Tag Archives: hardware

Blaauw, Sylvester are 2019 Distinguished University Innovators

By | October 4, 2019
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David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester

Pioneering computer technology that is spurring innovation and disruption across industries has earned David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester, professors of electrical engineering and computer science, this year’s Distinguished University Innovator Award. The pair will receive the award Oct. 22 at Celebrate Invention, an annual event that recognizes entrepreneurship and inventions from U-M researchers. Blaauw and Sylvester have worked… Read More »

First programmable memristor computer aims to bring AI processing down from the cloud

By | July 23, 2019
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hand holding memristor over circuit board

The first programmable memristor computer—not just a memristor array operated through an external computer—has been developed at U-M. It could lead to the processing of artificial intelligence directly on small, energy-constrained devices such as smartphones and sensors. A smartphone AI processor would mean that voice commands would no longer have to be sent to the cloud for interpretation,… Read More »

Flint ITS plans for new interactive tech in building expansion

By | June 4, 2019
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rendering of new wing of Flint campus Murchie Science Building

Flint Information Technology Services, in coordination with an AV consultant from the project architectural firm Harley Ellis Devereaux, is pleased to announce plans to incorporate new, interactive technologies into the new wing of the Murchie Science Building. The additions will enable active learning in classrooms and support group collaboration in work breakout areas. Previous classroom technology models on… Read More »

Unhackable: New chip stops attacks before they start

By | May 6, 2019
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digital rubik's cube

A new computer processor architecture developed at U-M could usher in a future where computers proactively defend against threats, rendering the current electronic security model of bugs and patches obsolete. Called MORPHEUS, the chip blocks potential attacks by encrypting and randomly reshuffling key bits of its own code and data 20 times per second—infinitely faster than a human… Read More »

Encrypt your devices and data

By | March 20, 2019
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lock over code

Turn on device encryption to help secure personal and institutional data at home and at work. Encryption protects against unauthorized access to data if your device is lost or stolen. Encryption is: Required for any personal device you use to access U-M data classified as High. https://www.safecomputing.umich.edu/protect-the-u/safely-use-sensitive-data/classification-levels Recommended for any device you use to access or store U-M… Read More »

Your hard drive may be listening

By | March 7, 2019
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close up of read head in hard drive

If you are already nervous about computer attacks, here’s some unwelcome news: there are many ways in which our technology is vulnerable based on physics, rather than on software. At the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in mid-February, U-M computer scientist Kevin Fu and his colleagues reported a scary find: your computer hard drive could—without… Read More »

Reminder: Secure your devices if you use them for U-M work

By | February 19, 2019
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Two young women looking at laptop

If you use your personal devices—smartphone, laptop, tablet, and so on—for work, you are responsible for appropriately managing and securing them, as well as for meeting the obligations described in Security of Personally Owned Devices that Access or Maintain Sensitive Institutional Data (SPG 601.33). Your unit may have additional restrictions beyond those found in the SPG. Check with… Read More »

Running an LED in reverse could cool future computers

By | February 18, 2019
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In a finding that runs counter to a common assumption in physics, researchers at U-M ran a light emitting diode (LED) with electrodes reversed in order to cool another device mere nanometers away. The approach could lead to new solid-state cooling technology for future microprocessors. “We have demonstrated a second method for using photons to cool devices,” said… Read More »

Bridging the “last centimeter barrier” in electronic communications

By | January 2, 2019
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spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) computer chip

Michigan Engineering researchers are addressing a performance bottleneck that currently exists in the information transfer between electronic chips located a few centimeters apart in a computing system. Led by electrical engineering professor Pinaki Mazumder, their work – dubbed the “last centimeter barrier” – will enable a new generation of electronic systems with ultra high speed data transfers. Electronic chips… Read More »

New device mimics brain-like computing

By | December 20, 2018
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A new electronic device developed at U-M can directly model the behaviors of a synapse, which is a connection between two neurons. “Neuroscientists have argued that competition and cooperation behaviors among synapses are very important. Our new memristive devices allow us to implement a faithful model of these behaviors in a solid-state system,” said Wei Lu, U-M professor… Read More »

Device rationalization for Michigan Medicine

By | October 17, 2018
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hands on keyboard

Michigan Medicine has flagged around 4,000 general computing devices (laptops and desktop workstations) that are in use for under 60 minutes a day. They represents roughly ten percent of the entire hardware fleet. If even half of these low use, non-critical devices can be removed from the environment, Michigan Medicine will be able to save more than $1.4… Read More »

U-M physicist researches material that could aid quantum computing

By | September 7, 2018
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Quantum materials are a type of substance that could be many times more efficient at conducting electricity through smartphones than the commonly used conductor silicon—if only researchers can crack how the stuff works. U-M physicist Lu Li has gotten one step closer with detailing the conductive properties of a novel quantum material called ytterbium dodecaboride that works as both… Read More »

Intel processor vulnerability could put millions of PCs at risk

By | August 17, 2018
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 Researchers at U-M were part of a group that discovered a new processor vulnerability that could potentially put secure information at risk in any Intel-based PC manufactured since 2008. It could affect users who rely on a digital lockbox feature known as Intel Software Guard Extensions, or SGX, as well as those who utilize common cloud-based services,… Read More »

U-M gets $16.7M for advanced computing projects

By | July 30, 2018
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microchips

U-M engineering researchers have received more than $16.7 million from a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency initiative to push microelectronics beyond Moore’s Law—the transistor scaling that has allowed for 50 years of rapid progress in electronics. DARPA’s Electronics Resurgence Initiative is a $75 million effort to jumpstart innovation in the field. The funded projects at U-M include: An open-source… Read More »

Will Alexa ruin your kids?

By | May 15, 2018
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Amazon Echo Dot

Google and Amazon both recently announced that their voice assistants will respond to requests that end in “please.” Parents are worried that because their children are commanding information from these devices, they are not learning manners. To counter this anxiety, Google’s Assistant will now have a “Pretty Please” feature reminding kids to “say the magic word” before responding.… Read More »

Computers running at the speed of light?

By | May 4, 2018
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illustration of lightwave hitting semiconductorr

Researchers from Germany and the University of Michigan have recently demonstrated in a study that infrared laser pulses can shift electrons between two different states, 1 and 0, in a sheet of semiconductor. Their research could help make quantum computing devices, which operate millions of times faster than a conventional computer, a reality. “Ordinary electronics are in the… Read More »

Dearborn moves the Internet

By | April 30, 2018
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illustration of Dearborn ELB bulding

It wasn’t an earthquake, but it sure shook things up. The start of a building renovation for the Engineering Lab Building (ELB) required moving the network connection for the Dearborn campus. A collaborative team built of Dearborn ITS, Merit, and Ann Arbor ITS Infrastructure created new network paths that not only added redundancy and stability, but they did… Read More »