Category: Research and Innovation

Window coating held up to sky with the Dome in the background

Sunrise to sunset, new window coating blocks heat not view

Windows welcome light into interior spaces, but they also bring in unwanted heat. A new window coating blocks heat-generating ultraviolet and infrared light and remains transparent to visible light, regardless of the sun’s angle. The coating can be incorporated into existing windows or …

Photo illustration of plastic items in ocean. (iStock)

Engineers unmask nanoplastics in oceans for the first time, revealing their true shapes and chemistry

Millions of tons of plastic waste enter the oceans each year. The sun’s ultraviolet light and ocean turbulence break down these plastics into invisible nanoparticles that threaten marine ecosystems.   In a new study, engineers at the University of Notre Dame have presented clear images …

Perivascular fibroblasts observed in the study

Understudied cell in the brain could be key to treating glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is one of the most treatment-resistant cancers, with those diagnosed surviving for less than two years. In a new study in NPJ Genomic Medicine, researchers at the University of Notre Dame have found that a largely understudied cell could offer new insight into how the aggressive, …

Edgar Bolívar-Nieto at a desk collecting data from sensor-embedded treadmill

Balancing act: Mechanical engineer aims to make electrically powered prostheses both smart and lightweight

Powered prostheses hold promise for improving the lives of people with limb loss. Yet despite recent, rapid development of new designs and materials, current devices are often heavy and uncomfortable. Edgar Bolívar-Nieto, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the …

Pinar Zorlutuna featured left center among a collage of Notre Dame bioengineering images

Pinar Zorlutuna appointed Director of the Bioengineering Program at the University of Notre Dame

Pinar Zorlutuna, Roth-Gibson Professor of Bioengineering, has been appointed Director of the Bioengineering Program, effective November 1, 2023. “We are fortunate to have someone so talented take on the directorship of this program as it enters a new era,” said Patricia Culligan, …

Patrick Wensing

Patrick Wensing receives IROS Toshio Fukuda Young Professional Award for contributions in robotics

Patrick Wensing, Wanzek Family Collegiate Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has received the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Toshio Fukuda Young Professional Award. The award …

Meenal Datta

Meenal Datta awarded Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from NIH to investigate immune cell response to mechanical forces

Meenal Datta, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has received the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The …

Mosaic of the 10 stir grant recipients

STIR grants energize new science/engineering research projects at Notre Dame

The first Seed Transformative Interdisciplinary Research (STIR) grants, announced in early 2023 by the Notre Dame College of Science and College of Engineering, have been awarded to four new research projects led by multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers. The one-year seed …

Novel 3D printing method a ‘game changer’ for discovery, manufacturing of new materials

The time-honored Edisonian trial-and-error process of discovery is slow and labor-intensive. This hampers the development of urgently needed new technologies for clean energy and environmental sustainability, as well as for electronics and biomedical devices. “It usually takes 10 to 20 years …

Meenal Datta

New study shows blood pressure drug boosts effectiveness of immunotherapy for brain cancer and reduces deadly side effect

The fast-growing and aggressive brain tumor known as glioblastoma has so far resisted all therapies, including immunotherapy, a treatment that harnesses the body’s immune system to destroy cancer cells. In a new study, researchers have demonstrated how a safe and widely prescribed blood …