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New facility, NSF grant advance smart building technology

On the west lawn of the Peter Kiewit Institute in Omaha stands a 1,000-square-foot building that, with its gray siding and simple rectangular shape, appears nondescript at first glance. 

But in reality, it is a state-of-the-art laboratory, designed to simulate the construction of modern commercial buildings and equipped to allow researchers to manipulate various parameters and assess occupants’ response, including physiological parameters like heart rate and skin temperature.

Husker geoscientist’s innovative approach aims to safeguard irrigation canals

Irrigation canal maintenance in western Nebraska is taking a giant step forward thanks to an innovative, non-invasive method by Husker geoscientist Mohamed Khalil to check canal integrity. His sophisticated time-lapse analysis pinpoints canal seepage and structural settlement far more accurately and efficiently than traditional approaches — using a technology that can have wide-ranging uses statewide for agriculture, industry and natural resources management.