Vilas Dhar is President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, a $1.5 billion global philanthropy advancing artificial intelligence and data solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all. He earned bioengineering and computer science degrees from The Grainger College of Engineering in 2004, followed by a JD from New York University School of Law and a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
He spoke to us in June, sharing his vision for empowering nonprofits and change-makers with technology, encouraging technologists and engineers to pursue careers in public interest technology, and building a better future with people from all backgrounds doing the work. 
Transcript: https://grainger.illinois.edu/40773

Engineering for Good with Vilas Dhar

On this episode of the Illinois Innovators Podcast, we explore hypersonics. 
When a vehicle travels faster than the speed of sound, its exterior surface becomes extremely hot — risking the safety of the people and cargo inside. Molecules in the flow around the vehicle collide and change, creating a shockwave. This hypersonic environment is difficult to understand and even more difficult to study.
We asked Marco Panesi to clarify some of the mysteries of hypersonics and tell us what he and his colleagues are working on to better understand the phenomenon. He is a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, a Caterpillar Faculty Scholar, and director of the Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies.

Tackling Hypersonics with Marco Panesi

On this episode of Illinois Innovators we're joined by Founder Professor of Bioengineering Rohit Bhargava.

In March 2005, Professor Rohit Bhargava was the first external hire to join the Department of Bioengineering as it launched. Now he is an established researcher in chemical imaging and digital pathology techniques and has led the Cancer Center at Illinois since it was formed in 2011.
As the Cancer Center at Illinois enters its second decade, he reflects on its unusual approach to cancer research and its impact on people’s health and well-being.

Cancer and Engineering with Rohit Bhargava

A shared love of physics, music and education outreach has been sparking a creative partnership between Maggie and Fahad Mahmood for the last 14 years. The couple is continuing their musical journey in the Physics Department at The Grainger College of Engineering by writing song parodies, which celebrate and teach all things physics.

Physics for the masses, one song at a time

Illinois researchers believe they are getting close to producing food anywhere on the planet — using only air, water and electricity. Join Lauren Laws as she sits down with principal investigator Ting Lu, and co-PIs Mohan Sankaran, Keith Cadwallader to learn more about this DARPA-funded project.

Can we create food from air, water and electricity?

Co-taught by Prof. Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider (Grainger Engineering) and Prof. Karle Flanagan (Statistics), their CS/STAT 107 Data Science Discovery class is transforming the way students from 90+ majors approach data science. 

What’s the secret to its wild success? 
- Real-world datasets 
- Hands-on, project-driven learning 
- Discovering how every major—from History to Finance—can be empowered by data! 
- And a wave of new X + DS degree programs putting Illinois students years ahead in the job market. 

Want to see where the future of education is headed? Hit play and dive into the one of the most exciting courses at Illinois— Data Science Discovery. 

🔗 Explore more at: datasciencediscovery.org

 #DataScience #UIUC #IllinoisEngineering #Statistics #EducationInnovation #XplusDS #CSSTAT107 #CollegeMajors #CareerReady #DigitalFuture #StudentSuccess #BigTenChampions #STEM #HigherEd #MicroCredentials #pythonprogramming

The Rise of Data Science Discovery at Illinois

Divey Gulati founded Ship Bob, Inc., to help small businesses give customers Amazon-level logistics. Gulati as both bachelor's degree in computer engineering and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Divey Gulati, co-founder of ShipBob, Inc., gives an insight on logistics of his e-commerce startup

It has been predicted that all the world's data, if stored on DNA, could fit into a trunk of a car. Olgica Milenkovic, and her team received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate how to encode data in a manner suitable for portable and robust DNA-based data storage systems. Joining Olgica on the podcast are Ryan Gabrys and Houssein Yazdi.

Olgica Milenkovic and her team discuss DNA storage technology

Cast 21 is revolutionizing the future of bone mobilizations. Instead of a traditional cast of cloth and plaster for a fracture in an arm or leg, the company has introduced a brace with a netted structure. It is breathable and washable and allows for easy access to the area for cleaning. Ashley Moy, Cast 21 CEO and recent Illinois graduate in bioengineering, joins the program to discuss the progress of the start-up.

