Research Center Focus Areas
- New building materials
- The future of energy and the contribution of renewable energy to the supply mix
- The role of fuel cells and batteries in the nation's energy supply
- Electric power and power electronic technologies
- New frontiers in aerospace research
- Thermal processing technology
- Synthesis, rheology, processing, and recycling of polymeric and elastomeric materials
- Faster, more efficient development of pharmaceutical solid products
- Complex systems and dynamics
- Medical imaging
- New devices and treatments for neurological diseases
- Role of engineering in developing treatment modalities for diabetes and its related complications
Bioinformatics, Information Theory, and Communications Laboratory (ECE)
The Bioinformatics, Information Theory, and Communications (BiITComm) Laboratory is a facility dedicated to research in the areas of communications, information theory, and bioinformatics. Several communications projects are underway in spacetime coding, multiple input-multiple output communication systems, wireless sensor networks, and advanced modulation formats for bandwidth and power efficient communications. In bioinformatics, projects focus on applying principles of source and channel coding theory, information theory, and pattern recognition to analyze and model genetic structures.
Built Environment Research Group (CAEE)
The Built Environment Research Group is dedicated to investigating problems and solutions related to energy and air quality within the built environment. The research team works on projects ranging from measuring exposures to indoor air pollution, to dynamic building energy modeling.
The Built Environment Research Group
Center for Assured and Resilient Navigation in Advanced Transportation Systems (MMAE)
Center for Assured and Resilient Navigation in Advanced Transportation Systems (CARNATIONS) has been designated a new Tier 1 University Transportation Center by the United States Department of Transportation. CARNATIONS, led by Professor Boris Pervan, will work to enhance transportation navigation systems' resilience against cyber threats like jamming and spoofing. CARNATIONS, a consortium of universities, focuses on transformative research in resilient transportation systems. Interference threats, like jamming and spoofing, pose challenges to critical infrastructure globally. The team, collaborating with universities and industry advisors, plans to address the issue using advanced algorithms and enhancing GPS receivers. This initiative is crucial for intelligent transportation systems, especially in the context of self-driving cars and potential fully connected systems in the future.
Center for Complex Systems and Dynamics (CHBE)
The Center for Complex Systems and Dynamics provides an interdisciplinary, collaborative environment for fundamental and applied research for understanding and mathematically describing complex systems; developing mathematical and computational techniques for simulating, analyzing, and modifying their behavior; and applying these methods to various complex systems of national interest. Current research areas include nonlinear and stochastic phenomena in complex systems; multi-agent systems; complex networks and adaptive systems; natural and industrial ecologies; dynamics of multiphase systems; fluid turbulence; molecular-level modeling of physical systems; brain electrophysiology and computational neuroscience; and transportation systems.
Center for Complex Systems and Dynamics
Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering (CHBE)
The primary mission of the Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering is to forge partnerships between Illinois Tech and industry to develop and commercialize electrochemical technologies for stationary and mobile applications. To achieve this objective, the center carries out basic and applied research and provides strategic direction and operational support as required in cooperative research with industry. The center develops innovative educational programs with concentrations or specializations in electrochemical science and engineering. Research and analytical results are communicated and transferred to the industry.
Center for Work Zone Safety and Mobility (CAEE)
The Center for Work Zone Safety and Mobility was formed with the mission of providing long-term solutions to work zone safety-related problems. The center works toward this mission by building a consortium of major work zone stakeholders, including transportation agencies, road contractors, the trucking industry, and the insurance industry. By working together through the consortium, the stakeholders can combine their resources and knowledge to work toward preventing the 50,000 work zone injuries and 1,000 fatalities that occur every year. The initiatives of the center focus on developing highway work zone safety audit guidelines; discovering, developing, and transferring new technologies and measures for improving work zone safety; reducing its negative impacts on private industries and the national economy; and providing work zone safety training and education to the transportation community and the public.
Center of Excellence in Polymer Science and Engineering (CHBE)
The Center of Excellence in Polymer Science and Engineering at Illinois Tech is an interdisciplinary research and education center devoted to the advancement of polymer science and engineering. The primary mission of the CEPSE is to conduct an interdisciplinary education, research, and technology transfer program in polymer science and engineering. The program’s major objectives are conducting fundamental and applied research designed to evaluate and improve existing polymer processes and technologies, develop new processes and technologies, and to educate scientists and engineers at all degree levels by providing competence in the fundamentals as they relate to their basic disciplines.
Electric Drives and Energy Conversion Laboratory (ECE)
The Electric Drives and Energy Conversion Laboratory houses research on advanced power electronics and energy conversion solutions toward sustainable energy technology. Using the fundamentals of electromagnetic energy conversion, the lab focuses on improving efficiency of electric machines and developing fault-tolerant control strategies for power electronics and motor drive systems. Some specific research topics include the design and implementation of advanced power electronic converters for automotive systems; embedded controllers for renewable energy systems; innovative machine designs; and analysis, simulation, and control strategies for electric motors and generators.
