Edmund T. Pratt Jr. School of Engineering at Duke University | 2017 Student-written since 1940 INSIDE: Drone Submarines and Robot Nurses Reinventing the Toilet Printing Metal in 3D Environmental engineering dukeng fieldwork in Bolivia, page 6 Keep up with the lastest from Duke Engineering on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @DukeEngineering Edmund T. Pratt Jr. School of Engineering at Duke University | 2017 dukengineer Letters 2 Letter from the Dean 3 Meet the Editors 4 Letter from the ESG President 5 Letter from the EGSC President Editors-in-Chief Efe Aras and Amy Xiong Faculty Focus 6 From Bolivia to India: Of Our Air, Our Environment and Our Health Associate Editors Ashish Vankara 10 Trapping Light to Enhance Material Properties Petek Sener Claudia Dantoin Global Impacts on Health 14 Engineering Change in the Developing World Consulting Editors 16 Engineering the Toilet Minnie Glymph Ken Kingery Tomorrow’s Technologies 18 A 3D Manufacturing Revolution: From Dreams to Reality Designer 22 MEDx: An Engine for Collaboration and Innovation Lacey Chylack 24 Envisioning the Future of Robots 27 A Leviathan Lurking in the Foundry 30 From Entrepreneurs to Encapsio Profiles 34 Meet the Pratt Research Fellows Alumni and Giving 38 Classnotes 46 Honor Roll Cover: Students scale the mountains of Bolivia to test air and water quality (page 6) pratt.duke.edu FROM THE DEAN Meet the EDITORS Meet the ASSOCIATE EDITORS Claudia Dantoin is a senior from Mequon, Wiscon- sin. She is currently juggling classes in the electrical Dear friends, and computer engineering, chemistry and French departments. She enjoys exploring the interaction hen our students published DukEngineer of technology and medicine and is excited by the last year, I had not yet begun my role as many possibilities that the future holds in these WVinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engi- fields. She has interned at both Google and at neering. But in an interview in the pages of that Microsoft and loves to solve interesting problems. In magazine, I offered my initial insights into what her free time she enjoys cheering for the Green Bay makes Duke Engineering an attractive destination Packers, needlepoint and all things Duke. for world-class students and faculty alike. Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to engage more deeply with our talented and ambitious students, faculty, university colleagues Efe Aras is a senior studying ECE/CS with a and strong network of supporters and friends. heavy interest in mathematical understanding of Petek Sener is a junior majoring in biomedical DukEngineer is a tradition that makes a statement the world around him. He has been involved with engineering, with focus on tissue engineering. about Duke Engineers—creative, entrepreneurial DukEngineer since his freshman year, and has met She is also interested in neuroscience. She reseachers and leaders—since 1940! What a plea- with incredible people throughout the process. He enjoys working out at the gym, traveling and sure and joy it has been to become part of this is also involved with Grand Challenge Scholars and trying different kinds of food. dynamic community, this tradition of excellence Pratt Fellows and appreciates the academic flexibil- in everything we do, and experience firsthand ity Pratt provides. In his free time, he can be found how truly special Duke Engineering is! talking with people or solving brain teasers. As a leading engineering school set in one of You’ll also read about how Duke Engineering Dean Bellamkonda the world’s top research universities, we have an is leading the way toward exciting emerging tech- Ashish Vankara is a sophomore biomedical engi- incredibly collaborative spirit. Here, faculty and nologies, ranging from new optical properties neering major who is also on the medicine track. students work together across disciplines to solve harnessed from the phenomena of plasmonics He was born in India and raised in Columbus, Ohio, global challenges and make the world a better to building and programming the autonomous Amy Xiong is as a huge OSU Buckeyes fan. In his free time, he place—whether by improving human health, robots of tomorrow’s streets and industries. And, a senior studying enjoys lifting, running, reading and watching Netflix. working toward a more resilient and sustainable you’ll hear the stories of many Duke Engineering BME/ECE from On campus, he is involved with Duke Diya, Happy environment, discovering new materials or ad- students participating in impactful research, en- Maple Grove, Kids Healthy Kids, Sigma Chi fraternity, the Duke vancing data analytics, computing and intelligent gaging in hands-on design and even starting new Minnesota. She Center for Genomics and Computational Biology, systems. companies. has worked with and the Duke peer tutoring program. Our award-winning faculty care not only In 1984, Duke President Terry Sanford fa- DukEngineer about what they teach, but