While the UD Alumni Relations Blog is not on the Board of Trustees (an outrage!), we stay abreast of the meetings in preparation for our promotion to the august body. Check out the action below and feel free to begin a grassroots, write-in campaign for our inclusion on the board.

• Increases in student fees and housing and dining rates to pay for updates to athletics and recreational facilities.
• The College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy is disestablished. The School of Education and the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, along with their affiliated centers, will form the new College of Education and Human Development.
• The Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies will move administratively to the College of Arts and Sciences.
• The School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy will report to the Office of the Provost as a freestanding unit until a permanent resolution is presented to the Faculty Senate.
• The Sport Management Program now in the College of Health Sciences will move to the Department of Business Administration in the Lerner College of Business and Economics.
• The Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences will be divided into two new departments: the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition and the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology.
• The Department of Computer and Information Sciences, now in the College of Arts and Sciences, will move to the College of Engineering.

Also respect to William B. Chandler, III ’73 for being appointed to the Board of Trustees. Chandler currently serves as chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery and is an all-around good guy.

Trustees approve college reorganization, department changes [udel.edu/udaily]
William B. Chandler, III ’73 [UDconnection.com}

“not just traditional flips”

Delaware the Musical

Yesterday at the University of Delaware, Herbert Tanner, assistant professor in UD’s Department of Mechanical Engineering,  spoke about “Teaching Social Skills to Robots,” a presentation on taking a new approach to planning cooperative robot behavior.

Tanner’s talk reviewed preliminary work in transferring language skills to robots, and it outlined a plan for addressing some of the technical challenges of this.

In 2009, Tanner was awarded a $450,000 National Science Foundation grant (Big Government is aiding in our downfall!) to develop a framework for a robotic sensor network that can search for, detect and identify patterns in large volumes of sensor data.

While the UD Alumni Relations Blog applauds Tanner’s endeavor and ingenuity, we are alarmed at his lack of foresight. Does he not know that Skynet became self-aware and revolted against its creators on August 29, 1997 or July 24, 2004 or another date in the future? Now, more than ever, we need John Connor to save us.

Tanner to discuss robots in cognitive science series [udel.edu/udaily]

An article in Wired reports that, UD researchers have discovered that chicken feathers will help storing hydrogen and creating a safe hydrogen gas tank.  Apparently, storing hydrogen as takes up a lot more space than gasoline which makes hydrogen-powered cars impractical.  From Wired.co.uk:

“Carbonised chicken feather fibres have the potential to dramatically improve upon existing methods of hydrogen storage and perhaps pave the way for the practical development of a truly hydrogen-based energy economy,” said Richard P. Wool, the university’s professor of chemical engineering.

Chicken feather fibres have a hollow, tube-like structure which, when heated, develops crosslinks that increase their porosity and surface area. That, Wool says,  means these fibres can absorb at least as much hydrogen as carbon nanotubes or metal hydrides, two other materials being studied for their carbon-storage capabilities.

If Wool is correct, the price difference is startling. He says that a 20-gallon fuel tank built from carbon nanotubes would cost about $5.5 million, while a feather-based tank would add just $200 to the price of a car.

His research suggests that a 75-gallon tank with carbonised feathers would give a hydrogen-powered car a range of about 300 miles, but Wool is optimistic that they can improve on this figure.

Dr. Wool also noted that his team is working on using chicken feathers to create hurricane-resistant roofing, lightweight car parts and bio-based computer circuit boards.

With the zero-emissions part of our revolutionary idea (see above) complete, the UD Alumni Relations Blog is waiting for Dr. Wool and his team to figure out how to attach the excess chicken feathers on the side of cars in order to create wings, thus granting the world the zero-emission flying car.

The checks and prize money can be mailed to “UD Alumni Relations Blog,” thank you.

Chicken feathers ‘key to hydrogen cars’ [Wired.co.uk]

Currently the UD EWB chapter is focusing on a potable water supply project in Cameroon, Africa.  The group has just arrived in Cameroon for the fifth time and Professor Steve Dentel just checked in and update the Engineers Without Borders – University of Delaware Blog.

Professor Dentel’s updates included, “We were pleased to find that the bathrooms have been redone in Hotel Mansel and so the hot water appears to be functioning very nicely.”  Glad to hear all is going well, Professor!

Engineers Without Borders – University of Delaware Blog [ewb-ud.blogspot.com]
Engineers Without Borders – University of Delaware [udel.edu/stu-org/ewb]

Sean X. Wang, Steven H. McKnight, Thomas Buchanan, deputy dean of the College of Engineering, and E. Alan Uebler.

McKnight is chief of the Army Research Laboratory’s Materials Division, where he is responsible for planning and executing the Army’s basic and applied research in advanced materials technologies and then transitioning materials research products to Army stakeholders.

After earning his law degree, Uebler served as in-house patent counsel for both DuPont and W. L. Gore & Associates before entering private practice in Wilmington. He has prosecuted hundreds of patents to issue worldwide and litigated nationwide in all areas of intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights.

Wang is an accomplished entrepreneur who has founded, incubated, and financed more than a dozen high-tech companies over the past 10 years. Currently, he is the chief executive officer of B&W TEK, a local photonic instrument company. He is also founder and chairman of Litecure, a rapidly growing medical device company, and BWT Lighting, a start-up solid-state navigational lighting company.

We’ve yet to hear back from our large and talented research staff on exactly what these accomplished men have done, the UD Alumni Relations Blog is sure that it’s certainly award-worthy stuff.  Well done, gents.

Engineering Alumni Association honors three outstanding alumni [udel.edu/udaily]