{"id":4237,"date":"2020-09-10T11:03:39","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T15:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ideas\/?page_id=4237"},"modified":"2020-10-15T10:03:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T14:03:07","slug":"fall20","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ideas\/archives\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY<\/span>\u00a0 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTING AND APPLIED SCIENCES<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
FALL 2020<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/div>
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CLEMSON UNIVERSITY<\/span> – FALL 2020<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/div>
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<\/span><\/a><\/span>

Rising to the COVID-19 challenge<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>

Diego Nigoa is among the many students, faculty and staff who turned the pandemic into an opportunity for innovation.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>
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Rising to the COVID-19 Challenge<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>

Diego Nigoa is among the many students, faculty and staff who turned the pandemic into an opportunity for innovation.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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IN THIS ISSUE<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
From the Dean<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>
Rising to the COVID-19 Challenge<\/a><\/h5>\n

Explore the new ideas born during this challenging pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\u25a0 \u00a0Helping the World Reopen in the Midst of a Pandemic<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u00a0Accepting the Challenge<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u00a0Innovating in a Pandemic<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u00a0An Early Warning System<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

News from Around the College<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>

Departments<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
Listening, Preparing and Striving for Equity<\/a><\/h5>\n

Our college\u2019s response to the big issues framing the start of the academic year.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\u25a0 \u00a0Creating a Level Playing Field<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u00a0Supporting World-Class Research<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u00a0Shaping the Undergraduate Experience<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u00a0Moving the College Forward<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Four Members Inducted Into the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Engineers and Scientists<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>
Creating Scholars<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>
Covering the World in Orange<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>
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FROM THE DEAN<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>

Much has happened since our last issue of IDEAS in March. Our college, along with the nation and the rest of the world, has adjusted to a new way of life as a result of the unprecedented COVID-19 situation, and our faculty, staff and students have responded with exceptional ingenuity, resilience, flexibility, and most importantly, goodwill, finding creative virtual ways to support teaching, learning and research while ensuring everyone\u2019s health and safety. This issue is a testament of their ability to rise to this challenge in a remarkably short amount of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though they have been working and studying remotely, our faculty and students have continued their wide-ranging research addressing today\u2019s challenges. As you will see in this magazine, their projects range from discovering faster testing protocols to designing protective devices to developing strategies for protecting grocery shoppers. Just as important, our faculty have been creative in finding innovative ways to teach and collaborate with students to ensure we continue to provide them with a quality education. You can read about some of their unique efforts in this issue, including the college\u2019s first virtual dissertation defense where the graduating student and the committee members connected remotely from across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several recent incidents have renewed an important dialogue about justice and equality in our nation. As engineers and scientists, we have long appreciated the need for a diversity of voices and approaches because this robust and healthy exchange of ideas leads to richer, more impactful solutions to the issues we face. The past few months have given us the opportunity to pause, listen and re-evaluate our nation\u2019s narrative and recommit to a future in which everyone has a chance to succeed, and this issue features some of the efforts we are taking to create a more inclusive environment in our college. While these will be led by Oliver Myers and Melissa Smith, who were appointed associate deans for inclusive excellence in February, our entire leadership team is committed to making cultural change a long-term priority in our college. As Dr. Myers says in this issue, \u201cThis is not something that is going to be solved in a 40-minute conversation or a four-year program. This has to be solved as a long-term continuous engagement process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We are also highlighting the accomplishments of some of our outstanding alumni in this issue. I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the newest members of the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Engineers and Scientists, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, J. Richard Cottingham, Mike Mansuetti and Tony Mathis. This recognition does not do justice to the impact their contributions have had on their communities, the nation and the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/p>\n

They represent the best of our college and our university, and this, the college\u2019s highest honor, is a testament to their dedication and service to their professions and beyond. I also congratulate our newest Outstanding Young Alumni, Matt Kelley and Elizabeth Sloan, for their professional achievements. They too are excellent representatives of our college, showing what is possible with a Clemson degree. All six of these honorees are outstanding ambassadors for our college and the university, and they are an inspiration to us all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I want to congratulate the students and recent graduates who have earned such notable honors as Beckman Scholarships and awards from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. They along with many of our graduates are well on the path to becoming the leaders of tomorrow.<\/span><\/p>\n

The successes we celebrate in this issue are possible only because of the continued support of you, our alumni, partners and friends. I offer a special thank you for your generosity and support which, while always appreciated, are especially so this year, as it has been a particularly life-changing and meaningful one. I look forward to inviting you back to campus as soon as it is safe, so that I can thank you for your generosity in person and we can celebrate our achievements together.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay safe,<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gramopadhye<\/a><\/p>\n

