IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-07DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11644904
Aaron Mok
{"title":"Careers: Siobahn Day Grady: She Launched the First AI Research Institute at an HBCU","authors":"Aaron Mok","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11644904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11644904","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial intelligence is reshaping the skills employers expect from new graduates. In response, universities are scrambling to launch new courses, research centers, and industry partnerships that prepare students for today's workforce. But building a cutting-edge AI curriculum demands funding and access to industry networks, resources that remain unevenly distributed across higher education.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 8","pages":"17-18"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11644904","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148694966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-07DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11644908
Michael Koziol
{"title":"5 Questions: Stephan Schlamminger: Why One of Physics'Most Elusive Numbers Remains so Difficult to Measure","authors":"Michael Koziol","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11644908","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11644908","url":null,"abstract":"Physicists have been trying to measure the fundamental gravitational constant for well over two centuries. The current accepted value of big <tex>$G$</tex>, as it's known, is <tex>$6.67430times 10^{-11}$</tex> cubic meters per kilogram per square second. It also has an uncertainty of <tex>${pm} 0.00015times 10^{-11} mathrm{m}^{3}/ (text{kg s}^{2})$</tex>. As far as constants of the universe go, that's very uncertain.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 8","pages":"19-19"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11644908","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148694856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-06DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595942
Allison Marsh
{"title":"Past Forward: Rooting for the Home Team","authors":"Allison Marsh","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595942","url":null,"abstract":"With a crack of the bat, the ball heads skyward. Going, going, gone. A home run! Fans leap to their feet and cheer as the batter rounds the bases. And with a push of a button, fireworks go off in celebration.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 7","pages":"48-48"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11595942","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148442258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-06DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595937
Harry Goldstein
{"title":"The Orbital Data Center Fever Dream: Why the Stars—and the Math—won't Align for Space Compute Anytime Soon","authors":"Harry Goldstein","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595937","url":null,"abstract":"“The lowest-cost place to put AI will be in space, and that will be true within two years, maybe three at the latest,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk told the World Economic Forum in Davos this past January, as his company was preparing to go public.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 7","pages":"2-2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11595937","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148442693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-06DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595945
Peter Fairley
{"title":"The 1976 University Experiment that Spun Up the U.S. Wind Industry: Captain William Heronemus Quit the Cold War and Built a Wind Turbine with a Truck Axle","authors":"Peter Fairley","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595945","url":null,"abstract":"A half century ago, a scrappy crew at the University of Massachusetts Amherst erected a wind turbine on Orchard Hill, the highest point on campus. It was a frugal production, cobbled together from the rear axle of a Ford truck, a donated generator and micro-controller, a steam pipe, and various hand-crafted steel and fiberglass parts, including its 4.5-meter blades. ¶ The team of UMass engineering grad students, faculty advisors, and one precocious undergrad built it to prove that wind energy could keep rural homes toasty in New England's frigid winters, as a way of trimming U.S. oil dependence—a national imperative in the aftermath of the 1973–1974 energy crisis. To illustrate the point, they also assembled a modular home there on Orchard Hill, and outfitted it with heaters that would be powered by the turbine. ¶ It worked—too well. “We had to open up the doors in the dead of winter. It was just too damn hot,” recalls Michael Edds, who designed the turbine's electrical system and served as the project's first resident engineer. Fittingly, they dubbed the turbine the “Wind Furnace.”","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 7","pages":"38-44"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148442554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-06DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595929
Qi Zhang;Kening Zhu
{"title":"Make an Origami Circuit Board: Create Electrical Traces by Just Folding a Paperlike Material","authors":"Qi Zhang;Kening Zhu","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595929","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595929","url":null,"abstract":"What could you do if you could make a circuit trace by just bending a piece of paper? How about bridging modern technologies and traditional handicrafts while providing opportunities for learning skills in both.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 7","pages":"12-14"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148443115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-06DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595938
Kaushik Sengupta
{"title":"AI Designs Radio Chips That Humans Couldn't Even Imagine: Making Radio Chips is an Arcane Art. Machine Learning Does it Faster","authors":"Kaushik Sengupta","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2026.11595938","url":null,"abstract":"Take a moment and try to imagine your life without the wireless advances of the past three decades. Have you lost your luggage? What a shame AirTags have not been invented. The airline representative has promised to call with updates, so settle in for a long wait by the kitchen telephone, because there are no affordable cellphones. You'll be stuck listening to whatever is on the radio while you wait, because there are no streaming services. That's not even to speak of all the movie plots that would have been ruined.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":"63 7","pages":"30-37"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148442377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}