A prototype asteroid explorer developed by University of Central Florida engineers and Honeybee Robotics mines water from the asteroid’s soil for propulsion.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Back to the Future: Asteroid Mining

Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, asteroid mining technology, Honeybee Robotics, NASA, Robotics, space exploration, spacecraft, steam power, University of Central Florida

Engineers are reimagining product design to reduce waste, improve recycling, and protect the environment from planned obsolescence.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Full Circle

Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, end-of-life product design, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, landfills, life cycle design, manufacturing, Pierre Home-Douglas, planned obsolescence, plastics, Pollution, product design, Recycling, reuse, Sustainability, sustainability engineering

Breakthrough technology from an engineering research center could help prevent blackouts while allowing the grid to run on solar and other clean energy sources.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Power Play

Tags: alternative energy transmission, ASEE Prism magazine, blackouts, daylighting, electrical and computer engineering, NC State FREEDM Center, power grid, Solar Energy, Technology, transformer

As storms increase in frequency and fury and droughts drain groundwater and invite wildfires, communities nationwide are taking a hard look at whether their infrastructure, building codes, and businesses are up to the challenge. And they are turning to engineers for solutions that will increase resiliency and mitigate disaster.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Resilience Engineering: The New Normal

Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, civil and environmental engineering, Climate Change, flooding, infrastructure, resilience engineering, Weather

A pair of air disasters exposes engineering mistakes and catalyzes real-world lessons for future professionals.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Compass Course

Tags: Aerospace Engineering, air disaster, ASEE Prism magazine, Boeing 737 MAX, engineering education, engineering ethics

A Defense Department study recruits engineers and scientists in an effort to study animal-to-human disease transmission and prevent emerging epidemics.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Preemptive Strike on Emerging Epidemics

Tags: animal to human diseases, ASEE Prism magazine, Biomedical Engineering, DARPA preventing Emerging Pathogenic Threats PREEMPT project, ebola, public health, vector, Zika

Once the stuff of science fiction, quantum computers and other technologies based on the quirky properties of subatomic particles could soon become a reality.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Quantum Leap

Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, Charles Q. Choi, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Physics, quantum computing, qubit

Aided by advanced computing and chemistry, researchers fight the forces that prevent optimal speed and fuel efficiency in ships and boats.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Lighter, Faster, Stronger

Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, bubble air lubrication, Ken Warby, ocean engineering, ship hull design

Sharks were the inspiration for an autonomous drone that can cruise coastal waterways and gobble up plastics, oil, and other floating debris.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Garbage Gobbling “Shark”

Tags: ASEE Prism magazine, bioinspired design, Environmental Engineering, marine debris, RanMarine, wasteshark