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Is This New Potassium Metal Battery Design the Future of Energy Storage?
From cell phones, to solar power, to electric cars, humanity is increasingly dependent on batteries. As demand for safe, efficient, and powerful energy storage continues to rise, so too does the call for promising alternatives to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which have been the dominant technology in this space. Led by Nikhil Koratkar, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a way to overcome a persistent challenge known as dendrites in order to create a metal battery that performs nearly as well as a lithium-ion battery, but relies on potassium — a much more abundant and less expensive element. “In terms of performance, this could rival a traditional lithium-ion battery,” said Koratkar, an endowed professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer. While metal batteries have shown great promise, they have also traditionally been plagued by accumulation of metal deposits, called dendrites, on the anode. Over time, Koratkar explains, the conglomerates of potassium metal become long and almost branch-like. If they grow too long, they will eventually pierce the insulating membrane separator meant to keep the electrodes from touching each other and shorting out the battery. Koratkar and his team found that by operating the battery at a relatively high charge and discharge rate, they can raise the temperature inside the battery in a well-controlled manner and encourage the dendrites to self-heal off the anode. The researchers previously demonstrated a similar method of self-healing with lithium metal batteries, but they found the potassium metal battery required much less heat to complete the self-healing process. That promising finding, Koratkar said, means a potassium metal battery could be more efficient, safe, and practical. “I want to see a paradigm shift to metal batteries,” Koratkar said. “Metal batteries are the most efficient way to construct a battery; however, because of this dendrite problem they have not been feasible. With potassium, I’m more hopeful.” This research, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is just the latest development in Koratkar's contributions to battery research. He is available to discuss a range of possible futures for energy storage.
Professor Barry Branch, Ledbetter Professor of the Practice at Scheller College of Business was a featured author in the article “National Rent Report for January 2020 Shows Growing Number of Renters” in the online magazine RENTCafe. Branch discussesd national trends that are leading more young people to rent rather than purchase a single-family home. “Young professionals are increasingly attracted to multifamily projects near their jobs. These buildings are attractive if they offer cutting edge technology that enables residents to work from home; attractive amenities that provide a healthy lifestyle and greater interaction with others; proximity to a variety of retail, food and entertainment attractions as well as public greenspaces; a significant reduction in their reliance on automobiles and access to public transportation; and greater flexibility to adjust to job changes and changes in their personal circumstances,” he said. In the piece he acknowledges the stable economy but notes that increased uncertainty in national, political, and economic environments may lead many people to resist the commitment to purchase a home. However, Branch points to the possibility that a larger demand for rental units may provide less inventory and therefore, an increase in rent prices. He states that “an offsetting factor among renters is the current trend towards rapidly increasing rental rates in many markets, which threatens their ability to manage their cost of living.” To offset these adverse factors, he cites low-interest rates that will incentivize developers to build more units and government programs for creating affordable housing as just a few factors that will continue to keep the rental market thriving. Are you a journalist looking to know more about this topic? Then let our experts help. Barry Branch is Sr. Professor of the Practice of Real Estate Development at Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology. He is co-founder of The Branch-Shelton Company, LLC, a private investment management and financial advisory firm. Barry is available to speak with media regarding this important topic – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
Truce with the Taliban - will it hold and is it possible?
It’s been nearly two decades of war that has taken thousands of lives and cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars. And late last week, a temporary truce with the Taliban was finally reached after 18 years of fighting and if that holds, a more permanent resolution is expected to be signed on February 29. If successfully implemented, the weeklong “reduction in violence” agreement, which came into force at midnight Friday local time (1930 GMT, 2:30 p.m. EST), will be followed by the signing of the peace accord on Feb. 29, wrapping up America's longest-running conflict and fulfilling one of President Donald Trump's main campaign promises. Friday's announcement of an agreement on terms for a peace deal follows months of negotiations between the two sides that have broken down before. Yet both parties have signaled a desire to halt the fighting that began with the U.S. invasion after the September 11, 2001, attacks by Osama bin Laden's Afghanistan-based al-Qaida network. Should the truce stand, the U.S.-Taliban deal would be followed within 10 days by the start of all-Afghan peace talks that could result in the formation of a new government in Kabul, a pledge from the Taliban not to allow terrorist groups to operate in the country, and the phased withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops over 18 months. February 21 – US News and World Report It’s a historic moment for all involved, but there’s a lot of questions to be asked. Does an agreement like this have a chance of succeeding? What will happen to the area once all U.S. and other troops finally withdraw? Is this potentially the first sign of peace in the region? What protection does Afghanistan’s fragile government have if left to stand on its own? There are a lot of scenarios to consider, and if you are a journalist covering this vent, that’s where our experts can help with your questions, stories and ongoing coverage. Dr. Craig Albert is a leading expert on war, terrorism and American politics and has testified to the U.S. Congress on Islamic Extremism. He is also the Director of the Master of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies at Augusta University. He has experience with all forms of local and national news organizations and is available to speak to media regarding this latest development between America and the Talban. Simply click on Dr. Albert’s icon to arrange an interview or to learn more about his expertise.
