engineering Archives

Research Outreach – Issue 129: Sustainability, ethical banking, and baby robots

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Although this issue was published earlier in the year, the scientific research was too good not to round up here on the blog. This issue of Research Outreach investigates a number of ways that sustainability issues are being tackled, including strategies in green central banking, opportunities to improve urban transport and a transdisciplinary approach to restoring the river Thames. Research […]

Research Outreach – Issue 130: Pollution problems, ethical engineering, and civilisation decline

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Research Outreach 130 highlights international research in a diverse array of topics, including volatile oil prices, a new delivery system for dietary supplements, and a deeper understanding of civilisation decline in the Late Holocene era. Waste management is once again a key topic, as we share research into one region in Finland that is helping transition to a circular economy. […]

EngineeringUK and The Big Bang Fair: Inspiring the next generation of STEM researchers

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EngineeringUK seeks to promote engineering in all its facets. As part of this overarching mission, it runs the annual Big Bang Fair, a highly successful celebration of STEM research, aimed at 11–14 year-old students from across the UK. This year, thousands of young people gathered at the NEC in Birmingham, where they were presented with an array of installations, activities, […]

Linking maths to the real-world

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Research Outreach - using frontage issues to explain mathematical problems to students

Introduction In high school and at pre-university levels, most maths lessons focus on the abstract, which can turn learners off and lead them to believe that mathematics is not relevant to their daily lives. Since the beginning of the 21st century, educational administrators and teachers have been focusing on how mathematics can be applied in the real-world. According to Vassiliou […]

The M-Factor: An experiential learning student competition

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The M-Factor competition provided an experiential learning opportunity for engineering students.

How might the format of reality TV shows be adapted to the academic environment to help engineering students develop management skills? That was the aim of a research project devised by Professor Theomary Karamanis, from Cornell University in New York in the United States, and Professor Allan MacKenzie, from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. The findings show that not only […]

Soil and groundwater contamination: An old and new issue needs to be solved

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Industrial and agricultural waste contaminate the soil and groundwater.

Dr Ming Zhang is an innovation coordinator at Geological Survey of Japan, AIST. Alongside his research group, he is advocating the importance of using interdisciplinary tools for sustainable remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater. Their research has shown that cost-effective and environment-friendly technologies such as the use of microorganisms to degrade organic contaminants and the use of minerals to immobilise […]

Predicting post-seismic liquefaction through geological response analysis

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During liquefaction, solid sandy ground behaves like a liquid, posing a significant threat in earthquake-prone regions. Seismic waves cause water-saturated sandy sediments to flow, resulting in ground subsidence and flooding. To address gaps in our understanding, Prof Yukitake Shioi from the Hachinohe Institute of Technology in Japan applied a finite element method model to observations from the 1994 Far-Off Sanriku […]

Engineers’ pre-eminent role: An account of six decades in the industry

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Prof Sudhangsu Chakraborty’s book takes us on a very personal journey, detailing his life and work. His life story serves to highlight the pre-eminent role that engineers play in society. Engineers bridge the gap between art and science, often creating artifacts that are technically innovative but also become landmarks. Chakraborty points out the importance of engineers playing a role in […]

Sustainable construction for a circular economy

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CO2 emissions are a result of the lifecycle of buildings.

Prof Dr-Ing Danièle Waldmann and Dr Gelen Gael Chewe Ngapeya from the Institute of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Luxembourg are developing sustainable solutions for the construction industry in the form of modular building components that can be reused, reconditioned and recycled. Rather than standardising buildings, the research team have developed standardised building components including new masonry […]

Engineering capstone courses help students transition from school to work

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Capstone design courses offer students the opportunity to work in teams on authentic engineering projects to prepare for the transition from school to work. However, few studies have examined that transition to understand new graduates’ experiences as they become working engineers. The Capstone To Work project addresses the gap by following graduates from four institutions through their first year of […]