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Bug’s view inspires new digital camera’s unique imaging capabilities

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has created the first digital cameras with designs that mimic those of ocular systems found in dragonflies, bees, praying mantises and other insects. This class of technology offers exceptionally wide-angle fields of view, with low aberrations, high acuity to motion, and nearly infinite depth of field.

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Illinois PhD candidate Brett Jones helps unveil Microsoft's IllumiRoom

The look home entertainment continues to evolve, but few innovations in the field have been more talked about in the last few months than Microsoft’s IllumiRoom project, where University of Illinois graduate and current PhD candidate Brett Jones is one of the principal researchers.

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Small in size, big on power: New microbatteries a boost for electronics

Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery – and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye.

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Two ECE professors elected to National Academy of Engineering

Weng Cho Chew and Thomas J. Overbye, both professors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Illinois, have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

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$100-Million Pledge to College of Engineering at Illinois

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Phyllis Wise announced today that The Grainger Foundation, Lake Forest, Illinois, has pledged $100 million to support the College of Engineering through establishment of the Grainger Engineering Breakthroughs Initiative. The contribution is made in memory and honor of William W. Grainger, a 1919 Illinois graduate in Electrical Engineering, and the founder of W.W. Grainger, Inc.

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University of Illinois-led SONIC Center awarded $30 million for computing on nanoscale fabrics

Led by faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a multi-university research team has received $30 million to launch the Systems On Nanoscale Information fabriCs (SONIC) Center.

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New structures self-assemble in synchronized dance

With self-assembly guiding the steps and synchronization providing the rhythm, a new class of materials forms dynamic, moving structures in an intricate dance.

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These bots were made for walking: Cells power biological machines

They’re soft, biocompatible, about 7 millimeters long – and, incredibly, able to walk by themselves. Miniature “bio-bots” developed at the University of Illinois are making tracks in synthetic biology.

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Next up: Environmentally safe electronics that also vanish in the body

Physicians and environmentalists alike could soon be using a new class of electronic devices: small, robust and high performance, yet also biocompatible and capable of dissolving completely in water – or in bodily fluids.

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Electronic fingertip enhances surgeons’ sense of touch

A flexible electronic circuit that can be worn on fingertips may improve surgeons' touch as they operate.

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Bragg accepts position of Interim Dean of the College of Engineering

Michael B. Bragg has been named interim dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Nowhere to hide: New device sees bacteria behind the eardrum

Doctors can now get a peek behind the eardrum to better diagnose and treat chronic ear infections, thanks to a new medical imaging device invented by University of Illinois researchers. The device could usher in a new suite of non-invasive, 3-D diagnostic imaging tools for primary-care physicians.

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First-ever demonstration of autonomous bird-like robot perching on a human hand

By the virtue of their size and speed, birds are uniquely capable of efficient flight while flapping their wings and while gliding. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have duplicated the control functions that allow birds to successfully perform a soft landing—in this case, perching on a human hand.

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Computing the best high-resolution 3-D tissue images

Real-time, 3-D microscopic tissue imaging could be a revolution for medical fields such as cancer diagnosis, minimally invasive surgery and ophthalmology. University of Illinois researchers have developed a technique to computationally correct for aberrations in optical tomography, bringing the future of medical imaging into focus.

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Controlling heat flow with atomic-level precision

Through a combination of atomic-scale materials design and ultrafast measurements, researchers at the University of Illinois have revealed new insights about how heat flows across an interface between two materials.

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