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Spring 2016
Archive

Inquiry Magazine Archive

  • Winter 2016

    Winter 2016: Energy Evolution

    From carbon dioxide conversion to landfill mining, researchers at UTA are seeking viable alternative energy options.

  • Spring 2016

    Spring 2016: Premium Blend

    Found in everything from space shuttles to dental fillings, composite materials have thoroughly infiltrated modern society. But their potential is still greatly untapped, offering researchers ample opportunity for discovery.

  • Fall 2015

    Fall 2015: Collision Course

    Within the particle showers created at the Large Hadron Collider, answers to some of the universe’s mysteries are waiting.

  • Spring 2015

    Spring 2015: Almost Human

    Model systems like pigeons can help illuminate our own evolutionary and genomic history.

  • Fall 2014

    Fall 2014: Small Wonder

    UT Arlington's tiny windmills are bringing renewable energy to a whole new scale.

  • Winter 2014

    Winter 2014: Overdue for an Overhaul

    The stability of our highways, pipelines, and even manholes is reaching a breaking point.

  • 2012

    2012: Mystery solved?

    Scientists believe they have discovered a subatomic particle that is crucial to understanding the universe.

  • 2011

    2011: Boosting brain power

    UT Arlington researchers unlock clues to the human body’s most mysterious and complex organ.

  • 2010

    2010: Powered by genetics

    UT Arlington researchers probe the hidden world of microbes in search of renewable energy sources.

  • 2009

    2009: Winning the battle against pain

    Wounded soldiers are benefiting from Robert Gatchel’s program that combines physical rehabilitation with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • 2009

    2007: Sensing a solution

    Tiny sensors implanted in the body show promise in combating acid reflux disease, pain and other health problems.

  • 2006

    2006:Semiconductors: The next generation

    Nanotechnology researchers pursue hybrid silicon chips with life-saving potential.

  • 2005

    2005: Imaging is everything

    Biomedical engineers combat diseases with procedures that are painless to patients.

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Shiny

Power Up

Collaboration between UTARI and Skyven Technologies to produce a new solar optics system 

Making solar power both more potent and less expensive is just one of the goals of an ambitious collaboration between the UTA Research Institute (UTARI) and Skyven Technologies. Led by Aditya Das, UTARI senior research scientist, and Arun Gupta, Skyven's founder and CEO, the team of scientists is developing a prototype for a new optics system that concentrates sunlight more than 30 times the usual amplification.

Drs. Das and Gupta earned a Small Business Innovation Research program grant from the National Science Foundation to create solar panels as a Phase 1 model of the technology.

"The solar panels can last 20 or 30 years without any major maintenance, which will cut down the cost of an electricity bill for the average consumer," says Das.

The project's long-term goal is to provide cost-effective energy. Its novel design could mean less pollution, less reliance on foreign oil, and less stress on the electrical grid.

The team will design and test the devices, developing a full panel that incorporates the new optics, mechanical drive, and control electronics. Once completed, the prototype will be made weather-tight and placed outside for examination and measurement for one month while researchers monitor and test its performance.

Explore
More articles from this issue

A Look Ahead

Convert

A Look Ahead

A preview of what to expect in the next issue of Inquiry

Historical What Ifs?

Empire

The Value of Historical What-Ifs?

The case of the British Floridas helps demonstrate the importance of historical contingencies in our understanding of the past—and the future.

 
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