Multidisciplinary researchers get National Science Foundation grant for co-occurring pandemic and hurricane shelter study

Every summer, the risk of hurricanes threatens destruction and poses the need for an evacuation from coastal areas in Florida. During the COVID pandemic, evacuation and emergency planners must also consider how to safely meet the sheltering needs of populations without increasing the number of infections. The most vulnerable are especially at risk. 

Undergraduate Research Spotlight

Sarah Birchell is a fourth-year industrial engineering major from Sunrise, Florida. Over the summer of 2021, she participated in 3-D printing research through the industrial and manufacturing summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (IME-REU), at the High-Performance Materials Institute (HPMI) in Tallahassee.

Researchers collaborate in a new tech-based National Science Foundation project to address mobility needs of the transportation-disadvantaged 

Transportation-disadvantaged individuals have vital mobility needs. For some, getting to a medical appointment, employment, school or other life-sustaining services can be a daunting barrier due to a disability, age or income. There are many challenges to providing and accessing reliable transportation—a problem engineering researchers look to mitigate with a new platform.

Maribel Amwake is the new Director of Student Engagement at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. She brings a wealth of academic experience to the position, and her role will be to provide leadership and support to student organizations on campus. She plans to be involved with the mentorship program as well as assist with scholarships and awards at the college.

Continually improving the quality and safety of products we use often requires studying various materials at the subatomic level, which was virtually impossible until the development of transmission electron miscrosopy. While this method can provide images ranging from the nanometer to (even smaller) atomic scale, understanding the structure-property relationships in construction, electronic and biomedical materials requires more than just obtaining the images.

“One of our FAMU doctorate students just got offered a research position at the premier materials and manufacturing directorate at the Air Force Research Lab,” Subramanian Ramakrishnan, a 3M distinguished professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, said. “I don’t think this has happened before.”

The Quality and Productivity Research Conference (QPRC) brought experts in engineering, statistics and other research fields to Tallahassee in a weeklong event this summer. The Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Florida State University’s Department of Statistics and College of Arts and Sciences hosted the event.

When your client is a major university, one way to “pay it forward” is to hire their graduates. For Cameron Griffith, this tenet has paid major dividends both personally and professionally.

In today’s world, technology has taken over almost every facet of life. Across the nation, universities are creating new and groundbreaking ways to help students stay ahead of the curve.

One of Florida State University’s strategic goals is to deepen its commitment to continuous innovation. In the quest to put students at the forefront of the technology revolution and the job market, FSU has opened the new, state-of-the-art Innovation Hub.