Michigan Engineering

NEW ARTICLE: “Modeling particles reveals soil density impact on surface fault ruptures.” The discrete element method models tens of millions of distinct particles to help understand this rare earthquake hazard and inform resilient civil engineering design. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/05/modeli…

NEW ARTICLE: “Quantum metallurgy: electron crystals deform and melt” Electrons can arrange into crystalline patterns that accumulate defects as they melt. Controlling the degree of melting may advance superconductors and artificial neurons. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/05/quantu…

NEW ARTICLE: “Death-defying protein found in tardigrades preserves synthetic cells.” The findings could help make synthetic cells easier and cheaper to store and transport, for point-of-use production of medicines and other useful molecules. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/05/death-…

We’re excited to announce Michigan Engineering’s incoming dean, Mingyan Liu. Currently serving as our Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and previously as chair of ECE, Liu is internationally recognized for her research, which has increasingly focused on cybersecurity.

NEW: “Stem cell model of human embryo produces yolk sac without hypoblasts or genetic trickery.” The model demonstrates never-before-seen potential in human pluripotent stem cells and is a step toward stem cell models that can shed light on infertility. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/stem-c…

NEW ARTICLE: “AI helps instructors give better feedback but can’t replace them.” A randomized trial in a large economics course found that AI-mediated feedback improved students’ revisions when teaching assistants stayed in control. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/ai-hel…

NEW ARTICLE: “Global urban methane emissions are growing more than estimated.” Satellite measurements suggest that scientific and government reports don’t capture how methane emissions are rising, which could hamper mitigation efforts. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/global…

NEW ARTICLE: “Ultrashort laser pulses achieve stronger photoemission.” A new theoretical study finds shorter laser pulses achieve higher quantum efficiency for photoemission from a solid surface without increasing power or intensity. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/ultras…

An update from University of Michigan Board of Regents Chair Mark J. Bernstein about the presidential transition.

NEW ARTICLE: “Providing the Artemis mission with solar radiation forecasts.” Machine-learning and physics-based models developed at U-M will warn NASA when solar particle radiation could become hazardous up to 24 hours in advance. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/provid… Image credits: @NASA

A $40M Great Lakes partnership is working to strengthen the nuclear workforce. @umichNERS is helping expand training and workforce pathways. Read more: ners.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/10/ner…

NEW ARTICLE: “A fast method for measuring how well air disinfection works: see how it glows.” Developed to measure the effectiveness of plasma-based air disinfection, the approach could eventually assess other techniques as well. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/a-fast…

NEW ARTICLE: “A hardware-software co-design to efficiently run AI on edge devices.” Adjusting state space models to work with a compute-in-memory architecture demonstrated energy-efficient processing of continuous event sequences. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/a-hard…

NEW ARTICLE: “Fine-tuning nanoscale heat flows in molecular materials.” Researchers demonstrate how swapping out a single atom can cut the thermal conductance in half without changing electrical properties. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/fine-t…

NEW ARTICLE: “Nanoparticles genetically modify several human cell types.” The protein nanoparticles could help doctors treat cancer and genetic diseases without using modified viruses, which sometimes have harmful side effects. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/03/nanopa…

NEW: “Meeting EV electricity demand: upgrade grid first, then add V2G chargers.” Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers enable utilities to use EVs like a mobile battery network, but when and where they are deployed will determine how cost-effective they are. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/meetin…

NEW ARTICLE: “A color-changing phosphor for encoding information.” Applying heat or a solvent makes a new purely organic phosphor reversibly switch between glowing green and blue at room temperature. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/04/color-…

NEW ARTICLE: “Studying bird flu in the air to protect people and agricultural operations in Michigan and beyond.” Understanding the virus that causes bird flu in livestock, and how to kill it, could help industrial farms prevent transmission. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/03/studyi…

The claw is coming to campus @UMich luma.com/clawconmichigan

NEW ARTICLE: “AAAS welcomes four new fellows from University of Michigan Engineering.” The honorees are recognized for contributions to human biology, fundamental physics, next-generation computing hardware and advanced vehicle control. news.engin.umich.edu/2026/03/aaas-w…