Volume 50 – Number 21 Wednesday – March 22, 2006 TechTalk S ERVING T HE M I T C OMMUNITY Moving toward morphing vehicles Elizabeth A. Thomson News Office Picture a bird, effortlessly adjusting its wings to catch every current of air. Airplanes that could do the same would have many advantages over today’s flying machines, including increased fuel effi- ciency. Now MIT engineers report they may have found a way for structures — and materials — to move in this way, essential- ly morphing from one shape into another. The discovery could lead to an airplane that morphs on demand from the shape that is most energy efficient to another better suited to agility, or to a boat whose hull changes shape to allow more efficient movement in choppy, calm or shallow waters. This science-fiction outcome, in the works for 20 years, has been unobtainable with conventional devices such as hydrau- lics, which aren’t practical for a variety of reasons — from cost to weight to ease of movement. MIT’s work involves a new application of a familiar device: the rechargeable bat- tery. Papers describing the team’s prog- ress appeared earlier this year in Advanced Functional Materials and Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters. Batteries expand and contract as they are charged and recharged. “This has generally been thought to be something detrimental to batteries. But I thought we could use this behavior to another end: the actuation, or movement, of large- PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY scale structures,” said Yet-Ming Chiang, Professors Yet-Ming Chiang, left, and Steven Hall show components of their electrochemically actuated morphing rotor prototype (fore- the Kyocera Professor in the Department ground) as well as a reduced-scale model (long object) of a previous technology that uses piezoelectrics as the active materials. of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). postdoctoral associate Yukinori Koyama, of Technology, ETH-Zurich) and Dimitrios from miniature motors to microposition- Chiang and Professor Steven R. Hall of aero-astro graduate student Fernando Sapnaras and Georg Baetz (University of ers. None, however, “can enable the large- the Department of Aeronautics and Astro- Tubilla and postdoctoral associate Kyung Karlsruhe, Germany). nautics led a team that also includes MSE Yeol Song, and three visiting students, Urs Several types of “active” materials are See MORPHING graduate student Timothy E. Chin and Rhyner (from the Swiss Federal Institute already used to move devices ranging Page 5 Work may speed Hockfield offers views interplanetary communications to higher ed commission Testifying at a public hearing held by programs that make connections to the MIT researchers have developed a tiny the U.S. Secretary of Education’s Commis- world of professional practice, and the use light detector that may allow for super-fast sion on the Future of Higher Education on of technology. She cited as examples a broadband communications over inter- Monday, March 20, in Boston, MIT Presi- range of MIT programs, including new planetary distances. Currently, even still dent Susan Hockfield urged the panel to degree offerings at the intersection of the images from other planets are difficult to champion increased financial support for life sciences and engineering; the MIT retrieve. higher education, stronger K-12 prepara- International Science and Technology Ini- “It can take hours with the existing tion, and the diversity and innovation that tiatives (MISTI), which places students in wireless radio frequency technology to have made American universities and col- professional internships abroad; and MIT get useful scientific information back leges models for the rest of the world. OpenCourseWare, which makes materials from Mars to Earth. But an optical link She urged the commission, in making from more than 1,200 MIT courses avail- can do that thousands of times faster,” said its recommendations, to resist the urge able free via the web. Karl Berggren, assistant professor in the to impose a standardized curriculum or “Curricular innovation is not optional Department of Electrical Engineering and mandatory testing. “My own belief is that for U.S. universities,” Hockfield said Mon- Computer Science (EECS). strengthening those aspects of higher edu- day. “It has been and will continue to be Berggren, who is also affiliated with the cation at the root of our success — access, the source of our vitality and our ability to Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), innovation and competition — will be more respond to changes in the world.” developed the detector with colleagues effective than standardization, mandates Pointing out that Congress recently from the RLE, Lincoln Laboratory and PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY and penalties in promoting real, long-term cut $12 billion from the budget for student MIT Assistant Professor Karl Berggren of improvements,” she said. See HOCKFIELD See NANOWIRE