Electrical engineering and electronics

New technology may enable earlier cancer diagnosisNanoparticles amplify tumor signals, making them much easier to detect in the urine.

Spielbauer and Hao earn volleyball Academic All-America honors

Tiny compound semiconductor transistor could challenge silicon’s dominanceMIT researchers develop the smallest indium gallium arsenide transistor ever built.

Martin Schmidt to oversee MIT’s industry-facing officesAssociate provost will oversee Technology Licensing Office and Office of Corporate Relations; retains duties around space planning.

Sibling powerSiblings Andrew and Jennifer Barry have not only managed to maintain a close friendship into their adult years, but are also both studying robotics at CSAIL

Department snapshot: Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceEECS places renewed emphasis on interdisciplinary research, partnerships with alumni and industry, and experiential learning.

Speeding algorithms by shrinking dataA new approach to processing ‘big data’ creates succinct representations of huge data sets, so that existing algorithms can handle them efficiently.

It pays to cooperateYeast cells that share food have a survival edge over their freeloading neighbors — particularly when there is bacterial competition.

Zue awarded Okawa PrizeHonored for work in speech science and spoken-language systems

Medical devices powered by the ear itselfFor the first time, researchers power an implantable electronic device using an electrical potential — a natural battery — deep in the inner ear.

EECS celebrates the launch of SuperUROP

Predicting what topics will trend on TwitterA new algorithm predicts which Twitter topics will trend hours in advance and offers a new technique for analyzing data that fluctuate over time.

Mining physicians’ notes for medical insightsA new approach to algorithmically distinguishing words with multiple possible meanings could help find useful data in electronic medical records.

MIT's CSAIL launches new center to tackle the future of wireless and mobile technologiesWill address major technical challenges facing wireless field, bring together academia and industry

A novel ultracapacitorEnergy when and where you need it.

How cancer cells break free from tumorsNew MIT study identifies adhesion molecules key to cancer’s spread through the body.

What number is halfway between 1 and 9? Is it 5 — or 3?A new information-theoretical model of human sensory perception and memory sheds light on some peculiarities of the nervous system.

Oscillating microscopic beads could be key to biolab on a chipMIT team finds way to manipulate and measure magnetic particles without contact, potentially enabling multiple medical tests on a tiny device.

Automatic building mapping could help emergency respondersA prototype sensor array that can be worn on the chest automatically maps the wearer’s environment, recognizing movement between floors.

MIT’s place in the worldInaugural symposium addresses the Institute’s global engagement.

Del Alamo receives SRC 2012 Technical Excellence Award

Explained: Femtoseconds and attosecondsAs electronic and optical devices get ever faster, terms for ever-smaller increments of time are coming into wider use.

Watching electrons move at high speedNew MIT system allows femtosecond-resolution movie of electrons in a topological insulator, a promising new electronic material.

World-class musician Mark Stewart comes to the Glass LabIn a yearlong residency, the musician and instrument designer will build a glass orchestra with MIT students.

MIT's Man Vehicle Laboratory turns 50Celebrating anniversary with daylong symposium on Sept. 14

Leonard A. Gould, EECS emeritus professor, dies at 85Joined MIT faculty in 1953; studied control problems and dynamic modeling.

One-molecule-thick material has big advantagesMIT researchers produce complex electronic circuits from molybdenum disulfide, a material that could have many more applications.