Entrepreneurship expert: New Americans vital to U.S. economy
In the United States, there is a long history of marginalized communities being extremely entrepreneurial. These communities were driven, in large part, by the desire to meet their own ethnic, religious, and cultural needs, according to Christine Beech, D.M., the Dr. Jon and Betty Kabara Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. In the mid-19th century, more than 100 hospitals were founded by the Jewish community to fight anti-Semitism in medical school appointments and meet patient needs of having kosher options during the hospital stay.These opportunities were not available in the existing network of mainstream hospitals. Similarly, in the beginning of the 20th century, Irish Catholic immigrants began establishing a network of parochial elementary schools as a way to preserve their faith and culture and allow children to learn about their faith in school, Dr. Beech said. These two initiatives, led by immigrant groups, helped establish networks of schools and healthcare institutions that served a social good in their communities while generating jobs and stimulating the economy. In addition, there is a long line of entrepreneurs in the African-American community who combatted racial discrimination through new businesses because they were marginalized from the mainstream economy, Dr. Beech said. Examples of these entrepreneurs include Madam C.J. Walker, who invented a line of hair care products to serve the needs of her community, and Charles Clinton Spaulding, who developed the largest African-American business in the early 20th century specifically serving the insurance needs of the African-American community. In modern times, one of the largest marginalized communities in the U.S. is comprised of new Americans, many of whom are immigrants and have developed culturally responsive businesses. Although current policies are set in place to curtail U.S. immigrants, it is important to remember that the country could potentially lose an entire segment of the population that has been vital to the economy, Dr. Beech said. Beech pointed to a 2015 study from the Kauffman Foundation which mentioned that 40% of the Fortune 500 in 2010 were companies founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. Nearly 30% of all new businesses started in 2014 were started by immigrants, Dr. Beech said, according to a related study from the same foundation. “We've been able to see constant growth and diversity within our economy that's been very healthy for us,” said Dr. Beech, who also serves as the executive director of the Kabara Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at Saint Mary’s. “There's a narrative that says that the immigrant community is coming here to find work. But in fact, when we look at the data, a significant portion of them are actually creating jobs and starting businesses.” Dr. Beech added three primary reasons for these continued statistics indicating significant immigrant entrepreneurship: The drive to be independent A desire to meet their communities culturally specific needs A response to societal biases that hinder success within the mainstream workforce “Those migrant communities often develop their own businesses, almost like a subset of the economy, where they can't be marginalized, where they're actually taking charge of their own economic well-being,” said Dr. Beech. When it comes to knowing the overall impact of the immigration policies on the economy, there will be a natural lag in the data — possibly as long as five years — given how much time it typically takes for immigrants to establish businesses after arriving in a new country, Dr. Beech said. Are you a journalist covering this topic and interested in an interview? That’s where we can help. Christine Beech, D.M., has had a career that encompasses academics, entrepreneurship, military service, and consulting. She has been a faculty member in the business department at Saint Mary’s University since 2017 and is the executive director of the Kabara Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. Before joining Saint Mary’s University, Dr. Beech owned her own consulting business in the Washington, D.C., area for many years. Before that, she worked as a corporate entrepreneur where she led the development of a multimillion-dollar business line for a global consulting firm. Dr. Beech is an expert in entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and women entrepreneurs. She is available to speak with the media. To arrange an interview with her, simply click on her photo below to access her contact information.
