The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was ranked No. 4 in the world in engineering and computer science, according to Shanghai-based Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) in its 2015 rankings. The Advanced Digital Sciences Center is a University of Illinois research center located in Singapore, and Illinois faculty collaborate closely with ADSC scientists on research projects ranging from smart grid to digital media technologies.

In addition, ADSC works closely with faculty and students at two Singapore universities that also made the Top 25 list: Nanyang Technological University (11) and the National University of Singapore (17).

You can view all the rankings here.

Inspired by seals, which can use their whiskers to sense fish hundreds of meters away, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Advanced Digital Sciences Center in Singapore have developed artificial whiskers that could give doctors a “sixth sense” during surgery.

The robo-whiskers could be especially useful during laparoscopy, or “keyhole” surgery, a minimally invasive procedure in which the surgeon guides a thin instrument through a tiny incision in the body.

“Animals like seals spend a good deal of time in dark and murky environments where they can’t rely on their vision system to see,” said Cagdas Tuna, a postdoctoral researcher at ADSC, a University of Illinois research center in Singapore. “But they are able to use their whiskers to sense their environments. We’re hoping to give surgeons a similar tool when performing these delicate procedures where visibility is low.”

While laparoscopy can benefit patients with faster recovery times and fewer complications, it can be more challenging for surgeons, who don’t have direct access to the operation site during this type of procedure. A surgical catheter with whiskers could offer tactile feedback similar to the nerve endings in our hands.

Tuna began examining the potential of robo-whiskers as an electrical and computer engineering graduate student in advisor Doug Jones’ signal processing lab in 2010. After reading about seals’ ability to use their whiskers as sensing instruments, the team began to consider how to replicate the ability artificially – a field called biomimetics.

Tuna tackled the problem by exploiting the whisker structure and turning it into a well-known imaging problem. Using a novel tomographic, tactile fluid-flow imaging technique – similar to how a CT scan works – researchers were able to use an artificial whisker array to reconstruct the surroundings. They tested out the array using a hotwire anemometer and demonstrated that they were able to generate very accurate tomographic images of the localized fluid-flow sources.

The results were published this month in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics. Tuna’s co-authors are Illinois ECE Professors Farzad Kamalabadi and Jones, who also serves as ADSC director. Both are researchers in the Coordinated Science Laboratory.

The researchers’ first prototype, built with discount-store items such as Legos and drinking straws, is rudimentary to say the least, Tuna says. Before it could be used in surgery, the technology would need to integrate object contact capability in the current whisker-based robotic system.

In the future, the research could also provide guidance for submarines, drones and other systems where navigation and tracking in low-visibility environments is critically important.

“We’re going to continue working on a more generalized image model and focus on even better tracking and navigation,” Tuna said.

ADSC Illinois at Singapore recently received two new grants from Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF). The projects are all collaborations with fellow Singapore research institutes, universities and companies.

ADSC will be working in collaboration with the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) on a project that focuses on safeguarding urban transportation systems against cyber-attacks. The NRF-funded project is titled “SecUTS: A Cyber-Physical Approach to Securing Urban Transportation Systems.” This project will take a multi-faceted approach to designing models and security mechanisms to capture and defend against attacks. Illinois faculty members Yih-Chun Hu, Douglas Jones, Zbigniew Kalbarczyk, David Nicol and Bill Sanders, along with ADSC’s David Yau, will be contributing to the project. The team will also be collaborating with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

The project will focus on rail systems such as Singapore’s mass rapid transit system. As those systems become increasingly complex, existing security technologies have become inadequate because of the cyber-physical nature of the systems, as well as the involvement of humans in the systems. The security models that the researchers will be developing include defense measures for older and current systems, the timeliness and availability of communications and adaptive strategies for mitigating attacks.

This work is supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, under its National Cybersecurity R&D Programme (Award No. NRF2014NCR-NCR001-31) and administered by the National Cybersecurity R&D Directorate.

The second grant received under the Land and Liveability Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC) by NRF is titled “Abating Traffic Noise Through a Holistic Approach of Noise Monitoring, Analytics and Control (MAC)”, which aims to provide insights into how to mitigate noise in urban areas.

