Award Data

Robotic Research in partnership with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) proposes to develop the Mobility Optimization via Enhanced Robotic Sensing (MOVERS) system for any two-wheeled, four-wheeled or tracked robotic platform to autonomously perform hazardous terrain detection and classification and adjust its driving control strategy to safely negotiate hazardous terrain. Our goal is to develop auto ...

A compact and efficient fuel processor that provides clean hydrogen from a high energy density liquid fuel such as butanol will allow fuel cell technology to be realized in military and commercial markets for portable applications. InnovaTek, and its proposal partner Indiana - Purdue University, will build on their combined experience in catalytic reforming to develop catalysts that are optimize ...

The ability to direct the wound pathways following injury could provide a critical path in wound care at crucial times during the progression of healing. A promising field of study in wound healing is epigenetics; alterations in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence. Identification of epigenetic factors and their manipulation may result in the development of nov ...

Survival rates for soldiers injured by IED blasts and similar trauma are enhanced by prompt, high-quality medical care. Among the survivors, however, increasing numbers report symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Mild and moderate TBIs with no skull-penetrating wounds are difficult to detect and diagnose with commonly used diagnostic systems. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), a subset of Mag ...

Obesity and its associated metabolic complications including diabetes are becoming increasingly prevalent in the general population as well as in military personnel. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a major site of energy expenditure through thermogenesis, which is mediated by the mitochondrial uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1). Studies in animals over the last 30 years as well as recent data in humans str ...

Hydrogen isotopes have been shown to reduce the electrical effects of various semiconductor defects. Specifically, monoatomic hydrogen and deuterium passivate the electrical activity of defects such as dislocations in long-wavelength HgCdTe grown on Si. We propose a novel method of controlling the intake of hydrogen in HgCdTe IRFPAs by using the H2/He plasma afterglow formed by flowing plasma-gene ...

ABSTRACT: The objective of this project is to design and fabricate tailored thermal interface and continuous paths among nanoscale conductive fillers and filler/graphite fiber to promote effective phonon transport along through-thickness direction. The goal is to realize at least 100 fold increase of Kz from 0.2 to 20+ W/mK in graphite fiber composites. Meanwhile, we will study to construct chemi ...

ABSTRACT: Traditional multidisciplinary solvers function by solving the individual governing equations on computer clusters. In the case of aero-elastic Fluid-Structures Interaction (FSI) simulations, individual solvers have disparate requirements for optimal performance. CFD codes use iterative schemes and distributed memory, while CSD codes, use direct linear-solvers and utilize shared memory t ...

ABSTRACT: In order to significantly advance the fidelity and capability of current computational engineering tools, algorithms, techniques, and software which map effectively to emerging massively parallel hardware architectures must be developed. The objective of this project is to investigate and demonstrate specific techniques for enhancing the scalability of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) ...

ABSTRACT: New energetic materials are needed for use in explosives and propellants that have a very powerful energy release yet are insensitive to handling. Safer materials that also allow development of lighter weight, longer range missiles and higher performance explosives are needed. One class of such compounds is materials based on furazan heterocycles. While some furazans are too energeti ...