BYU’s law and business programs remained highly ranked in the 2025 U.S. News Best Graduate School Rankings released today, while BYU’s engineering graduate programs made major jumps over previous marks.
With the exponential rise in drone activity, safely managing low-flying airspace has become a major issue. Using a network of small, low-cost radars, engineering professor Cammy Peterson and her colleagues have built an air traffic control system for drones that can effectively and accurately track anything in an identified low-altitude airspace.
BYU robotics experts are building a humanoid robot that can impressively lift large and unwieldy objects such as ladders, kayaks, car tires, chairs, and heavy boxes. And it does so safely because its whole structure is flexible.
BYU’s Compliant Mechanisms Research lab, inspired by the ancient art of origami, is building a foldable, compact design that could help launch satellite systems to space in a rocket. After five years of research, a team led by professors Larry Howell and Spencer Magleby has succeeded in creating foldable antenna systems than can deploy off space rockets and permanently open to enhance satellite systems.
A futuristic BYU-designed, origami-inspired Flex Chair, cut out of a single piece of flat material and folded into shape, has made YouTuber Mark Rober’s Top 10 list. In a Nov. 2 video post, Rober spotlights the chair at #7 on his list of Crunch Lab builds in the past year, and credits BYU compliant mechanisms researchers for the innovative design.
A new welding technique developed by BYU and Toyota for the Sienna’s sliding doors uses 40 times less energy, emits fewer emissions, and produces welds that are 10 times stronger. This new process, called refill friction stir spot welding, could prove critical as Toyota and other car manufacturers rely more and more on lighter aluminum parts.
A BYU professor has figured out a way to shave years off the complicated design and licensing processes for modern nuclear reactors: artificial intelligence. That's right, nuclear power is teaming up with AI — but don't worry, no one is giving AI the nuclear codes.
The BYU Rocketry Team and their Utah-inspired rocket named “Alta” got on the podium three times, earning two first prizes and a second-place finish at the 2024 Spaceport America Cup.
It’s summer, so naturally students are spending a lot of time out on the water in kayaks, paddle boards and canoes. If you’re an engineering student, apparently those canoes have to be made out of concrete.
It seems like just about every new household device connects to the internet these days. Thermostat? Check. Doorbell? Yup. Washer and Dryer? In 2024, of course. Even pet feeders connect to WiFi now to be controlled by an app. But all is not well because many of these devices can pose security risks to home networks.
While it’s impossible to recognize every award-winning student, these highlights capture the considerable work and creative capabilities of our Cougars during the past academic year.
A new diagnostic tool developed by Brigham Young University and UC Santa Cruz researchers can test for SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus with the same or better accuracy as high-precision PCR tests in a matter of hours.
A group of enterprising BYU students aim to significantly — if not entirely — reduce parking violations in paid parking lots, college and otherwise. And their idea, an AI detection and tracking system called Spot Parking (more on that in a minute), just got a major endorsement and $12,000 in cash by winning the 2024 BYU Student Innovator of the Year (SIOY) competition.
An interdisciplinary BYU team recently came together to conduct a research study in Nepal, aiming to measure brick workers’ exposure to pollutants and to assess their respiratory health. The eventual goal is to determine what information, technology and strategies they can develop with the Nepali people to help them improve their well-being.
The NSF recently awarded the cybersecurity program within the BYU Electrical & Computer Engineering department with a five-year, $3.7 million grant called the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service. BYU is one of only six schools nationwide to receive the award this year, which recognizes students with technical talent, moral integrity, leadership, and second language skills.
A new study by BYU engineers shows just how much it will cost, and how much energy it will take, to save the Great Salt Lake by pumping water in from the Pacific Ocean.
BYU research finds that more than 1,000 people have drowned because of low-head dams. In a massive effort to prevent future tragedies, BYU professors and students joined forces with a national task force to recently create the first nationwide database cataloging the location of more than 13,000 low-head dams.