NIU Today

Mechanism design and analysis students at NIU’s College of Engineering & Engineering Technology were  recently assigned a challenging project—create a six-legged walking robot complete with a Hoeckens Linkage to compete with fellow student teams. Post-design, they enlisted the services of Rockford-based EIGERlab to print their creation utilizing additive manufacturing, commonly called 3D printing. Haley Cummings, a junior mechanical...

Northern Illinois University is getting results for businesses by connecting them with a team of student interns. Springboard was launched last year to provide customized assessments to small and midsized companies while providing internships to students. The program helps businesses develop international markets, learn about competitors, enhance their websites, expand social media, improve marketing messages...

Martin Kocanda, visiting assistant professor in the NIU Department of Electrical Engineering, will talk at noon Thursday, Jan. 29, during a brown-bag talk in Room 354 of the Engineering Building. He will discuss “A Microscopical Analysis of Electrolytic Fractured Aluminum” at the event sponsored by the NIU Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. All are welcome....

Just in time for the spring semester, the Northern Illinois University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology launched E-PRIDE, a program that connects NIU students with alumni mentors. E-PRIDE—which stands for Engineering-Placement, Retention, Internship, Diversity and Engagement—facilitates these relationships by pairing junior- and senior-level students with alumni and corporate partners through mentoring opportunities, internships career...

Courtesy of Fermilab Today Small, clear pellets of polystyrene can do a lot. They can help measure cosmic muons at the Pierre Auger Observatory, search for CP violation at KEK in Japan or observe neutrino oscillation at Fermilab. But in order to do any of these they have to go through Lab 5, located in...

Omron Chairman of the Board Fumio Tateishi visited the Northern Illinois University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology for several hours on the morning of October 30, meeting with the college’s leadership and faculty, staff and students in addition to receiving a tour of the college’s facilities, including the Omron Robotics and Mechatronics Lab. “In every...

The Northern Illinois University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology held the first of two annual job and internship fairs on October 23, featuring 36 companies, ranging from John Deere to Commonwealth Edison, seeking NIU CEET students and graduates to fill internships and full-time positions. “We really like the candidates we get from NIU so...

The technology in your home office probably allows users to print letters and photos, but what if you wanted to print 3D toys, bracelets or even dinner for your family? Advances in 3D printing are actually allowing researchers and average folks to print everything from car parts to body parts. At the next STEM Café,...

Prolonged use of a tablet’s touch-screen keyboard can cause shoulder discomfort. That’s according to a group of researchers, led by Northern Illinois University Assistant Professor Jeong Ho (Jay) Kim, who compared the musculoskeletal impact and typing productivity differences between desktop, notebook and touchscreen keyboards. The study, published in the November issue of Applied Ergonomics, found...

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that STEMfest is a blast for children of all ages. With a record crowd of more than 7,500 visitors, NIU’s annual mega-sized science fair celebrated the wonders of science, technology, engineering and math in grand fashion at the Convocation Center Saturday, Oct. 18. The five-year anniversary of...

Building on the success of last year’s event, the University Honors Program will host a second Social Justice Conference from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, in Barsema Hall. Keynote speaker Allyson Gold will talk about her work with the Health Justice Project in Chicago in a presentation titled: “You Are Where You...

Northern Illinois University senior Mechanical Engineering student Taylor Dupré used his involvement in student organizations to extend his learning to outside of the classroom and even outside the country.  As a result of joining NIU’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB) his freshman year, he became interested in EWB’s international partnerships, giving him an advantage as he...