanotechnology, involves a one-step phase separation method, using a syringe pump, to synthesize the nanoparticles. Those polymer nanoparticles have a high endotoxin removal efficiency of nearly 1 million endotoxin units per milliliter of water, using only a few micrograms of the material.

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Military background spurs Missouri S&T explosives engineering Ph.D. student’s research on traumatic brain injury

Posted by on July 11, 2018

While in the Marine Corps, Missouri S&T explosives engineering Ph.D. student Barbara Rutter saw the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on her fellow soldiers’ lives firsthand. Those experiences have led Rutter to devote her graduate research to the relationship between physical building damage and TBI occurrence, so that the military can easily determine if an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion has caused such an injury.

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S&T receives largest gift in its history with in-kind contribution of seismic data

Posted by on July 3, 2018

Missouri University of Science and Technology has received the largest gift in its history: an in-kind donation of proprietary seismic data valued at $6.5 million from Calico Jack Holdings LLC and Zion Energy LLC, both Houston-based oil and gas exploration companies. The data, which has been donated to S&T’s geosciences and geological and petroleum engineering department, is a 3-D geologic and seismic survey of 85 square miles along the Texas Gulf Coast.

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S&T selects Penn State prof, NSF program director to oversee research in College of Engineering and Computing

Posted by on July 2, 2018

Dr. Angela Lueking, a professor of energy and mineral engineering and chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University and a recent program director at the National Science Foundation, is joining Missouri S&T as associate dean of research in the College of Engineering and Computing starting Aug. 1

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Office hours at 95: pioneering Missouri S&T professor Bill James reflects on 65 years in Rolla

Posted by on June 15, 2018

Despite spending the past 65 years in Rolla, Bill James’ thick Maine accent remains intact. He credits the links between two seemingly dissimilar locales for luring him to campus as a newly minted Iowa State University Ph.D. back in 1953. That decision would mark the start of a distinguished academic career highlighted by receiving the university’s first National Science Foundation research award, playing a key role in the formation of a Ph.D. program in chemical engineering, and establishing, in 1964, one of the university’s first research centers, the Graduate Center for Materials Research.

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A conversation on LGBTQ campus life

Posted by on June 5, 2018

This summer, cities from St. Louis to Singapore will again celebrate gay pride with parades, lectures and other public events, an annual occasion now for several decades in some communities. Closer to home, Rolla and Missouri S&T will remain quiet — and not only because it’s summer.

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Rock-and-roll grandpa earns doctoral degree for research on using desert shrub as asphalt recycling agent

Posted by on May 23, 2018

He’s driven the backroads with some of the biggest names in rock and roll, from Def Leppard and KISS to John Denver and the Eurythmics, hauling both gear and performers as a truck- and bus-driving roadie. Yet despite his many brushes with fame, what gets Mike Lusher most excited these days is his research into an unassuming desert shrub that some predict will revolutionize the rubber industry. A fascination with the guayule (why-YOO-lee) plant that began a dozen years ago while watching an episode of The History Channel show “Modern Marvels” has culminated in a Ph.D. in civil engineering for the 64-year-old grandfather, who received his diploma at May 12 commencement.

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College of Engineering and Computing honors 18 graduate students

Posted by on May 16, 2018

The College of Engineering and Computing at Missouri S&T is honoring 18 graduate students in recognition of their scholarly productivity and teaching excellence. Eight doctoral students representing six academic departments have been named CEC Dean’s Ph.D. Scholars at Missouri S&T, while another 10 doctoral students affiliated with seven departments have been designated as inaugural Dean’s Graduate Educators. Each student was recognized and honored at an end-of-semester campus reception on Thursday, May 10.

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Missouri S&T professor receives manufacturing research medal

Posted by on May 8, 2018

Dr. Ming Leu, the Keith and Pat Bailey Missouri Professor of Integrated Product Manufacturing at Missouri S&T, is being honored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for his role in advancing manufacturing research. The professional society has named Leu, who also directs the Intelligent Systems Center at S&T, the winner of its 2018 Milton C. Shaw Manufacturing Research Medal. The award recognizes significant fundamental contributions to the science and technology of manufacturing processes.

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Landers named Curators’ Distinguished Professor at Missouri S&T

Posted by on April 26, 2018

Dr. Robert Landers, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been named Curators’ Distinguished Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Landers will be officially recognized during Missouri S&T’s commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 12. The University of Missouri System Board of Curators bestows the honorary title upon outstanding scholars with established reputations in the field of study. Landers is being recognized for his work in the automation and control of manufacturing processes.

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