Can dental plaque be used to strengthen soils?
In South Dakota, expansive and sulfate-rich soils can cause serious problems for civil infrastructure, like roads and bridges, and agriculture production. In certain climatic conditions, these expansive — or "problematic" — soils will crack and swell. A new National Science Foundation-backed project from South Dakota State University will explore if biofilms made from dental plaque can help improve the stability of problematic soils.
Second class of Future Innovators announced
Selections for the second class of Future Innovators of America Fellowships have been announced by the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering. Recipients are awarded $5,000 with $4,500 as a stipend and $500 to cover the cost of lab supplies or travel to disseminate the results of their project.
Basu Lab attends national conference
Saikat Basu, assistant professor in South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, traveled to the 76th annual American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Washington, D.C., this past November. A group of graduate assistants who conduct research in his lab — the Basu Lab — accompanied him on the trip.
Jackrabbit in the Spotlight / Tjaden Wright
Tjaden Wright wasn’t shooting for the moon before he signed up for his senior design project, but, figuratively, that might be where he is heading. Wright, who is to graduate in May with a degree in electrical engineering and a minor in computer engineering, excelled in his first three years at SDSU, building a 4.0 GPA, spending a summer in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program and interning as a test engineer with Sencore in summer 2023.
Faculty Profile: John VerSteeg
When it comes to undergraduate instruction in South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, John VerSteeg, a Department of Mechanical Engineering faculty member, is consistently cited as being one of the students’ favorite instructors.
A long ways from home: SDSU officials meet with Papua New Guinea education leaders
SDSU officials meet with Papua New Guinea education leaders.
SDSU advances in NASA contest as one of six finalists
NASA has narrowed the field to six in its lunar soil excavating contest, and a team of students from South Dakota State University is among the group left in the hunt for a $1 million top prize. Conceived in 2020, the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge tasked innovators with creating robotic systems that can navigate the rugged terrain of the Lunar South Pole, dig up its icy soil and transport it to another location, where, in theory, water could be extracted from the soil.