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Winter 2016
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Inquiry Magazine Archive

  • 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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Inside Threat

Beating the Heat

Understanding how heat flows in batteries could make technology more efficient and reliable 

Removing heat from batteries

Removing heat from batteries will make them safer and more efficient

Electric cars, laptops, smartphones—these and other electronics we use every day rely on lithium ion batteries to function. To help make those batteries safer, more efficient, and more reliable, Assistant Professor Ankur Jain is investigating how the heat flows inside.

"The current performance of these batteries is limited by the fact that they tend to overheat when discharged," the mechanical engineer explains. "Improvement in heat removal from a battery will directly improve its performance, as well as its safety and reliability."

The end goal is to fundamentally understand the nature of heat flow—and what can impede that flow—in energy conversion devices such as Li-ion cells.

Dr. Jain's work is supported by a five-year, $500,000 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant from the National Science Foundation.

Anand Puppala, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering, notes the far-reaching potential of Jain's project:

"His research could have a broad impact on industries that rely on Li-ion batteries to power devices with applications from the cars we drive to military uses to our personal computers. That type of innovative thinking is how UTA researchers are able to change the world for the better."

Jain is one of four CAREER award winners from UTA announced this year, along with assistant professors Yuze "Alice" Sun, Yi Hong (Read more about his achievements), and Zunzhou Huang, all from the College of Engineering.

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