Sarah Bates

National Science Foundation

Surgeons can now use a new type of robotic arm to help perform minimally invasive procedures, known as laparoscopic surgery, thanks to engineers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Low-Cost Device Designed for Surgery

The technology could lead to less trauma for patients and shorter recovery times.

The explosion in wireless data usage across the world has been one of the great economic drivers of the last decade, and the global need for cheap, high-data-rate wireless access is expected to continue to grow rapidly for at least another decade. The new EFRI awards will build upon recent advances in materials science and engineering research. For example, last year, Columbia University engineering researchers invented integrated circuits that can allow radios to simultaneously transmit and receive on the same frequency, instead of requiring two separate frequencies as is typically the case.

Engineers to Bend Rules

$18 million for emerging frontier research aimed at manipulating light, high-frequency, and sound waves in weird ways.

Xiaoli Zhang, an engineer at Colorado School of Mines, is developing a gaze-controlled robotic system that works in three dimensions to enable people with motor impairments to fetch objects using eye movement.

Robots Provide a Steady Hand

Many new robots look less like the metal humanoids of pop culture and more like high-tech extensions of ourselves and our capabilities.

A network of levees and wetlands protect the low-lying agricultural communities in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Clean, Sustainable Water Future

The California drought and Flint water emergency show some of the consequences of clean water shortages.