Anand Gramopadhye, Dean<\/span>
\nCollege of Engineering and Science<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
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RISING TO THE COVID-19 CHALLENGE<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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<\/div><\/div>
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HELPING THE WORLD REOPEN IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>

By\u00a0Paul Alongi<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

HELPING THE WORLD REOPEN IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>

By\u00a0Paul Alongi<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Delphine Dean wants to use her talents as a researcher to help people struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and to do her part to bring students back to Clemson University\u2019s campuses. Terri Bruce would like her son, a rising high school senior, to have the same opportunity to do all the fun things she was able to do when she was his age. Mark Blenner knows that Clemson and other universities play a crucial role in lifting people out of poverty, and he wants those institutions to safely reopen as soon as they can.<\/p>\n

Dean, Bruce and Blenner were among the Clemson researchers who began developing new tests when SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, began sweeping across the world, requiring quarantines and other social-distancing measures for safety.<\/p>\n

They gathered via video conferencing on June 30, along with two Clemson colleagues, Sarah Harcum and R. Kenneth Marcus, to provide IDEAS magazine with an update on their work.<\/p>\n

While their motives and roles varied, they were all working toward the same core goal \u2013 to develop faster tests that could help the world safely reopen its universities, schools, businesses and other places where people congregate.<\/p>\n

The Clemson researchers were closely collaborating with colleagues from the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina and businesses across the state. Dean was overseeing the Clemson portion of the work as the Clemson lead for the state\u2019s Serological Testing and Diagnostic Working Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople aren\u2019t sleeping much because we\u2019re all trying to work around the clock to get these tests out as fast as possible,\u201d said Dean, who is the Ron and Jane Lindsay Family Innovation Professor of bioengineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we\u2019re on campus and we start having these hybrid classes, we\u2019re still going to need to monitor people. If somebody gets sick, we need to track it down really quickly, and waiting several days for test results is not going to work. We need to have the pieces in place so that we can make sure that if anybody gets sick on campus, we can identify them and keep everybody else safe.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>

As of late July, some people were waiting six days for labs in South Carolina to return test results, Blenner said.<\/p>\n

Bruce and Marcus were working to create a test that they said would reduce the turnaround time to about 10 minutes and could be done almost anywhere.<\/p>\n

Patients would put the tests under their tongues and allow saliva to collect on a small pad. Capillary fibers would capture the virus, and then a solution would cause the virus to move into a colorimetric enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, said Bruce, who is research assistant professor of bioengineering and director of the Clemson Light Imaging Facility.<\/p>\n

A color change would let patients know whether they are positive for SARS-CoV-2, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen and I are using commodity polymers that are very, very inexpensive, so it\u2019s a very cost-effective test,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cYou could test folks multiple times. It runs very similar to a pregnancy test in time, how it\u2019s evaluated and cost. It would solve a lot of initial problems that we\u2019re having right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcus said the Holy Grail would be to develop a test that could be done so quickly, it could help determine who could be admitted to bars and other businesses on the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they are carding customers to make sure they are 21, they are handed a test kit and it\u2019s \u2018yes, you get in\u2019 or \u2018no, you don\u2019t get in,\u2019 depending on the results,\u201d he said. \u201cThe same would be true for your local pharmacy and grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blenner, the McQueen Quattlebaum Associate Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, said his group was working to create an antigen test that would use saliva and off-the-shelf reagents. Antigen tests search for the presence of viral proteins and return results in a matter of minutes, although they aren\u2019t as sensitive as widely used PCR tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be doing tests that are much faster to get results on,\u201d Blenner said. \u201cSome recent work is suggesting that the sensitivity of those tests– or how accurate they are– is not the most important factor.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>

“It\u2019s how fast you can get results and how frequently you test. In order to get frequent, fast testing, we have to develop something that doesn\u2019t exist right now. So that\u2019s why Terri and Ken all along have been working on a point-of-care diagnostic, and that\u2019s a new direction Delphine and I have been heading in for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harcum, a professor of bioengineering, has been working with Blenner to make reagents for tests.<\/p>\n

In his lab, Blenner puts the DNA for spike proteins inside of human or hamster cells. When the cells grow, they produce the spike proteins, which will ultimately serve as the reagent in tests. The procedure is meant to make protein quickly but not mass produce it.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where Harcum picks up the work. She puts the cells in computer-controlled bioreactors that can sense oxygen and pH levels. Pumps carefully control the nutrients that feed the cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grow cells to make them happier so they make more protein,\u201d Harcum said. \u201cNormally, I look at how to make pharmaceuticals, but the pharmaceuticals I make are proteins, which makes this COVID-19 work a good fit for what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean said that if any good has come out of the pandemic, it\u2019s that the situation has brought researchers from across the state closer together than they have ever been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that once this pandemic passes that we continue these kinds of collaborations so that the next time a COVID-19-type event comes along, we\u2019ll be more prepared and tackle it more quickly,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u2732<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Delphine Dean wants to use her talents as a researcher to help people struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and to do her part to bring students back to Clemson University\u2019s campuses. Terri Bruce would like her son, a rising high school senior, to have the same opportunity to do all the fun things she was able to do when she was his age. Mark Blenner knows that Clemson and other universities play a crucial role in lifting people out of poverty, and he wants those institutions to safely reopen as soon as they can.<\/p>\n

