News
A Polymer That Defies Nature: The First Molecularly Impermeable Plastic
For decades, scientists believed all plastics shared one unavoidable weakness: no matter how dense or strong, gases could always slip through. Even the toughest polymers, from bulletproof Kevlar to everyday food packaging, may look solid, but at the molecular level, tiny gas molecules can still sneak through. That’s why potato chips go stale and packaged food loses its crispness. Now, a collaboration between researchers at Boston University’s College of Engineering, MIT, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Massachusetts and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has overturned that assumption. In a study published today in Nature, the team reports the discovery of the first polymer that is molecularly impermeable; a man-made material that acts as a perfect barrier to gas molecules. More
Batmanghelich, Ohn-Bar Earn NSF CAREER Awards
The award will propel the research of rising stars in ECE. More
Nanomaterials and vaccine research earns CMBE Rising Star Award
Michelle Teplensky was awarded the Biomedical Engineering Society’s 2026 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Rising Star Award. More
David Bishop wins prestigious prize for his contributions to understanding superfluids
David Bishop was awarded the 2026 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize on November 5, 2025, for groundbreaking experiments that uncovered the role of vortices in the superfluid phase transition in helium films and observed anyonic braiding statistics of quasiparticles in the fractional quantum Hall effect, thus establishing the significance of topological excitations in two-dimensions. More
Master’s Student Advances Research on Zigbee Network Privacy
System Engineering master's student Yishun Xiong researches how to improve the detection of communication between connected devices. More
Recent ENG PhD Helps Develop Highly Sensitive Imaging Technique to Detect Myelin Damage
In a new study from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and BU’s College of Engineering, researchers used a special microscope called birefringence microscopy (BRM) paired with an automated deep learning algorithm to reliably count and map myelin damage across whole sections of the brain—something not feasible with other techniques. The ability to image and measure damage to myelin will lead to better understanding the patterns and extent that occurs with disease, injury and normal aging. More
Matters of Perception
Professor Goyal receives funding for long-distance 3D imaging and atmospheric sensing. More
Accelerating Progress with Self-Driving Labs
Materials researchers shared successes and challenges with automation. More
Quantum Research, Getting Warmer
Swan study unlocks the key to room-temperature superfluorescence. More
Building Virtual Laboratories for the Lung
Suki has co-authored what promises to be a foundational text on modeling for pulmonary researchers. More
Emily Ryan named Duan Family Faculty Fellow
Emily Ryan, (ME, MSE), has been named a Duan Family Faculty Fellow by BU's Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences. More
Biomedical Engineer Christopher Chen Elected to National Academy of Medicine
Christopher Chen, the William F. Warren Distinguished Professor of BME and MSE has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. More
Seven ENG Faculty Honored for Real-World Impact Research
The annual Ignition Awards honor innovative BU projects that are ready to make the move toward commercialization, from the research phase to consumer use. Given by... More
Illuminating Energy-Efficient AI
Supported by a $1.5M NSF grant, Professor Ajay Joshi is exploring the development of novel electro-photonic computing architectures that could perform as well or better than conventional electronic GPUs. More
A Living Internet of Things
ECE faculty characterize new class of devices, invite participation. More
Time names Zhang’s Wireless MRI Coils an Invention of the Year
Time magazine has named Distinguished Professor Xin Zhang's (ME, ECE, BME, MSE) wireless MRI Coils to its list of the “Best Inventions of 2025.” More
Shannon Stott appointed as Chair of BME department
Shannon Stott has been named the new Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department. More
Exceptional Points, Exceptional Outcomes
Professor Luca Dal Negro has received $600K to explore new approaches to infrared radiation sensing. More
Ayse Coskun Examines the Large Energy Needs of Data Centers
Every text, email and social media post. Every digital photo, web search and credit card transaction. Every online purchase. Every streaming show. Nearly everything in... More
Going Deeper
Professor Ji-Xin Cheng has been awarded a prestigious $2.8M 5-year NIH MIRA grant renewal to continue his pioneering microscopy research. More