MIE Assistant Professor Jie Xu has been named a recipient of the 2018 UIC Researcher and Scholar of the Year award. He received the “Rising Star” award in the Natural Sciences and Engineering category. Xu is one of only five faculty members throughout the university to receive this honor. The Distinguished Researcher and Distinguished Scholar awards are given annually to UIC faculty who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their respective fields of expertise. The Rising Star awards go to five additional UIC early career researchers who have demonstrated outstanding promise to become future leaders in their field. These awards recognize and celebrate the efforts and commitment of individuals who advance knowledge as well as inspire and promote continued excellence in research…

Lithium-air batteries are poised to become the next revolutionary replacement for currently used lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, cell phones and computers. Lithium-air batteries, which currently are still in the experimental stages of development, can store 10 times more energy than lithium-ion batteries, and they are much lighter. That said, lithium-air batteries could be even more efficient and provide more charge with the incorporation of advanced catalysts made from two-dimensional materials. Catalysts help increase the rate of chemical reactions inside batteries, and depending on the type of material from which the catalyst is made, they can help significantly boost the ability of the battery to hold and provide energy. Read more at UIC Today.

Winner of the 2018 UIC Engineering Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award Don McLauchlan, a member of the Master of Energy Engineering Advisory Board, recently won the UIC Engineering Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award. This award is presented to alumni who, through their achievement in their field of engineering, have significantly enhanced the industry and who inspire and help to instill a sense of pride among the alumni, students, faculty and staff of UIC. Don has served as one of Elara Engineering Principals since the firm’s founding in 2001. Prior to that he was Technical Solutions Leader and General Manager for Honeywell after Honeywell’s 1999 acquisition of Arrowhead Environmental Control, the company he owned and was President and CEO of from 1978 to…

UIC's Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) hosted “Noche de Ciencias” (Night of Science) on Saturday, Nov. 3rd at Instituto del Progreso Latino to showcase the talent of young students in STEM field. Noche de Ciencias is a national event that occurs to increase interest and promote science, technology, engineering, and math. In Chicago, the event included hands-on activities that showed students in 6th through 12th grades the creativity of engineering while supplying them with information on STEM education and careers. “Our mission is to support our members to successfully achieve in their careers and empower our community to strive for similar success. Noche de Ciencias is an opportunity for SHPE to inspire families to get involved in STEM and…

Brady Middleton doesn’t wait for opportunities. He creates them. The industrial engineering student at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) saw a problem and – in true engineering fashion – he came up with a resolution. His answer was the founding of a company called Think773. “I started Think773 with the idea of exposing electronics literacy to youth, makers, and organizations in underserved communities,” said Middleton, who attended the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences on the far south side. “I’m addressing this issue by offering affordable electronics kits, workshops, and tutorials that are designed to challenge and illuminate the minds of students, teachers, and makers alike. My secondary goal is to inspire the youth and let them know…

Registration is open for UIC’s annual Lunch with an Industrial Engineer open house. Hosted by the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the event is set for Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Engineering Research Facility (ERF), 842 W. Taylor St., Chicago. The free event is for area high school students and their parents/guardians to learn about our department’s Industrial Engineering degree program, and the wide-range of careers open to graduates. The lunch will include an interactive information session, lab tours, and hands-on engineering challenges to learn how industrial engineers work in the real world. At the end of this exciting program, we will serve lunch and invite…