Dean, Bruce and Blenner were among the Clemson researchers who began developing new tests when SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, began sweeping across the world, requiring quarantines and other social-distancing measures for safety.<\/p>\n

They gathered via video conferencing on June 30, along with two Clemson colleagues, Sarah Harcum and R. Kenneth Marcus, to provide IDEAS magazine with an update on their work.<\/p>\n

While their motives and roles varied, they were all working toward the same core goal\u2013to develop faster tests that could help the world safely reopen its universities, schools, businesses and other places where people congregate.<\/p>\n

The Clemson researchers were closely collaborating with colleagues from the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina and businesses across the state. Dean was overseeing the Clemson portion of the work as the Clemson lead for the state\u2019s Serological Testing and Diagnostic Working Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople aren\u2019t sleeping much because we\u2019re all trying to work around the clock to get these tests out as fast as possible,\u201d said Dean, who is the Ron and Jane Lindsay Family Innovation Professor of bioengineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we\u2019re on campus and we start having these hybrid classes, we\u2019re still going to need to monitor people. If somebody gets sick, we need to track it down really quickly, and waiting several days for test results is not going to work. We need to have the pieces in place so that we can make sure that if anybody gets sick on campus, we can identify them and keep everybody else safe.<\/p>\n

As of late July, some people were waiting six days for labs in South Carolina to return test results, Blenner said.<\/p>\n

Bruce and Marcus were working to create a test that they said would reduce the turnaround time to about 10 minutes and could be done almost anywhere.<\/p>\n

Patients would put the tests under their tongues and allow saliva to collect on a small pad. Capillary fibers would capture the virus, and then a solution would cause the virus to move into a colorimetric enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, said Bruce, who is research assistant professor of bioengineering and director of the Clemson Light Imaging Facility.<\/p>\n

A color change would let patients know whether they are positive for SARS-CoV-2, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\u201cKen and I are using commodity polymers that are very, very inexpensive, so it\u2019s a very cost-effective test,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cYou could test folks multiple times. It runs very similar to a pregnancy test in time, how it\u2019s evaluated and cost. It would solve a lot of initial problems that we\u2019re having right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcus said the Holy Grail would be to develop a test that could be done so quickly, it could help determine who could be admitted to bars and other businesses on the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they are carding customers to make sure they are 21, they are handed a test kit and it\u2019s \u2018yes, you get in\u2019 or \u2018no, you don\u2019t get in,\u2019 depending on the results,\u201d he said. \u201cThe same would be true for your local pharmacy and grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blenner, the McQueen Quattlebaum Associate Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, said his group was working to create an antigen test that would use saliva and off-the-shelf reagents. Antigen tests search for the presence of viral proteins and return results in a matter of minutes, although they aren\u2019t as sensitive as widely used PCR tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be doing tests that are much faster to get results on,\u201d Blenner said. \u201cSome recent work is suggesting that the sensitivity of those tests \u2013 or how accurate they are \u2013 is not the most important factor.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s how fast you can get results and how frequently you test. In order to get frequent, fast testing, we have to develop something that doesn\u2019t exist right now. So that\u2019s why Terri and Ken all along have been working on a point-of-care diagnostic, and that\u2019s a new direction Delphine and I have been heading in for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harcum, a professor of bioengineering, has been working with Blenner to make reagents for tests.<\/p>\n

In his lab, Blenner puts the DNA for spike proteins inside of human or hamster cells. When the cells grow, they produce the spike proteins, which will ultimately serve as the reagent in tests. The procedure is meant to make protein quickly but not mass produce it.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where Harcum picks up the work. She puts the cells in computer-controlled bioreactors that can sense oxygen and pH levels. Pumps carefully control the nutrients that feed the cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grow cells to make them happier so they make more protein,\u201d Harcum said. \u201cNormally, I look at how to make pharmaceuticals, but the pharmaceuticals I make are proteins, which makes this COVID-19 work a good fit for what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean said that if any good has come out of the pandemic, it\u2019s that the situation has brought researchers from across the state closer together than they have ever been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that once this pandemic passes that we continue these kinds of collaborations so that the next time a COVID-19-type event comes along, we\u2019ll be more prepared and tackle it more quickly,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u2732<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>