School of Engineering

In this month's Viewer Question, Dr. John Russell and his students answer the question, "How does building a race car help UNM engineering students achieve their career goals?"

Can human bone and heart valves be grown in the laboratory? Dr Elizabeth Dirk explains how medicine is being reinvented through research into self-renewing stem cells that act as a repair system for the human body.

In answer to our viewer question, Dr. Andrew Schuler explains how he is using bacteria to harvest energy from wastewater and developing energy-efficient materials to clean waterways. By engineering microbial fuel cells and biofilms, Andrew's UNM research group has discovered that bacteria can be "put to work" to generate electricity as well as remove toxic chemicals during wastewater treatment.

This month's question is: "Can we non-invasively detect skin cancer?" Dr. Krishna's cutting edge research in the development of a new imaging chip for an infrared "Retina" camera may change the way skin cancer is detected.

Our all-star line-up features Dr. C. Jeffrey Brinker, UNM Professor in Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. On the cutting edge of materials science, Jeffrey is developing nanoscale materials for curing cancer, microelectronics, and energy harvesting. He and his students are building and engineering nanoscale materials to deliver drugs directly to cancer cells, therefore avoiding the collateral damage associated with traditional chemical therapies. Jeff believes that nanoparticles may change the way personalized medicine is delivered in the very near future. A nanometer is defined as one billionth of a meter. That is one times ten to the minus nine meters. - Jeffrey Brinker

An interview with historian Professor Virginia Scharff who recently wrote The Women Jefferson Loved. Throughout his life, Thomas Jefferson constructed a seemingly impenetrable wall between his public legacy and his private life. Dr. Eva Chi shares her groundbreaking research into finding a cure for Alzheimers as she seeks answers for what causes proteins to go bad in the brain. Recipient of President Obama's Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Dr. Yasamin Mostofi looks to future and answers the question of how we get robots to think for themselves. Produced by New Mexico PBS, CONNECT shares the inspired thinking and innovative research of the University of New Mexico. The Producer of CONNECT is Brad Stoddard. The Executive Producer is Michael Kamins. Production support provided by the University of New Mexico. www.newmexicopbs.org