NIU Today

Researchers at NIU are investigating ways to boost the power of compact electron accelerators, with potential applications for homeland security and pollution cleanup. In a new research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, faculty in the departments of physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and under the Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector...

Two NIU technology professors are creating a realistic online lab to equip undergraduates with the skills to develop renewable energy systems and to interest high school students in renewable energy. Associate professor Liping Guo and Professor Andrew Otieno of the Department of Technology were awarded a grant in June by the National Science Foundation to...

Daniel Boyden, an NIU student in physics, has won a prestigious graduate student research award from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The highly competitive award is given to students who have the potential to make important contributions to the mission of the DOE Office of Science. This is the second consecutive year...

Mitutoyo, a manufacturer of precision measuring instruments, showed its continued support of NIU’s engineering technology programs with a recent visit to campus on Monday, Sept. 11. Over the past 12 years, Mitutoyo has been an ardent supporter of the Department of Technology, providing the department with nearly $1 million in advanced measurement tools, plus support...

Northern Illinois University’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology is home to a number of exceptional organizations. One notable organization is the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE). Recently, the chapter was awarded the 2017 Chapter Recognition Gold Award. “Our mission is threefold: connect, experience, educate,” chapter president Shekinah Bergmann said. “First, we seek...

The NIU Supermileage team is celebrating a third-place overall finish and its best-ever combined score after last weekend’s SAE Supermileage competition in Marshall, MI. In the competition, teams of engineering students design and build single-occupant, ultra fuel-efficient vehicles. The teams compete for the best design, highest fuel economy and greatest vehicle endurance. The NIU vehicle...

Illinois educators looking to bring a new level of excitement for STEM –– science, technology, engineering and math –– to their schools in the new year can get a helping hand from the seasoned pros at NIU’s Center for P-20 Engagement. Our experienced STEM educators are available to come to your school and stage dazzling...

Students in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) have a tutor in their pocket – figuratively speaking. At the start of the fall semester, Acting Associate Dean Shanthi Muthuswamy launched 5-Minute Solutions, a series of short videos to explain basic concepts covered in classes. Each video, created on an iPad by a tutor...

On Saturday, Oct. 8, 8,000 participants at STEMfest 2016 spent the day getting their hands into science, technology, engineering and math. The festival featured 98 booths with hundreds of activities, enjoyed by visitors from 110 ZIP codes in three states. Nearly 60 percent of attendees were at STEMfest for the first time. Over 90 percent...

For the seventh consecutive year, NIU’s popular STEMfest will amaze and inform thousands of visitors of all ages at the Convocation Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8. This free, family-friendly festival, attended by nearly 7,500 people last year, showcases the fascinating power of the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math)...

Gillian King-Cargile remembers well a phone call from an administrator at Sycamore High School, where she’d recently handed out free copies of a science fiction novel titled “The Maze Runner.” “You made a kid’s mom cry,” the caller told her. What? How? Was the plot objectionable? The subject matter? No, she was told, the mother...

Pop quiz time, baseball fans: What makes curveballs curve? Do knuckleballs really flutter, as the announcers say? Do “rising fastballs” really rise? At the next NIU STEM Café, “Batter Up! The Physics of Baseball,” NIU particle physicist Dr. Jahred Adelman will answer these questions and more, exploring how Newton’s Laws of Motion illuminate aspects of...