Tiny Water Droplets Can Ground Billion-Dollar Supersonic Vehicles. BU Engineers Are Working to Change That
Rockets, regularly blasted into space by companies such as SpaceX and agencies including NASA, are meticulously designed to withstand the harshest of environments. Engineers construct the bodies from heavy-duty aluminum-lithium and stainless steel alloys, but the equipment can be devastated by something as minuscule as pinpricks of water; as spacecraft sail through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, a single droplet can hit with more force than a bullet, cutting directly through the metal or pitting it until it resembles the surface of the moon.
Three ENG faculty named William Fairfield Warren Professors
On September 23, Boston University President Melissa Gilliam and Provost Colin Duckett announced five new William Fairfield Warren professorships, three of whom are ENG faculty: David Boas, Ji-Xin Cheng, and Xin Zhang. Established in 2008, the professorship, named after the University’s first president, is awarded to senior faculty members who remain actively involved in research, […]
AI Prognostics with Pathologist-in-the-Loop
Batmanghelich joins effort to create AI models for trustworthy breast cancer evaluations.
At 2026 Catalyst Summit, A Focus on Everyday Health
“Our bodies are not working in snapshots. They are generating information continuously, and transmitting that information in signals. What has changed is our growing ability to detect those signals continuously.”
Major State Grant Advances BU Imaging Facilities
$1.58 million from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center will allow BU to add two high-speed, high-resolution microscopes to the Photonics Center, and more.
Ignition Awards for Research That Might Reduce Knee Pain, Propel Underwater Robots, and More
The innovative projects earned funding and support on their way to making the leap from the lab to the real world.
Shark-like Design for AVs Garners Reidy Professorship
Raayai-Ardakani weaves together novel, nature-inspired designs and fluid mechanics to improve the aerodynamic performance of unmanned vehicles
Towards a State of Sustainability
ECE researchers receive state support for data center energy optimization project.
Cutting to the Chase, Mathematically Speaking
Professor Goyal receives a Best Paper Award for 3D sensing method which uses probabilistic modeling to slice through the Gordian Knot of a data transfer bottleneck.
Improving access to life-saving health care
Led by Associate Professor Sheila Russo (ME, MSE) and Associate Professor Tommaso Ranzani (ME, MSE), BU’s role is to develop a smarter catheter—a thin tube that combines multiple functions into one tool, a kind of Swiss Army knife for stroke treatment.