United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals fall behind initial hopes, lacks needed funding
In 2000, United Nations member states adopted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which featured a number of ambitious global initiatives, such as eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, and achieving universal primary education in all countries around the world. As these goals were extremely aspirational, most were far from met by the target date. However, by 2015 significant progress was made in a few areas, such as increased official development assistance (foreign aid), reduced trade barriers for developing country exports, and new debt-reduction strategies for some of the heaviest indebted countries. By the target date of the MDGs, the most notable outcome was the number of people living in extreme poverty around the world had been reduced by 50% since 1990. To keep the sustainable development agenda moving forward, at the end of 2015, the United Nations member states adopted 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be met by 2030. Since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, some progress has been on two of the SDGs: eliminating preventable deaths among newborns and children under the age of 5, and getting children into primary schools. These are both important initiatives and progress should be celebrated, says Matt Bluem, assistant dean of graduate programs and MBA director of Saint Mary's University of Minnesota's School of Business and Technology. Unfortunately, progress on the other 15 goals has not kept pace. With just 10 years until the target date for meeting all 17 SDGs, it is becoming increasingly clear that most of these goals will not be met. According to the UN, the biggest challenge in meeting the SDGs is funding. An additional $2-3 trillion is needed to help meet funding requirements. A recent report by the Brookings Institution states that sub-Saharan Africa alone would need hundreds of billions of dollars in additional financial support every year in order to meet the SDGs by the target date of 2030, Bluem says. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has argued that public investment by governments is not enough, insisting that private industry is going to need to get involved. To meet the aggressive SDGs, the private and public sectors will need to work together to bring about the investment and policy change. In order to encourage governments and the private sector to put the resources and effort necessary into meeting the SDGs, it is imperative to let world leaders know that goals such as the SDGs are important to the international citizenry, Bluem says. Are you a journalist covering this topic and interested in an interview? That’s where we can help. Matt Bluem, Ph.D., assistant dean of graduate programs and MBA director, has taught business and marketing courses at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota since 2008. Prior to Saint Mary’s, he worked in both the banking and the nonprofit sectors, most recently with a non-governmental organization (NGO) with operations in more than a dozen countries. Bluem is an expert in political and economic development and is available to speak with media. To arrange an interview with him, simply click below to access his contact information.
Interested in the Ethics of EdTech Apps? Let our Experts Help with Your Coverage
There’s been a lot of talk lately about EdTech apps. There’s a long list of benefits and advantages for students looking to succeed in these modern and digital times. However, with anything app-related – user privacy and what’s being done with all of your data that’s collected always comes to the forefront of the conversation. EdTech apps are a billion-dollar industry, and recently the experts from the University of Mary Washington were asked their opinions on the industry, the apps and privacy. Jesse Stommel, senior lecturer of Digital Studies at the University of Mary Washington, said that EdTech providers had a responsibility to do more than just legally protect themselves with terms and conditions. “The onus has to be on the tech companies themselves to educate the users about data security and data monetisation…say ‘here’s why I’m collecting it, here’s what I hope to do with it, here’s why it should matter to you’,” he said. For Dr. Stommel there was also still a danger when technologies were adopted widely across campuses and every student or lecturer was required to use them. “When certain companies become universal, staff and students don’t have a way to say ‘I won’t use it because I don’t want them to have my data’,” he said. The fact that certain products had become so widely adopted, such as plagiarism tracking software Turnitin, was another reason to be cautious about data protection, he said. Turnitin, which was sold last year for $1.8 billion (£1.4 billion), has been accused of monetising students’ intellectual property, since it works by checking submitted papers against an ever-growing database of previously submitted essays and detecting any similarities. “Companies can start off small and they say ‘we will be good stewards of this data, we’re small, we talk to each other,’ but then that company achieves more and more success and it doesn’t necessarily have the standards in place to maintain that,” said Dr. Stommel, speaking generally. “Then what happens when they are bought out? What are the ethics of the company that has purchased them? What happens to the student data then?” Dr. Stommel said that the most “moral” thing to do was for companies to collect as little data as possible but admitted “no company is approaching it in that way”. January 14 - TimesHigherEducation.com Are you a journalist covering how EdTech is now becoming a regular part of modern-day higher education? Then let our experts help with your stories. Jesse Stommel is a senior lecturer of Digital Studies at the University of Mary Washington and is an expert in faculty development, digital education and modern learning. He is available to speak with media regarding EdTech apps – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