Ashley Moy, CEO, Cast 21

Professor Deming Chen and his team of researchers are developing technology which allows security cameras to detect sounds of distress (such as gun shots, screaming, cry for help)and immediately notify law enforcement.

Smart security camera's audio could instantly detect sounds of distress

As graphene's popularity grows as an advanced "wonder" material, the speed and quality at which it can be manufactured will be paramount. Sung Woo Nam and his team of researchers have developed a cleaner and more environmentally friendly method to manufacture the material using using carbonated water. He shares his findings and discusses the promising future of graphene.

Graphene: What a new manufacturing method could mean for the future of this wonder material

Creating a vaccine typically takes a lot of trial and error and testing. However, with machine learning and data-driven modeling, physicians can have a leg up in targeting specific vaccines. Since 2010, Andrew Ferguson, now an assistant professor of materials, science, and engineering at the University of Illinois, has applied statistical mechanical tools to develop data-driven models of HIV viral fitness landscapes for computational vaccine design. This is another way that technology is making health care more personalized.

Professor Andrew Ferguson: Targeting data-driven computational vaccine and design

Tarek Abdelzaher, a professor of computer science with an emphasis on cyberphysical systems at the University of Illinois, leads a group of researchers studying how information spreads through social media and the effects that information has on people’s beliefs as it moves. The project began as part a $4 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant.

CS professor Tarek Adbelzaher on how information spreads through social media

Revolutions in big data analysis are shaping healthcare delivery worldwide—technologies that can analyze, classify, and manage patient data and outcomes. To foster collaboration and to shape the future of Medical Informatics and Health Data Analytics, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—in collaboration with healthcare providers, industry representatives, and academic researchers held a one-day summit. We caught up with several of the presenters after their talks to get their take on where the field is heading. Those interviewed include Michael Sutter, Chief Innovation Officer and Enterprise Clinical Solutions Architect at Carle Foundation Hospital; Justin Starren, Chief of the Division of Health and Biomedical Informatics at Northwestern University; Khan Siddiqui, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer with Higi; Rich Caruana, Principal Researcher at Microsoft; David Liebovitz, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Chicago; and Jay Duhig, Director of Patient Integration at AbbVie.

Health Data Analytics Summit

The show tackles the topic of how data analytics has an ever-growing presence in the future of healthcare. The guest is George Heintz, the senior program manager for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Healthcare Engineering System Center’s Health Data Analytics initiative. He serves as a liaison between HCESC and healthcare providers, the health care industry and other healthcare researchers.

Data Analytics and the Future of Healthcare with George Heintz

It is estimated that about 30 percent of consumable food products are wasted, but that number is much higher in the United States. Conversely about 13 percent of Americans are food insecure. 
Kathleen Hu, a  senior in Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois, is providing a solution through a startup called Dibbs, a technology platform and organization to connect excess food at grocery stores to local food pantries. They’re on a mission to reduce food waste while fighting hunger. For her efforts, Kathleen claimed the $20,000 Illinois Innovation prize, while Dibbs was a finalist on the Cozad New Venture Competition.

Dibbs founder Kathleen Hu on decreasing food waste

Kyle Chandler,  the founder and CEO of Chief Technologies, a Pennsylvania based manufacturer and engineering firm of specialized hazard control systems, discusses engineering behind modern fire equipment. Chief Technologies builds a variety of fluids handling (large pumping and fire retardant proportioning systems) and delivery devices (systems used to target and flow water streams on fires), primarily used in large-scale petrochemical facilities.

Chief Technologies CEO Kyle Chandler discusses today's engineering of fire safety equipment

When you think cybersecurity, you’re probably thinking about measures to keep hackers out of your network. Adam Bates, is focused on next steps after an attack begins. The assistant professor of computer science at the University of Illinois was granted a National Science Foundation CAREER AWARD to advance the use of data provenance, the goal of which is to identify the attacker, figure out their grand plan and prevent them achieving that plan. His work has attracted interest from VISA and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Cybersecurity: Preventing hackers from achieving their plan with Adam Bates

Alison Dunn discusses her NSF Faculty Early Career award to study how hydrogels interact with biological tissues. Her work also has the potential to further develop general rules for designing hydrogels with specified surface requirements.The assistant professor of mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois specializes in "non-traditional" tribology. For more on the project visit https://bit.ly/2NySVHr.

