Engineering
Centers and Institutes
Center for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing (CAMMP)
Director: Al Sacco, Jr., George A. Snell Professor of Engineering
CAMMP is a NASA-industrial-academic consortium that allows industry to leverage its resources to accelerate the time to market of innovations in material science and technology, while at the same time help NASA with near-earth and deep space exploration missions. It makes available the International Space Station as a tool to expand the horizons of materials research. Information gathered from this research is being used to develop computers and communication systems that use light instead of electricity to store more information, and send voice and pictures faster. CAMMP is developing new separation techniques for the pharmaceutical industry, new membrane materials for fuel cells for possible use in cars, and new materials for the next generation of batteries. In addition, CAMMP scientists are developing biological sensors to help detect low concentrations of gases and pollutants. CAMMP, headed by former astronaut Al Sacco, Jr., includes six research engineers and scientists, four visiting faculty, seven graduate students and two coop students. Elementary, middle and high school teachers also participate in CAMMP research projects, then bring their new knowledge and experiences back to their students in the classroom. Founded in 1997.
Center for Communications and Digital Signal Processing (CDSP)
Director: Gilead Tadmor, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The CDSP is comprised of nine faculty and 50 graduate students in electrical and computer engineering, whose state-of-the-art research focuses on communications, signal processing, control systems and related computational software and hardware. In collaboration with industrial partners such as Analog Devices, Inc., BBN Technologies and Nokia, faculty and graduate students work on problems ranging from theory development and experimental investigation to practical applications aimed at improving electrocardiogram technology (a computer imaging technology used to see a 3-D image of a patient's heart), devising hardware that makes computer networks more efficient, upgrading wireless communications, creating new technology to diagnose and treat the hearing-impaired, and introducing feedback control for reduced drag and improved lift in aircraft and turbine engines. This work includes the development, analysis, and implementation of cutting-edge algorithms for high-performance execution of algorithms, control, remote sensing, and pattern recognition. The CDSP's faculty and students are particularly knowledgeable about equalization, networks, multi-user coding and compression, adaptive, non-linear, and non-stationary signal processing, biomedical signal processing and medical imaging, pattern recognition, parallel architectures and FPGA implementations for DSP algorithms, wavefield processing and inversion algorithms, array processing in a variety of non-standard environments, perception of sound, auditory modeling, robust control, system identification and fault detection, target tracking and non-linear control with electromechanical and fluid mechanics applications. Founded in 1987.
Center for High Rate Nanomanufacturing
Director: Ahmed Busnaina, William Lincoln Smith Chair of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
This NSF-funded center is a state-of-the-art research program in nanoscale manufacturing (creating miniscule devices with technologies at the levels of atoms and molecules). Thirteen Northeastern faculty and six graduate students from engineering, physics, and chemistry, along with researchers from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and the University of New Hampshire are developing nanotemplates for high-rate guided self-assembly of nanoelements and patterning polymer blends; high-volume, room-temperature uniform carbon nanotubes synthesis; and fullerene nanowires with 1-10 nm spacing; as well as assessing the environmental, economic and societal impact of nanomanufacturing. This center draws on faculty strengths in microfabrication, material processing, sensor technology and nanoscale materials physics. Founded in 2003.
Center for Microcontamination Control (CMC)
Director: Ahmed Busnaina, William Lincoln Smith Chair of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
The CMC is the only Industry/University Research Center established by NSF that is devoted to contamination control for semiconductors (the electrical circuitry in computers). Partnered with the University of Arizona and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the CMC’s seven Northeastern engineering and physics faculty are developing state-of-the-art cleaning techniques for computer microchips and creating micro-sensors that detect impurities in gases used in building semiconductors. When particles contaminate a microchip’s surface, its electrical circuitry is disrupted and its effectiveness diminished. Effective environmentally friendly contaminant control technology has uses in the semiconductor, information technology, pharmaceutical, aerospace and other industries affected by particulate and ionic contamination. Founded in 2001.
Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (CenSSIS)
Director: Michael B. Silevitch, Robert D. Black Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Founded in 2000, CenSSIS is among an elite group of 18 active NSF Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) in the nation. The CenSSIS mission is to revolutionize the existing technology for detecting and imaging biomedical and environmental-civil objects or conditions that are underground, underwater, or embedded in the human body. CenSSIS combines faculty expertise in wave physics (photonic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic,..), sensor engineering, image processing, and inverse scattering with rigorous performance testing to create new sensing system prototypes that are transitioned to 13 industry partners for further development. Current research focuses on creating instruments for breast tumor detection, image guided radiotherapy, assessment of embryo viability, monitoring of coral reef health, and underground pollution detection. Two programs have been launched and one successfully completed in homeland security. The CenSSIS education program includes: the development of undergraduate laboratories, subsurface sensing and imaging technical elective courses; distance-education graduate courses and the development of a text book; and outreach programs targeted to women and minority colleges and to K-12 teachers and children.
In the sixth year of the program the Center's annual budget is approximately $4 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $3-4 million from cost sharing and other sources. NSF funding is projected to exceed $30 million over the expected ten years of NSF Center support. Northeastern University leads the four core academic partners (Boston University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez) of this ERC. These academic partners are augmented by five strategic affiliate organizations: Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Industrial partners include: Raytheon, Analogic, Textron, Lockheed Martin, Cardiomag Imaging, Mercury Computer, Transtech, GSSI, and Siemens; and other partners include AFOSR (Air Force Office of Scientific Research), NCPA (National Center for Physical Acoustics), and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. There are over 40 faculty members and 200 students affiliated with CenSSIS.
Electronic Materials Research Institute (eMRI)
Director: Srinivas Sridhar, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Physics and Vice Provost for Research
eMRI’s research is focused on developing new materials and devices for nano-, info- and bio-technologies. Comprised of an interdisciplinary team of 14 faculty from chemistry, engineering, physics and pharmaceutical sciences, the eMRI’s research agenda seeks to characterize and control material processes at the nano-, micro- and mesoscales for a variety of applications: controlling light transmission, revolutionary improvements to fuel cells' performance, computational modeling of processes at the nanoscale, tumor-targeted drug delivery, novel anticancer chemotherapies and mitochondrial gene therapy. eMRI also aims to educate the next generation of scientists and technologists by developing interdisciplinary educational programs at the B.S., M.S., Ph.D. and Certificate levels in nanomaterials science and engineering. eMRI has a vigorous outreach program to industry and the urban community. eMRI faculty have developed partnerships with industrial companies and government laboratories including the Air Force Research Laboratories at Hanscom, Foster-Miller, Sandia National Laboratories, Denora, United Technologies Corp., Peugeot, Mitovec, Genzyme, Protonex, Nissan and Integrated Fuel Cells. Founded in 2002.