Researchers at Rensselaer Can Now 3D Print Skin With Working Blood Vessels
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a way to 3D print living skin, complete with blood vessels. The advancement, published online in Tissue Engineering Part A, is a significant step toward creating grafts that are more like the skin our bodies produce naturally. “Right now, whatever is available as a clinical product is more like a fancy Band-Aid,” said Pankaj Karande, an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS), who led this research at Rensselaer. “It provides some accelerated wound healing, but eventually it just falls off; it never really integrates with the host cells.” A significant barrier to that integration has been the absence of a functioning vascular system in the skin grafts. Karande has been working on this challenge for several years, previously publishing one of the first papers showing that researchers could take two types of living human cells, make them into “bio-inks,” and print them into a skin-like structure. Since then, he and his team have been working with researchers from Yale School of Medicine to incorporate vasculature. In this paper, the researchers show that if they add key elements — including human endothelial cells, which line the inside of blood vessels, and human pericyte cells, which wrap around the endothelial cells — with animal collagen and other structural cells typically found in a skin graft, the cells start communicating and forming a biologically relevant vascular structure within the span of a few weeks. “As engineers working to recreate biology, we’ve always appreciated and been aware of the fact that biology is far more complex than the simple systems we make in the lab,” Karande said. “We were pleasantly surprised to find that, once we start approaching that complexity, biology takes over and starts getting closer and closer to what exists in nature.” You can watch Pankaj Karande, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, explain this research here: Pankaj Karande is an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer. He is available to speak with media regarding this latest development – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
Introducing AiMOS, The Most Powerful Supercomputer at a Private University
The most powerful supercomputer to debut on the November 2019 Top500 ranking of supercomputers, also the most powerful supercomputer in New York State, was recently unveiled at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center for Computational Innovations (CCI). Part of a collaboration between IBM, Empire State Development (ESD), and NY CREATES, the eight petaflop IBM POWER9-equipped AI supercomputer is configured to help enable users to explore new AI applications and accelerate economic development from New York’s smallest startups to its largest enterprises. AiMOS is: The most powerful supercomputer housed at a private university. The 24th most powerful supercomputer in the world. The third-most energy efficient supercomputer in the world. Named AiMOS (short for Artificial Intelligence Multiprocessing Optimized System) in honor of Rensselaer co-founder Amos Eaton, the machine will serve as a test bed for the New York State-IBM Research AI Hardware Center, which opened on the SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) campus in Albany earlier this year. The AI Hardware Center aims to advance the development of computing chips and systems that are designed and optimized for AI workloads to push the boundaries of AI performance. AiMOS will provide the modeling, simulation, and computation necessary to support the development of this hardware. “The established expertise in computation and data analytics at Rensselaer, when combined with AiMOS, will enable many of our research projects to make significant strides that simply were not possible on our previous platform,” said Christopher Carothers, director of the CCI and professor of computer science at Rensselaer. “Our message to the campus and beyond is that, if you are doing work on large-scale data analytics, machine learning, AI, and scientific computing, then it should be running at the CCI.” Built using the same IBM Power Systems technology as the world’s smartest supercomputers, the US Dept. of Energy’s Summit and Sierra supercomputers, AiMOS uses a heterogeneous system architecture that includes IBM POWER9 CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs. This enables AiMOS with a capacity of eight quadrillion calculations per second. You can watch Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson talk about AiMOS here: Chris Carothers is the director of the Center for Computational Innovations (CCI) at Rensselaer. He is available to speak with media about AiMOS and what it can enable – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
There’s no Tour de France for women; it’s time to address the inequity in professional cycling
Since the Passing of Title IX, there have been many improvements in accessibility for girls and women in sports. This trend has not been as strong for some sports, like competitive cycling. “We know that when we look at numbers for licensed riders in the U.S., 15% are women, and that means 85% of competitive cyclists are men,” said Erin Ayala, Ph.D. “Because races are generally run by private organizations, they don’t fall under the Title IX umbrella. It looks very different. They can say that because only 15% of women are in the field, they think they don’t need to add more races so women can participate. This then creates concerns regarding skill development and safety while racing.” As a cyclist who races nationally, Dr. Ayala can attest that women cyclists are treated very differently than men. “I did a large national investigation on the experiences to find out what the factors are that affect participation for women in competitive cycling. A lot of women spoke of importance of