To achieve a good noise-control scheme, there is a need to understand the type of noise faced by residents and also to appreciate human perception of noise, which can be subjective. Researchers are capturing local noises by mounting an array of microphones on a moving vehicle and will use the information to develop a noise map of parts of Singapore. Researchers at I2R will develop a noise database for Singapore and study human perception of different types of urban noises using the developed database.

This information can then be programmed into the memory of the noise controller to intelligently generate the best anti-noise wavefront by masking sounds and turning annoying noises into something less aggravating for residents. ADSC Principal Investigator Doug Jones is collaborating with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), as well as with the University of Southampton (UK), Panasonic (Singapore), Tottori University (Japan), LTA, NEA and I2R on the project.

This project is based on research/work supported by the Singapore Ministry of National Development and National Research Foundation under the L2 NIC Award No. L2NICCFP1-2013-7.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign today announced that it will lead a new center to improve the resiliency of critical infrastructure, which includes the power grid, telecommunications networks and transportation systems. The Critical Infrastructure Resilience Center of Excellence (CIRCOE) is funded through a grant – anticipated at $20 million over five years – from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The Center, supported by a consortium of academic and industry institutions, will focus on developing resilient cyber systems that run critical infrastructures as well as providing a business case for infrastructure investment in resiliency technology. CIRCOE will receive $3.4 million in its first year.

Research partners include Cornell University, Northeastern University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Stanford University, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California and University of Washington.“Critical infrastructure systems are susceptible to catastrophic interruptions, whether it’s from natural or malicious causes,” said ADSC Researcher David M. Nicol, principal investigator and director of the Information Trust Institute at Illinois. “Our goal is to address the systematic challenges we face in making sure that infrastructures that modern life depends on continue to work, even in the face of disruptions.”

The Center will place a strong focus on how industry makes decisions about cyber assets that contribute to resiliency. Research projects will explore analysis of the cyberinsurance market as a market-based solution for cyber, resilience through the manufacturing sector, resilience governance, first responder cybersecurity, supply chain cyber-security assurance and other topics.

At Illinois, efforts will be led by the Information Trust Institute, which has strong expertise in the science of security, and the Illinois Applied Research Institute, which specializes in translational research and development.

“The DHS decision to place the CIRCOE at Illinois was based on our research team’s reputation for leadership in technology research – in particular the outstanding expertise in cybersecurity and trust in cyber-physical systems,” said Jeffrey Binder, director of ARI. “However, the University’s experience managing large-scale programs and its innovative technology transition model were also key factors in the award.”

Nicol agreed that the Center has great potential for transforming the design and operation of critical infrastructure: “We have an interdisciplinary group of engineers, lawyers, business experts and others who are all committed to quickly delivering solutions to the field.”

Last year, Illinois and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore formed a partnership to research and develop curricular materials and resources for a new academy at NTU aimed at higher education leaders in Asia. This spring, Illinois experts presented the first course offered through the academy to about 35 department heads, deans and other rising university leaders.

The NTU Leadership Academy panel included Illinois Dean Andreas Cangellaris, Utah Provost Ruth Watkins, NTU Provost and Deputy VP Freddy Boey and Jesse Delia, executive director of Illinois’ Advanced Digital Sciences Center.

The academy focuses on ethical leadership development, equipping leaders to cultivate institutional integrity, use data-driven decision-making methods, and anticipate and manage change in challenging environments.

“These are some of the hardest jobs around, in very complex environments with enormous pressures,” said C.K Gunsalus, director of Illinois’ National Center for Professional and Research Ethics (NCPRE). NCPRE is conducting the research and developing curricular materials, funded through a $2.7 million grant from NTU.

“Our work is designed to provide practical tools that incorporate our work on the integrity of research environments and our deep experience in leadership development.” Gunsalus said.