electrical engineering and computer sci- Hockfield’s comments on educational Page 4 ence works on nanowires in the lab. innovation stressed curricular change, Page 4 NEWS RESEARCH WORK BREAK BY A WHISKER EXPANSIVE THINKING Students head to the Gulf Coast for spring break to Neuroscientists discover Brain researchers find unexpected activity in the help the area recover from last summer’s hurricanes. an exquisite brain map linked visual cortex. Page 3 to the whiskers of rats. Page 5 ARTISTIC ADDITION Page 4 A ROUNDING ERRAND Sculptor Sarah Sze talks about her new work, ‘Blue Graduate student Amos Winter works to help Poles,’ which was just installed on the front of the Tanzanians get better wheelchairs. Sidney-Pacific Graduate Residence. Page 3 Page 7 PHOTO / WIKIPEDIA PAGE 2 March 22, 2006 NEWS MIT Tech Talk Educators meet, discuss K-12 outreach Change proposed Sasha Brown links Cambridge Public School eighth- long learners. Ultimately youngsters need to grad panel at News Office graders with MIT students, Velasco knows to learn “how to be good learners,” he how important outreach can be, he said. said. faculty meeting After receiving the Howard Swearer It is also important for mentors to rec- Working with K-12 students benefits Student Humanitarian Award last year ognize different learning styles, Resnick Deborah Halber both children and their college-aged men- for his work with iMath, Velasco used the said. “Not everyone is successful in the News Office Correspondent tors, said Professor Mitchel Resnick of award funds — along with a matching con- same way,” he said. the MIT Media Lab, who gave the key- tribution from Chancellor Phillip Clay’s Finally, mentors must have respect note address at the first Continuum Con- office — to sponsor the conference. for their students and expect respect in Faculty chair Lorna J. Gibson presented ference, an event held to encourage more “The ultimate goal is to get more MIT return. “To be a good learner, you have to a proposal at the March 15 faculty meeting K-12 outreach on college campuses. students involved in Cambridge,” said take risks,” he said. In a nurturing envi- to restructure the Committee on Graduate “MIT students should not only be at the Velasco, who said he believes helping in ronment, students are more likely to take School Programs and rename it the Com- university,” said Resnick. “They should education provides a crucial service to a chance or try something new, he said. mittee on Graduate Programs. also be out in the world.” the community. “Education gives kids the Both the mentor and the student need Currently made up of 40 members, the The conference brought roughly 50 edu- means to pursue their dreams,” he said. to feel that they are gaining, he said. “The Committee on Graduate School Programs cators from the Cambridge Public Schools Resnick, a leader in educational tech- experience would be the most sustainable handles a variety of tasks, from recom- and other area universities to the MIT Stu- nology, is also heavily involved in K-12 if they (the mentors) feel like it is some- mending the adoption of new graduate dent Center on Evacuation Day (Friday, outreach as co-founder of the Computer thing for them too,” he said. degree programs to issuing formal com- March 17) — a holiday for local schools — Clubhouse network of after-school learn- Following Resnick’s talk, the audience plaints to underperforming graduate stu- to discuss outreach ideas and opportunities ing centers. “Kids are the future,” he said. broke into small working groups to dis- dents. in the Cambridge Public School system. During his talk, Resnick touched on cuss program development, recruitment The proposal would shrink the com- John Velasco, a graduate student in what qualities make for strong mentors. and communication. mittee to six elected faculty members plus political science, planned and coordinated He stressed that mentors ought to “share Susnowitz said she hopes the confer- the associate chair of the faculty and two the conference along with Public Service things they really care about. We all learn ence will spark interest and get the ball graduate student members. The dean for Center Director Sally Susnowitz and con- the most when we work on things we care rolling in terms of greater outreach. “We graduate students and the vice president ference coordinator Chandra Clarke. deeply about.” really want something to come out of this for research would be ex officio mem- As the creator of iMath, a program that Resnick encouraged mentors to be life- that is practical.” bers. The chair of the committee would be appointed by the chair of the faculty and faculty members would serve for three Isadore Singer to give years (terms currently last one year) to allow for more continuity, said Gibson, Killian lecture tomorrow who is the Matoula S. Salapatas Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Anne Trafton The proposal will be put to a vote at the News Office April faculty meeting, but Dean for Gradu- ate Students Isaac M.