Alison Dunn discusses designing hydrogels that interact with biological tissues

If you live in a metropolitan area, then you are no doubt familiar with gridlock on the highways and roadways. An even greater percentage of those vehicles creating that gridlock are making deliveries, whether it be lunch from a favorite eatery, important B-to-B documents, or simply a package purchased through Amazon. What could delivery service look like in the future. University of Illinois Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering Naira Hovakiyman and her team has received an NSF proposal for a study titled Synergetic Drone Delivery Network in Metropolis.

Naira Hovakimyan on how drones and ride sharers could team up for package delivery

The University of Illinois hosted the 5th Health Care Engineering Systems Symposium, which brought experts to discuss simulation/virtual reality/augmented reality in health care and education, wearable computing, voice user interface, artificial intelligence in health care, medical and social robotics, and assistive living technologies. The program includes interviews with Darrin D’Agostino, Executive Dean, College of Osteopathic Medicine and Vice President for Health Affairs at Kansas City University; Citali Lopez Ortiz, professor of kinesiology and community health at Illinois; Stephen Boppart, Director of the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at Illinois' Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology; Scott Barrows, Director of Medical Visualization at Jump Simulation Peoria; Judy Rowen, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, John Vozenilek, Vice President & Chief Medical Officer for the Jump Simulation Center Illinois; and Kesh Kesavadas, Director of the Healthcare Engineering Systems Center at Illinois.

Interviews from the 5th Health Care Engineering Systems Symposium

Quantum information science has been called the next technological “space race.” And the University of Illinois is positioning itself to be at the forefront of that race. In November, the U of I pledged $15 million for the formation of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (or IQUIST). Two of the leading experts in the field, Illinois physics professors Brian DeMarco and Paul Kwiat join the show to discuss its vast future applications. Both professors represented the University of Illinois at  the first ever Chicago Quantum Summit in November. DeMarco was invited to the Advancing American Leadership in Quantum Information Science Summit at the White House last fall.

Quantum Information Science -- the Next "Space Race"

Gul Agha, professor of computer science and Director of the Open Systems Laboratory at the University of Illinois, joins the program. 

His widely cited work, "Actors: A Model of Concurrent Computing in Distributed Systems," provided a basis for a number of research projects in concurrent programming. Actor frameworks have been used to program Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Chat, the British National Health Service Portal, and hundreds of commercial cloud applications.

Together with Professor Bill Spencer, he co-directs the Illinois Structural Health Monitoring Group. The project pioneered research applying wireless sensor networks and distributed computing to continuously monitor the structural health of civil infrastructure such as bridges.

Gul Agha shares research on wireless sensors used to monitor bridges and civil infrastructure

Continued advances in various fabrication processes and technologies have led to rapid developments in both top-down and bottom-up approaches to nanomanufacturing (nanoMFG). The nanomanufacturing (nanoMFG) node at Illinois presented its first two-day workshop on focusing on data-science enabled advances in nanomanufacturing and nanotechnology to explore future opportunities in nanomanufacturing. The Director of the Nanomanufacturing Node, Kimani Touissant joins the program. He is an associate Professor in the Departments of Mechanical Science and Engineering, and Bioengineering, and an Affiliate Faculty in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois

Kimani Touissant on advances and the future in nanomanufacturing

The Illinois College of Engineering and what was then the Department of Military Science have similar beginnings, dating back to the 1870s. Those ties strengthened following the world wars. Today science and technology are intertwined with the United States military. Of note is that 55 Illinois engineering students are enrolled in the ROTC program at Illinois. On the latest Illinois Innovators, host Mike Koon talks about those ties with Joe Rank, a Vietnam Veteran, two-time University of Illinois graduate, a retired U.S. Navy Commander and former Naval Instructor for the Navy ROTC program at Illinois.

Retired Navy ROTC Commander on the historic ties between Illinois Engineering at the U.S. military

Professor Krein talks about how he is helping shape the future of advanced energy applications, specifically in electric vehicles and solar power. A recent article in the IEEE Spectrum Krein, a research professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois, detailed the ways the Colleges are prepping the next generation of manufacturers, which includes training in artificial intelligence and robotics. The past chair of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Community, he is a leading expert in power and energy systems, including power electronics, machines, drives, transportation electrification, and electrical energy, with emphasis on nonlinear control approaches.