The three-day course, held March 24-26 in Singapore, covered such topics at negotiation, recruitment and retention, and common leadership challenges. NTU Deputy President and Provost Freddy Boey, Illinois Engineering Dean Andreas Cangellaris, Provost Ruth Watkins from the University of Utah, and Jesse Delia, executive director of Illinois’ Advanced Digital Sciences Center in Singapore, participated in a panel discussion that explored the elements of strong academic leadership and tools needed for success.

The Leadership Academy will reconvene in October 2015, to coincide with Singapore’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Other resources are being developed for asynchronous and independent work, and NCPRE continues to extend its work on the Survey of Organizational Research Climate and adapting it for cross-cultural uses.

“Illinois excels in its interdisciplinary resources for research and professional ethics, the evaluation of research climates, and interactive, experiential education,” Gunsalus said. “This leadership academy brings together a lot of those strengths, and we hope it will contribute to the continuing education of the university leaders of the future.”

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Partners in a first-of-its-kind medical college on the University of Illinois’s Urbana-Champaign campus are advancing to the next phase of development, having completed a key administrative step today.The University of Illinois Board of Trustees voted unanimously Thursday to establish the nation’s first college of medicine focused, from the beginning, on the intersection of engineering and medicine. This will be the first new college created at Urbana in 60 years.

The college will be a partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health System that is specifically designed to train a new kind of doctor. This ground-breaking approach will integrate the university’s unparalleled assets in engineering, technology and supercomputing with Carle’s nationally recognized, comprehensive health care system.

More information about the college is available at www.medicine.illinois.edu.

“Today, we have been given the opportunity to change the world,” Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise said after the board’s vote. “We are the first to chart this new path in medical education, and we are excited by the challenge. Being first and being best is a 150-year tradition at Illinois, and we fully intend to translate that experience into advances in health care delivery.”

The U. of I.’s College of Engineering offers 15 undergraduate and graduate degree programs ranked in the top five, nationally and internationally.

“Together we will transform not only how doctors are trained, but how they solve problems and care for patients. With physicians, engineers and other scientists collaborating at every level, faculty and students will think and work differently,” said James C. Leonard, M.D., president and chief executive officer, Carle Health System. “The difference will be felt not only by the future patients of these physicians, but also by the countless others who will benefit from their medical discoveries.”

Building upon recommendations in a 2014 economic development study, Illinois faculty and staff members from across campus have been working with Carle physicians and staff to develop business, governance and financing plans for the new engineering-based college of medicine. Urbana-Champaign faculty leaders, the Academic Senate, and all campus deans have been involved in the evaluation process.

“The discussion has made the plan better,” Wise said. “Medicine is so multifaceted. Our expertise in technology, science and engineering is so extensive. Broad, open conversation is the only way to deliver on the full promise of this idea. It will allow us to create a college of medicine like no other and will become a transformational driver on our innovation ecosystem.”

The college will be funded through a combination of revenue from new inventions, medical student tuition, corporate investments and private philanthropy. Funds for operations will not be shifted from other from colleges or departments, nor will there be any requests for new appropriations from the state.

Carle Health System, the clinical partner in the college, is a nationally recognized leader in high-quality, cost-effective and coordinated patient care. Carle is also the primary investor in the new initiative – with a pledge of $100 million in the first 10 years, including $34.5 million for startup costs.

The new college will be bound by the University Statutes and overseen by the U. of I. Board of Trustees, with the dean also serving as chief academic officer at Carle Health System and reporting to both the Urbana provost and Carle’s Chief Medical Officer. A joint liaison committee would be formed to serve in an advisory capacity.

Ilesanmi Adesida, the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the college of medicine will impact not only engineering and medicine, it also will lead to broad collaborations that will benefit all three U. of I. campuses, Illinois residents, and health care consumers as a whole.

“This idea is something that’s been percolating on this campus for the last 50 years,” he said. “Our goal and our heritage are to be the pre-eminent public research university with a land-grant mission and global impact. This is an example of our delivering on that challenge.”

Efforts will now focus on recruiting a founding dean, securing financial support from donors and investors, and preparing a submission to the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Liaison Committee for Medical Education for accreditation as a new college of medicine.