We are Case

In the Energy Lab on Case Quad, Burcu Gurkan is leading a team trying to solve some of society’s biggest challenges—including climate change. The U.S. Department of Energy is backing her efforts to filter carbon dioxide from the air with new techniques, because if her science succeeds, the world will be a cleaner, greener place.

More…A scientist for her times

Burcu Gurkan is a chemical engineer and the Nord Distinguished Associate Professor in the Case School of Engineering. In less than six years, she has gained a national profile as a highly cited scientist who attains coveted research grants. In 2021, the National Science Foundation awarded her an Early Career Development grant, its most distinguished award to junior faculty at research universities.

Much of her work addresses challenges of growing importance to humanity, which attracts top graduate students to her lab, the Energy Lab in the A.W. Smith Building, home to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her team’s primary focus is “carbon capture”—finding new and better ways to filter excess carbon dioxide from the air—on Earth and on space ships, which has NASA intrigued. She’s also at the vanguard of battery research and the quest to find a renewable source of energy.

Meanwhile, she’s a busy mom with two young children. She’s truly a scientist for her times.

Read more here: https://casealumni.org/stories/faculty/a-scientist-for-her-times/

Young alumni Matt Canel and Ben Kaufman think they have an idea that can open up the music industry to a whole new world of young players. Their 3D printed violins are cheaper, sturdier and more fun than classic wooden violins--and they sound pretty close to the real McCoy. Take a listen, and see why your child or grandchild may be getting started on a 3D Music violin.

YouTube personality and NASA engineer Alex Schepelmann ’09, MS ’10, would like nothing better than to show you how to Super Make Something!

Launched by a pair of mechanical engineering degrees from Case, Alex is the new robotics expert at the NASA Glenn Research Center, where he’ll be helping design the Mars’ rover. But he’s better known as the creator of Super Make Something, a high-energy YouTube show that teaches makers and hobbyist how to apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to their projects. Some 40,000 people subscribe to his show. After listening to our conversation, we think you’ll see why.

Episode Links: Super Make Something: https://www.youtube.com/user/SuperMakeSomething

As Covid-19 spread, Professors Yanfang “Fanny” Ye and Ken Loparo, PhD ’77, knew we still needed to live a semblance of normal life. They used data science to help people identify the grocery stores, parks and neighborhoods offering the least chance of infection. Thanks to AI—and rapid-response funding from the National Science Foundation—their Alpha Satellite is only getting better. Listen in and learn how best to use it—now and next time.

Link to use Alpha Satellite: https://covid-19.yes-lab.org/

Biomedical engineer Dustin Tyler, PhD ’99, is at the cutting edge of neural engineering—what some call “human fusion”—bringing new hope and sensations to people with paralysis.

Dustin Tyler not only foresees a day when paraplegics will be able to get up and walk, he expects to help make that happen. Tyler and his colleagues in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Case School of Engineering are bringing new sensations and capabilities to people with paralysis. They do it by designing brain-computer connections they call “human fusion.” Their life-changing research inspired the recent documentary, I Am Human. Tyler, director of the new Human Fusion Institute at CWRU, envisions an encore. He’s just getting started.

Propelled by a physics degree and a childhood dream, alumnus Don Thomas, PhD, succeeded at becoming a NASA astronaut. He conducted scientific experiments on four Space Shuttle missions and gained a new perspective on the beauty and fragility of planet Earth. Now he works to attract a new generation, the “Mars generation,” into STEM fields so that they might power the next great age of space flight. His only regret is that he cannot join them.

Episode Links:

E-Week Photos: http://bit.ly/eweek2020pics

Don Thomas, NASA astronaut: https://don-thomas-dasg.squarespace.com/

At CES 2020, Ricky Graham, PhD, was looking for music fans and found plenty. To beckon people toward his startup, Delta Sound Labs, he had set up a motion-capture simulator. Moving bodies made the colors shift and swirl on an imposing display screen, and reshaped the electronic music firing from a tabletop speaker.

Graham, the program director at Sears think[box], was promoting his music production software, a plug-in he calls “Stream.” But with his doctorate degree in music technology, he’s conversant in the array of hi-tech tools available to musicians and music producers. Listen as he explains why “immersive sound” is the future.

Episode Links:

CES Photos: bit.ly/CESPhotos

Delta Sound Labs: http://deltasoundlabs.com

Sears think[box]: https://engineering.case.edu/sears-thinkbox

You soon might feel better about bellying up to the buffet. Bingying “Judy” Feng ’16 and her company, AntX Technologies, is developing a "smart scale" that can weigh the nutritional value of your meal.

In addition to the weight and price of food, its scale is designed to calculate calories and nutritional values. They tested it at a university in China and found that people were piling less on their plates and choosing more wisely. Now the young company is marketing its product in America to school cafeterias, company dining halls, and anyone else who wants to help their diners eat better and smarter.

Listen and learn why her’s was one of the most popular exhibits in the Case display area at CES 2020.

Episode Links:

CES Photos: http://bit.ly/CESPhotos

AntX Technologies: https://www.ant-x.com/

Everykey may have the solution to the problem virtually everyone has today: How do we remember all those changing passwords?

The company’s nifty little device, which can hook to your key ring, unlocks your password-protected computers, phones, websites—even your car—whenever you’re standing in Bluetooth range. It’s a universal smart key that’s used five million times a day.

The young company just moved to attractive new offices in Little Italy, next door to the CWRU campus where it began. But founder and CEO Chris Wentz ’13 remembers the humble beginnings and frequent setbacks. He shows no sign of slowing down as he strives to bring Everykey to what he sees as its next big market—the corporate world.

We sat down with Chris at CES 2020, where he was displaying Everykey from a booth at the Case Hub. He talked about how a “crazy idea” from an entrepreneurship class became a startup and a quest.

Episode links:

http://www.everykey.com

http://bit.ly/CESPhotos

You’ve heard of getting social with media. How about with robots? Kiju Lee sees that day coming—fast. She’s the Nord Distinguished Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Case School of Engineering. Cooler than that, she’s a robotics expert who is expanding the state of the art. Kiju imbues robots with remarkable capabilities—like flexibility, artificial intelligence, even empathy.

Her latest creation, Woody, is a plywood and software “social robot” that knows how you’re feeling. Kiju and her team have trained Woody to recognize about 3,500 facial expressions. That’s less than the 10,000 expressions you’re capable of making, but more than your average couch potato is going to notice. In other words, if you’re feeling blue, it’s Woody who likely has a clue. She sees implications for elderly care.

Inspired by origami, she has designed miniature robots that are flexible and strong and that maybe could perform precision surgery, as well as big robots that pack up small and light enough to be stowed on space voyages.

She tests her robots at a novel testing center—a senior community in the Cleveland suburbs—where the interaction is both helpful to researchers and heartening to residents.

Join us as we talk with Kiju about building robots that will be our tools, our helpers and maybe our companions.

Host: Robert Smith

Producer: Alex Zinni

Guest: Kiju Lee, professor, robotics expert