Electric Drives and Energy Conversion Laboratory
Electric Power and Power Electronics Center (ECE)
Illinois Tech is known for its high-quality education and research programs in electric power and energy systems. The mission of the Electric Power and Power Electronics Center is to make significant educational, research, and practical contributions to the fields of electric power, power electronics, electric machines, motor drives, and vehicular power systems. The tasks of the center include the sponsorship of technical studies, which will enhance the role of university faculty, manufacturers, vendors, and consumers in power engineering research and education. EPPEC works with centers and departments across the university, other institutions, government agencies, and industry to sponsor research projects, short courses, conferences, and seminars.
Embedded Computing and Signal Processing Research Laboratory (ECE)
The Embedded Computing and Signal Processing Research Laboratory is dedicated to the development of high-performance and low-power computing platforms targeted at computationally intensive problems in the fields of signal and image processing, system-on-chip designs, ultrasonic imaging, and high-performance application-specific computing systems. Current projects include reconfigurable architectures; computer vision and image analysis; target detection and estimation; data compression; neural networks; FPGA-based DSP systems; wireless sensor networks for medical and industrial applications; smart sensors for drones with applications in the area of robotics and transportations; and home automation.
Embedded Computing and Signal Processing Research Group
Future Networking Research Laboratory (ECE)
Research directions in the Future Networking Research Laboratory include the internet and wireless networks, with the objective to develop practical technologies that can provide quality-of-service guaranteed multimedia applications over wireless and wireline Internet Protocol-based networks. Specific research topics include service- and application-oriented network architectures, autonomic network management, internet performance analysis, resource allocation and traffic engineering, network measurement, network security, wireless networks, and wireless/wireline interworking.
Future Networking Research Laboratory
Institute for Food Safety and Health (CHBE)
The Institute for Food Safety and Health at Illinois Tech's Moffett Campus is a food research consortium composed of the university, the United States Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (division of Food Processing, Science, and Technology), and the food industry. It was created to advance the safety and quality of our food supply through research and education. The faculty's extensive laboratory and pilot plant space support research in food processing, food packaging chemical constituents, and allergens.
Institute for Food Safety and Health
Medical Imaging Research Center (BME)
The Medical Imaging Research Center is a research group dedicated to technological advances in medical imaging, including the development of new methods of image acquisition, image processing and analysis, machine learning, and kinetic modeling. We build devices, algorithms, and software methods for MRIs, phase-contrast X-rays, mammography, CTs, PETs, SPECTs, and fluorescence imaging to address diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and various forms of cancer. MIRC distributes shared tools such as the White Matter Atlas and the 3D-Breast Lesion Model. MIRC also hosts spin-off projects, such as its current work in crime prediction and predictive policing. MIRC is housed in Illinois Tech's University Technology Park and is affiliated with the university's Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering.
Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering (BME, CHBE, ECE)
The Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering is an umbrella organization that enhances the biomedical science and engineering research activities on campus. The Medical Imaging Research Center, the Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research, the Engineering Center for Diabetes Research and Education, the Center for Molecular Study of Condensed Soft Matter, and the National Institutes of Health-funded Biotechnology Research Center operate under the institute. The Pritzker Institute develops and coordinates relationships and programs with traditional science and engineering departments within Illinois Tech, as well as outside institutions such as Argonne National Laboratory, Rush University Medical Center, and the University of Chicago.
Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering
Thermal Processing Technology Center (MMAE)
The Thermal Processing Technology Center focuses on thermal processing of metallic materials, advanced manufacturing, and energy storage technology. The center combines the strengths of the mechanical, materials, and aerospace engineering faculty in material processing, metallurgy, process control, additive manufacturing, and Li-ion batteries with the university’s well-equipped laboratories. The TPTC provides a mechanism where high-quality basic and applied research of interest to industry is performed cost-effectively.
Thermal Processing Technology Center
Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (ECE, CHBE)
The Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) develops close collaborations among numerous programs at Illinois Tech with a focus on the development of energy-related interprofessional educational and research programs and proposals. The strategy of WISER is to use a least-cost path to improve energy efficiency, enhance power reliability and security, minimize pollution, and continue the de-carbonization of the global energy system. Illinois Tech researchers believe that the end point of this evolution will be electrification of most stationary energy uses with such high-tech renewables as photovoltaic, solar-thermal, and wind energy, and the use of hydrogen as the dominant transportation fuel in fuel-cell powered electric vehicles. The institute also has plans to develop research and educational partnerships with the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, industry, national laboratories, and other universities. The institute's goal is to play a major role in identifying future research directions for shaping national energy policy and sustainability initiatives.