Power electronics expert Philip Krein talks electric vehicles and solar power

The is world’s leading expert in spectroscopic imaging and the Director of the Cancer Center at Illinois, Rohit Bhargava joins the show to talk about several ways engineering is playing a role in solving diagnosis and treatment of a variety of cancers. His group has developed a 3D printer that makes highly precise scaffolds of living organs such as the heart.

Spectroscopic imaging, 3D printing and cancer research with Rohit Bhargava

In 2017, the U.S. Army began outlining plans for the Internet of Battlefield Things, allowing military to be connected on the battlefield the same we are connected in our homes. It includes not only common consumer items like smartphones, wearable devices, cameras, etc., but provides analytics to help predict and perceive the enemy’s movement, for instance or to give machines the autonomy to carry out a course of action based on the programmed intent. The $25 million Army Research Project leans on six institutions, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Tarek Abdelzaher, a professor of computer science, is the academic lead of the Army Research Lab’s Alliance for IoBT Research on Evolving Intelligent Goal-Driven Networks (REIGN). He joins the program to talk about its progress.

How Internet of Battlefield Things will change future of warfare with Tarek Abdelzaher

If modifications of Einstein’s general relativity do exist in nature, could they leave observable imprints in astrophysical systems and in gravitational wave observations? Hector Silva, a postdoctoral research associate with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Department of Physics discusses his observations specifically as it relates to black holes and neutron stars. A native of Brazil with a PhD from the University of Mississippi, Silva earned the Gravitational Wave International Committee-Braccini Thesis Prize for his thesis “Compact Objects in Relatavistic Theories of Gravity."

Hector Silva discusses relativistic theories of gravity in black holes and neutron stars

Nenad Miljkovic's research group, collaborating with colleagues at Kyushu University of in Japan, discovered a method to de-ice surfaces in a matter of seconds. The method does so by using 1% of the energy and point 0.01 percent of the time. Professor Miljkovic talks about the discovery and how it could impact a number of industries. His is the principal investigator of the Energy Transport Research Laboratory, the associate director of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center and an associate professor of mechanical science and engineering at  at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Among the emphases of the lab is the interaction between liquids and a solid surface.

Nenad Miljkovic on discovery, which can de-ice surfaces in seconds

As the world assesses how they can support projects in non-industrialized countries, a new study brought to light just how important cultural and environmental factors are when providing humanitarian engineering aid in these regions. Ann Perry Witmer, a lecturer of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, joins the program to discuss her study on how contextual engineering improves the success of projects in non-industrial societies. It takes an in-depth look at some of the perspectives that may determine its effectiveness. She has created and supported a number of organizations that have provided engineering assistance to communities in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Africa and was a past faculty advisor for Illinois’ chapter of Engineers Without Borders.

Ann-Perry Witmer on the importance of environmental and cultural factors in humanitarian engineering

Ever wondered where the food on your plate came from? While it is much easier at Farmer’s Markets or Farm-to-table restaurants for the consumer to know its origination, supermarkets and restaurants are a little more complicated. A group led by Megan Konar, an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has created the first comprehensive map detailing the food chain within the United States. The team cites 132 Freight analysis framework locations to the 3,142 counties in the US. Those combine form 9.5 million links. Professor Konar joins the program to talk about the enormous project and more of her work. Her research focuses on the intersection of water, food, and trade.

Mapping the Nation's Food Supply Chain with Megan Konar

Conversation with Prof. Girish Chowdhary from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his team at EarthSense. They share about their work in AI robotics, sustainable agriculture, and how to address labor shortages in ag.

AI Agricultural Robotics with Girish Chowdhary & EarthSense

As one of the world’s top ranked engineering programs, our students, faculty, and alumni set the standard for excellence. We drive the economy, reimagine engineering education, and bring revolutionary ideas to the world.

We solve the world’s greatest challenges. We look toward the future and find ways to make it a reality. Leading the innovation of virtual reality. Designing electronic tattoos to treat seizures. Building safer global water systems. Converting algae to biofuel. Exploring fusion energy.

We do the impossible every day.

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