Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) will use a Department of Education fellowship grant to train the next generation of researchers and educators in molecular biology, cell biology, and microbiology.

The Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program provides fellowships to assist U.S. citizens pursuing doctoral degrees in fields deemed “areas of national need.” Over the next three years, WPI will receive nearly $900,000 in GAANN funding, which, when combined with a university match, will fund eight doctoral students in the Department of Biology and Biotechnology—two existing doctoral students and six new students. The program will represent a total investment of around $1.2 million. 

Imagine a sweater that powers electronics to monitor your health or charge your mobile phone while running. This development faces challenges because of the lack of materials that both conduct electricity stably and are well suited for textiles. Now a research group, led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, presents an ordinary silk thread, coated with a conductive plastic material, that shows promising properties for turning textiles into electricity generators.

Relief-type cultural heritage objects are commonly found in many historical sites worldwide, but often suffer from varying levels of damage and deterioration. Traditional methods for image reconstruction require extensive manual labor and specialized knowledge. Now, researchers have developed a novel neural network model that can reconstruct these reliefs as three-dimensional digital images from old photographs containing their pre-damage information. This innovative technology paves the way for accurate digital preservation of valuable cultural heritage objects.