also how they teach mously described the “outrageous ambitions” since her fresh- and what they teach to fuel student curiosity and propelling Duke University’s rise and rapid ad- man year and open new horizons. Nearly 60 percent of our un- vance along the path of excellence. Our goals for has had a blast dergraduate students conduct faculty-mentored Duke Engineering are very much in this dynamic both as a writer and an editor and is looking forward Anika Radiya-Dixit is a senior electrical/computer research, while our graduate students are routine- Duke spirit. In undergraduate and graduate to receiving issues in her mailbox as an alumna for engineering and computer science double major ly recognized at a national level for their collabo- education, in research, in entrepreneurship and the years to follow. Amy is also involved with the who enjoys combining design and technology. Her rative and original work. In the rich environment in service, we’re committed to leading boldly Baldwin Scholars Program, the Career Center, and love for science and its integration with constantly of Duke Engineering, students can also discover to shape this technological era by creating an Grand Challenge Scholars on campus. In her free changing electronic devices has propelled her to and develop their passions for entrepreneurship, environment that enables our community to time she enjoys photography, playing (and attempt- seek a deeper understanding of technology—both global outreach, team leadership and more. achieve great things, and yes—be outrageously ing to sing to) ukulele and watching movies with in theory and practical applications. Throughout col- As you read through the articles our students ambitious! friends. Next year Amy will be returning to Minnesota lege, she has also explored her pastimes of RAAS have written for this edition of the DukEngineer, I have enjoyed every minute of my first year at to work as a hardware engineer in the medical (Indian dance group), table tennis, figure skating, I believe you’ll see these strengths for yourselves. Duke, and hope you’ll enjoy reading more about device industry and will miss Duke—and Durham painting, and writing for the Duke Research Blog! Our students and faculty are engaging the world just a few of the outstanding things our students winters—very much! through efforts to develop new biomedical de- and faculty have done in 2016-2017 in this issue. vices for the developing world, provide access to proper sanitation to billions who lack it, and help Prof. Ravi V. Bellamkonda improve air and water quality across the globe. Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering dukengineer 2 2017 dukengineer 2017 dukengineer 3 letters | THE ESG PRESIDENT letters | THE EGSC PRESIDENT t is heartening to see Pratt grow closer as a student community at a time when so much change and uncertainty surrounds us. In just one academic year, we’ve welcomed aboard our new Dean of Engineering, elected the new President of our nation, selected the new President of Duke University and experienced an effort to unionize Duke graduate students. Naturally, many questions and concerns have arisen regarding how these changes will affect the diverse population of Pratt graduate students. With the unique diversity found throughout Pratt and Duke, we uring the 2016-2017 new E-Workshops on East campus. These could easily allow such polarizing topics to fracture our student community. In- year, Engineering workshops unite first-year students and up- stead, as I have witnessed over the past few months, Pratt has brought itself together Student Govern- perclassmen to teach applicable skills that in discussion of our role as a school, our respective roles within the Duke commu- ment (ESG) has seen are not necessarily found in the classroom. nity, and the needs of all of our students, both inside and outside of Pratt. I am incredible growth in its ESG launched its first ever E-Fair in blessed to have had the opportunity to serve Pratt during this time as President of focus to support high-im- Fall 2016. Pratt engineering organizations, the Engineering Graduate Student Council (EGSC) alongside the board members, pact engineering initiatives faculty and student startups gathered and department representatives and the student leaders of the departmental committees. while continuing to serve as a voice presented their projects and research on EGSC has one overarching goal for this year—to bring Pratt together. We have for the undergraduate community. Our what was a tremendous day for showcasing Ibegun to do so in a few ways, beginning with a broader offering of events. We are incredibly talented board has worked hard the exciting developments happening in piloting a four-part Prototyping Series in which students will learn how to use to support our vision of change and unity Pratt. With the great success seen during computer-aided-modelling and 3D printing to turn their ideas into reality.