Global SMT recently posted a a journal written by MSE Professor Carol Handerwerker on, "The State of Metals Recycling". Handerwerker's work with metals recovery from electronic product recycling is focused on high-volume and most valuable metals that are recoverable in an economically feasible way.

Purdue University's College of Education was awarded $2 million in grant funding from the National Science Foundation for the project "Using Principles of Design to Advance Teacher Education."

Purdue University researcher led a team that is a finalist for the 2016 R&D 100 award, which has been called the "Oscars of invention."

The team has developed a process to convert trashed packing peanuts into carbon for battery electrodes and also for a technology to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to reduce climate change. The carbon nanoparticles and “microsheets” are produced at low cost from polystyrene and starch-based packing peanuts, respectively, said Vilas G. Pol, an associate professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and the School of Materials Engineering.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a grant to a Purdue University professor in the College of Engineering working on the characteristics of metals.

Matthew Krafcik, a Ph.D. student advised by Prof. Kendra Erk, received a best poster award at the 7th annual Cements Division meeting of The American Ceramics Society, held at Northwestern University from July 10-13, 2016.

John Rotella, a 2nd year PhD candidate in Materials Engineering, won a 2016 NDSEG Research Fellowship. This prestigious award provides full support for his stipend and tuition for up to 3 years during the remainder of his PhD studies.

Crystals known as perovskites promise to revolutionize solar cells. Now researchers have found that they could improve fuel cells as well.

Fuel cells convert the chemical energy stored in fuels such as hydrogen into electricity. They do so by reacting the fuel with oxygen or another oxidizing agent that can strip electrons from the fuel. An electrolyte—commonly a polymer or ceramic—interposed between the fuel and oxidizer helps shuttle ions within the fuel cell.