creating an encouraging and supportive atmosphere. They'd say, 'If I have people on sidelines cheering me on, that means the world to me.' “Another piece was that race promoters and directors sometimes combine women with master’s men, 50-60-year-old men, to help with field sizes, but that can create a toxic environment because women are racing with older men who may not want them to be there. Women are also paired with younger junior cyclists, which can feel condescending and patronizing because it results in shorter or easier races. “In a lot of races women race shorter distances or durations than the men, which can feel insulting. There’s no Tour de France for Women. It’s a tough atmosphere. Then there are the podium girls, women in high heels and makeup whose job it is to stand next to the male racers to give them their prizes and a kiss on the cheek. The underlying assumption is those women are there to accessorize the male racers. It speaks to the gender dynamics in those sports. “Things that decrease participation are unsupportive environments where women feel they do not belong, inequitable fields, and unequal prize pools; sometimes men are paid more money to win the same race as women. We have good hard data to talk about it. We need to do better, and one of biggest themes that came out of it was ‘Build it and we will come. Invest in us, and we will start to show up more often.’ We are hoping to create some change in communities and nationally to make more room for women in a sport that does not have many women. Are you a journalist covering this topic and looking to book an interview? That’s where we can help. Dr. Erin Ayala is a licensed psychologist and core faculty member in the counseling psychology doctoral program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. She is also an expert in the areas of women’s health and sports psychology. To book an interview with Dr. Ayala – simply click on her icon to arrange a time. Read more on Dr. Ayala's research: https://doi.org/10.18666/JOREL-2020-V12-I1-9912.
It may be the most wonderful time of the year, but for those delivering packages to houses and homes across America this holiday season it’s also the busiest one. In fact, it’s expected that Amazon alone will ship close to 300 million packages for Christmas. Customers want their purchases quicker and cheaper and it’s changing how the landscape works. It's estimated that free shipping will cost Amazon more than a billion dollars this quarter alone. This explains why shippers are looking at some radical new technologies to cut the cost of the last mile – and this is not just limited to the retail shopping industry. “Technology-driven innovations such as delivery drones or driverless vehicles not only facilitate last-mile delivery, they help with the inclusion of new sets of “customers, especially those in remote locations or rural areas with poor infrastructure, says Morvarid Rahmani, assistant professor of Operations Management at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Institute of Technology. For instance, companies like UPS, CVS, and WakeMed are exploring the idea of drugs and other health-related items being delivered by drones. In a first, collaboration between the FAA and UPS partner Matternet made deliveries from a CVS pharmacy in Cary, North Carolina as well a customer’s retirement community in November. Rahmani thinks this type of delivery shows promise. “Using drones to deliver medical packages can give rural communities access to products and medical supplies, which they would not be able to access otherwise. This delivery model is a way of incorporating social concerns and conditions of underserved populations into business practices. Using drones to deliver medial packages is a great example of collaboration between a governmental agency and for-profit companies, which is toward the dual goals of promoting efficiency and inclusion,” she notes. So, while most consumers are coming to terms with drone technology as a means for the Amazons of the world to replace it’s fleet of trucks, many customers are seeing the future of receiving essential, potentially life-saving drugs to their doorstep. “These technologies enable inclusive retailing and distribution for large (excluded) communities all over the world, says Rahmani. “Successful implementation of inclusive business practices requires collaboration of for-profit firms with the public sector, civil society organizations, and communities”.CBS News - December 15, 2019 Morvarid Rahmani is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. She is an expert in the areas of research is on collaboration in work processes such as new product development, management/IT consulting, and education. Dr. Rahmani is available to speak with media regarding this topic – simple click on her icon to arrange an interview. About Scheller College of Business The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business is located in a state-of-the-art building in Georgia Tech’s vibrant Technology Square, the core of the Atlanta’s high-tech business community. The College offers an internationally recognized business education, including full-time, evening, and executive MBA options as well as undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees, to approximately 2,000 degree-seeking students each year. Scheller College collaborates across Georgia Tech to offer joint MS degrees in quantitative and computational finance and business analytics. Custom and open enrollment programs for executives and professionals are offered through the Huang Executive Education Center, located within the College. Interdisciplinary centers for teaching and research within the College enrich the educational experience, the campus and the community by providing a direct connection with the real world. They fuel collaborative teaching and research in some of the most relevant areas in business today: leadership, innovation, sustainability, the global enterprise, and business ethics. For more information, contact media@scheller.gatech.edu