Engineering News

At an abandoned mine near Prescott, Arizona, Arizona State University researchers are testing ways to turn one of mining’s biggest environmental liabilities into a potential resource. The project is led by Hamed Khodadadi Tirkolaei , an assistant professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment , part of the Ira A. Fu…

For decades, modern electronics have depended on billions of electrons moving through semiconductor materials. But moving those electrons requires energy, driving materials scientists to find new ways to configure material systems that consume less power while storing, transferring and processing data. In her new project, Sandhya Susarla studies materials at the mesoscale, roughly 100 to 200 nano…

Health care has a data problem. Hospitals, clinics and wearable devices generate oceans of information, including sleep signals, medical scans and electronic health records. But much of it sits fragmented, siloed and underused. The result is a paradox. Clinicians are awash in data, yet often starved for clear, actionable insight. A 2025 NIH summary on sleep and circadian health co-authored by Bin…

As higher education continues to evolve, online learning is no longer just an alternative — it is a critical pathway for expanding access, supporting diverse learners and preparing the next generation of engineers. In the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, that vision has come to life with the graduation of the first cohort from the online bachelor’s degree in biome…

Cassidy Tran (at left), a senior coordinator for the Fulton Difference and Student Success and Engagement programs at Arizona State University, holds up the traditional ASU Sun Devils “Forks Up” hand sign with along with Brent Sebold, director of Entrepreneurship + Innovation for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, as he prepares to judge student startup pitches during the recent Innovation…

For many first-year engineering students, their perception of what it means to be an engineer is built solely around equations, design principles and problem-solving frameworks. That can make it easy to view engineering primarily through a narrow technical lens, but many life lessons and perspectives take stronger shape outside of the classroom. Understanding engineering often requires engaging w…

Mars has been photographed to death. Orbiters have mapped it in high-resolution, low-resolution and even infrared. Scientists are drowning in data, and the problem isn’t seeing Mars anymore. It’s understanding it. That’s where Mirali Purohit comes in. Purohit, a computer science doctoral student in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence , part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineeri…

Graduation season is the time of year when students don regalia and hear the familiar notes of “Pomp and Circumstance” as they process across convocation stages around the world. For three Sun Devils, this commencement marks an especially meaningful milestone. Morgan Cividanes, Rahul Kashyap and John Lewis are the first graduates of the Doctor of Information Technology program offered by The Poly…

This May, students, faculty members, industry professionals and community supporters gathered on Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus for Innovation Showcase , a signature student event highlighting engineering and technology projects designed to address real-world challenges. Hosted by the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU, the showcase featured projects from students in The P…

In a hospital room, a nurse scans an IV bag. A computer instantly logs the moment, creating a timestamp in a patient’s electronic record. In the data trail, it now appears that treatment has begun. But the drug hasn’t reached the patient yet. In a humanitarian group’s warehouse, another system is logging data. A shipment of supplies is recorded as received. But the system doesn’t say which donor …

Jagannathan Rajagopalan ’s research has led to nine granted patents and new ways to design metallic alloys for applications in electronics, robotics and biomedical devices. Now, Rajagopalan, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy , part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, has…

Universities are sitting on both a goldmine of data and a potential minefield. Every swipe of a student ID, every click in a learning platform, every on-campus coffee purchase leaves behind a digital trace. In the right hands, that data could help educators spot struggling students early, improve courses and design smarter systems for learning. In the wrong hands, it could quietly expose intimate…

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is rapidly reshaping biomedical engineering, from early disease detection to real-time health monitoring and clinical decision support. At Arizona State University, the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering , part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering , is expanding its role in this space through new faculty hires and a graduate degree focused o…

The next great hacker may not be human. For decades, cybersecurity has depended on researchers who must think like the people attacking computer systems to successfully defend them. Now, a growing number of those “attackers” aren’t people at all. They’re artificial intelligence, or AI, agents. Capable of discovering software security vulnerabilities and generating harmful exploits, these agents d…

Wearing protective equipment and standing feet from the operating table, Arizona State University graduate student Tina Ton watched a prostatectomy occur on her first day at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. What surprised her most wasn’t the intensity of the moment, but how quickly her role shifted from passive observer to actively listening as surgeons explained anatomy, workflow and where even small imp…

At the end of each semester, graduating seniors from the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering , part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, form student teams to design, build and refine working systems, resulting in projects that reflect both technical depth and practical impact. These efforts come together at the school’s Senior Design Capstone…

Even the most advanced manufacturing fails if its foundation is weak. In the same way a bridge relies on reinforced joints for strength, advanced manufacturing depends on durable material meeting points to hold everything together. Throughout his career, Zhengtao Gan has focused not on what advanced manufacturing technologies can already do, but on what they still struggle to achieve. An assistan…

Education doesn’t start or stop at the classroom door, and neither do the efforts to improve access to engineering education. At Arizona State University, the Employment Assistance and Social Engagement , or EASE, program supports neurodivergent students by building workforce readiness and engaging learning environments across every facet of student life. Based in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Eng…

What the internet, endoscopic lenses and solar panels have in common is their reliance on how light interacts with materials, an area core to Sui Yang’s research. Every time a message is sent across the internet, an image is captured or energy is generated, light is absorbed, redirected or converted inside a material. Yang, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the School…

The easiest way to cheat on a college exam in 2026 isn’t to sneak in notes or glance at a neighbor’s paper. It’s to take a photo. Upload the test to ChatGPT, Claude or any number of generative artificial intelligence, or AI, tools, and within seconds you’ve got something polished and coherent. No struggle, no thinking and maybe no learning. For universities, that’s not just a new form of cheating…