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For more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Contents of this News Tip:
NEW SOFTWARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE BATCH DESIGN, MINIMIZE POLLUTIONComputer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), working with the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Emission Reduction Research Center (ERRC), have developed new software which, when used by companies that mix large batches of chemicals, will improve product quality, shorten product lead time to market, and reduce waste and pollution, all of which may help manufacturers save millions of dollars, say its developers. The software, named "Batch Design Kit," combines advanced methods of designing chemical processes with a new approach to pollution prevention. The ERRC is one of NSF's Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers. Additional funding for the research was provided by several pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol Myers Squibb and SmithKline Beecham. The ERRC conducts research to improve manufacturing technology that reduces source emissions. The research center operates under pollution-reduction concepts endorsed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which also funded the research. In addition to NJIT and MIT, ERRC consortium members include Ohio State University and Pennsylvania State University. [Brian Lombard] ASTRONOMICAL TECHNIQUES COULD HELP MAKE MAMMOGRAMS MORE ACCURATEAn astronomer who searches the skies for dim stars confronts a challenge similar to that facing a doctor who scans a mammogram for microcalcifications, the faint points that can indicate breast cancer: Both must distinguish certain critical spots against a blurry background. Over the past few decades, astronomical image processing has become greatly sophisticated, encompassing technologies for reconstructing and filtering images, as well as for detecting and clarifying objects. Recently, the National Science Foundation's Astronomy Division granted $50,000 to advance collaboration between researchers at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Research Center, and Johns Hopkins University; the object is to apply imageprocessing software, developed for the Hubble Space Telescope, to detecting cancer signs in digitized mammograms. Initial results show promise; the team will now work on refining and testing the detection methods, hoping to improve their reliability. [Lynn Simarski] HIGH-END MATERIALS RESEARCH ENRICHING HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE EDUCATIONEducation and research in academia often seem difficult to balance. But don't tell that to Jennifer Lewis. Lewis, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, is using her research to open doors for the infusion of materials science and technology concepts into high school physics and chemistry curricula. She directs the National Science Foundation-supported Materials Technology Workshop for High School Science Teachers which trains science teachers, developes and disseminates several materials-based instructional modules to high schools nationwide. "These modules have been designed to supplement existing high school courses by providing hands-on learning activities on technologically- relevant areas like composites, polymeric materials and recycling and energy," she said. In addition, Lewis is active at the university level as a research advisor to several graduate and undergraduate students in her group, as a faculty advisor to an undergraduate student organization in her department, and as a teacher/role model. In 1994, Lewis was selected as a Presidential Faculty Fellow. Through the Presidential Faculty Fellows (PFF) awards, the President annually recognizes young faculty members who demonstrate excellence and promise both in scientific or engineering research and in teaching at some of America's universities and colleges. [Njuguna Kabugi]
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