Faculty

A team of engineers works on a material that can flex like skin, transmit sensory data to the brain and restore a sense of touch.

Stanford chemical engineering Professor Zhenan Bao has spent a decade trying to develop materials that can flex and heal like skin, and also serve as the sensor net sending touch, temperature and pain signals to the brain. In a scientific journal, Bao’s team recently demonstrated a first — a skin-like material that could detect pressure and transmit signals to nerve cells. In this video, Bao shares how her team’s research could improve our ability to monitor health and potentially add a sense of touch to prosthetic limbs.

Last modified Wed, 9 Mar, 2016 at 14:02

Stanford bioengineers explore the inner workings of a novel mode of insect flight.

How does this beetle move along water?

When Manu Prakash was a graduate student, he would often search for his thoughts during hikes through the woods in western Massachusetts. On one of these excursions, he stopped by a pond to watch water lilies blossom, and noticed a series of small ripples flash across the water.

Last modified Wed, 9 Mar, 2016 at 8:57

Wednesday, May 4, 2016.
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Common Room, Center for Inter-Religious Community, Learning and Experiences (CIRCLE), Old Union, 3rd Floor  Map

Open to all

Last modified Wed, 2 Mar, 2016 at 14:44

By testing the physical limits of speeding cars, a group of engineers hope to develop safer autonomous driving systems.

Shelley, Stanford's autonomous Audi TTS, on the track at Thunderhill Raceway north of Sacramento, California. | Stanford News Service/Steve Fyffe

When Stanford's autonomous car Shelley nears speeds of 120 mph as it tears around a racetrack without a driver, observers' natural inclinations are to exchange high-fives or simply mouth, "wow."

Last modified Wed, 9 Mar, 2016 at 13:54

An inventor of public key cryptography explains why listening is the key to solving problems — in one's personal life and everywhere else.

Cryptography remains as controversial today as it was in the mid-1970s when Martin Hellman was doing
his seminal work. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Last modified Tue, 1 Mar, 2016 at 15:49

A groundbreaking algorithm from Martin Hellman and Whitfield Diffie enabled a secure Internet.

Stanford's Martin Hellman, center, and Whitfield Diffie, right, winners of the 2015 A.M. Turing Award, are shown with Ralph Merkle of UC Berkeley in this 1977 photo. (Chuck Painter / Stanford News Service)

Last modified Tue, 1 Mar, 2016 at 15:48

A group of bioengineers & physicians discover that embryo 'squishing' could lead to more successful IVF pregnancies.

Selecting the right fertilized embryo for in vitro fertilization (IVF) might be as simple as choosing a ripe piece of fruit: Just give it a squeeze. If it's too firm or too soft, it might not be good. The sweet spot in between is just right.

Last modified Tue, 1 Mar, 2016 at 15:45

Researchers say the cost of carbon dioxide emissions may be six times more than government estimates.

A new study calculating the economic impacts of climate change shows that the costs of carbon dioxide emissions have been underestimated. | Photo by Robert S. Donovan

Last modified Fri, 26 Feb, 2016 at 11:13

Stanford CS 194H Student Project Presentations

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM, Thursday, March10th

The rest of the details and RSVP form can be acccessed here.

Last modified Thu, 25 Feb, 2016 at 16:05

The professor emeritus who paved the way for everything from complex chips to crash-proof computers, and who trained 75 PhDs, also loved quirky hats and nature.

Edward J. McCluskey, a professor emeritus at Stanford whose research helped pave the way for electronics and computing, died on Feb. 13. He was 86.

Born on the eve of the Great Depression, McCluskey graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine in 1953, earning honors in mathematics and physics, then went on to study electrical engineering at MIT, where he earned his doctorate in 1956.

Last modified Thu, 25 Feb, 2016 at 11:42