Pressing environmental problems, energy supply security issues, and nuclear power safety concerns drive the worldwide interest in renewable energy. The US Clean Energy Challenge calls for a partnership of states and communities to expand solar to 140GW by 2020. Investment in renewables today is in utility-scale solar plants and wind farms, as well as small-scale distributed rooftop photovoltaics (PV). Large solar plants are cheaper than rooftop PV, but this advantage is diminished when considering transmission infrastructure costs.

Ocean Big Data (OBD) is an emerging area of research that benefits ocean environmental monitoring, offshore exploration, disaster prevention, and military surveillance. It is now affordable for oil and gas companies, fishing industry, militaries, and marine researchers to deploy physical undersea sensor systems to obtain strategic advantages. However, these sensing activities are scattered, isolated, and often follow the traditional "deploy, wait, retrieve, and post-process" routine.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners use strong magnetic fields to safely image soft tissues deep inside the body. They offer a unique tool for guiding therapies: images while patient is inside the scanner can localize diseased tissue and guide an intervention with high accuracy. This research controls MRI magnetic fields to wirelessly push millimeter-scale robots through vessels in the body, assemble them into tools, and provide targeted drug delivery or pierce tissue.

To reduce reliance on other countries for minerals (e.g., coal, rare-earth metals), the USA has seen an invigoration of mining activity in recent years. Unfortunately, miners often have to work in dangerous environments where there is risk of mine explosions, fires, poisonous gases, and flooding in tunnels. Mine accidents have killed over 500 US and 40,000 mine workers worldwide in the past decade.

To reduce reliance on other countries for minerals (e.g., coal, rare-earth metals), the USA has seen an invigoration of mining activity in recent years. Unfortunately, miners often have to work in dangerous environments where there is risk of mine explosions, fires, poisonous gases, and flooding in tunnels. Mine accidents have killed over 500 US and 40,000 mine workers worldwide in the past decade.

The central-heating paradigm has always functioned in tandem with clothing, which for the most part conserves body heat through insulation. This project tips the balance toward on-body solutions, using active on-body heating in conjunction with insulation and passive thermal protection to heat the individual human body rather than the entire environment. The motivating hypothesis is that if heat can be delivered effectively to the individual?s body, then the need to heat large (and often empty) spaces will be significantly reduced.

Data-driven cyber-physical systems are ubiquitous in many sectors including manufacturing, automotive, transportation, utilities and health care. This project develops the theory, methods and tools necessary to answer the central question "how can we, in a data-rich world, design and operate cyber-physical systems differently?" The resulting data-driven techniques will transform the design and operation process into one in which data and models - and human designers and operators - continuously and fluently interact. This integrated view promises capabilities beyond its parts.

Factories, chemical plants, automobiles, and aircraft have come to be described today as cyber-physical systems of systems--distinct systems connected to form a larger and more complex system. For many such systems, correct operation is critical to safety, making their security of paramount importance. Unfortunately, because of their heterogeneous nature and special purpose, it is very difficult to determine whether a malicious attacker can make them behave in a manner that causes harm.

Scaling the Internet of Things (IoT) to billions and possibly trillions of "things" requires transformative advances in the science, technology, and engineering of cyber-physical systems (CPS), with none more pressing or challenging than the power problem. Consider that if every device in a 1 trillion IoT network had a battery that lasted for a full five years, over 500 million batteries would need to be changed every day. Clearly, a battery-powered IoT is not feasible at this scale due to both human resource logistics and environmental concerns.

Poor air quality has been linked to not just adverse health effects such as increased incidence of cardiac arrhythmia, lung cancer, heart disease, and mortality, but also to the vitality of a region?s economy. These issues are particularly important in cities such as Salt Lake City (SLC), where topography, climate, and urban expansion combine to create some of the worst air quality episodes in the country.