BU Engineers Are Helping to Bring Semiconductor Production Back to the US
Ayse Coskun highlights chip technology research at BU.
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.
Batmanghelich, Ohn-Bar Earn NSF CAREER Awards
The award will propel the research of rising stars in ECE.
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.
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.
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.
Matters of Perception
Professor Goyal receives funding for long-distance 3D imaging and atmospheric sensing.
Accelerating Progress with Self-Driving Labs
Materials researchers shared successes and challenges with automation.
Quantum Research, Getting Warmer
Swan study unlocks the key to room-temperature superfluorescence.
Building Virtual Laboratories for the Lung
Suki has co-authored what promises to be a foundational text on modeling for pulmonary researchers.