In the Media

Dean Jennifer deWinter Explains What Makes Mario So Popular and Where the 1993 Movie Failed

PBS

“The core experience of Mario is playgrounds,” says Jennifer deWinter, dean of Lewis College of Science and Letters and author of “Shigeru Miyamoto: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda.” “It’s climbing and jumping and sliding and exploration. Look at that original movie, the core experience is the conflict. (The game has) never been about the conflict, it’s about the experience. How do you translate this experience?”

Illinois Tech Chemical Engineering Professor's Battery Breakthrough in Lithium-Air Equation Has Huge Potential

Aerospace America

How did Assistant Professor Mohammad Asadi and his colleagues make the single-cell battery behind their rechargeability breakthrough? They started with one key constraint: To be practical, the battery had to operate at room temperature. Previous room temperature designs contained a liquid electrolyte, the material that carries ions between the cathode and anode. But in 2019, Asadi set out to create a solid-state version, meaning one with a solid electrolyte. He wasn’t sure how rechargeable the battery would be, but at a minimum, he saw two potential advantages: safety, and the ability to reduce weight and volume.

Lewis College Dean Jennifer deWinter Breaks Down the Classic Game Tetris

Los Angeles Times

“There’s no such thing as a perfect game,” said Jennifer deWinter, dean of Lewis College of Science and Letters. “But if I had to ponder the brilliance of Tetris — and I think that is a fun thing to ponder — Tetris provides a pattern-based abstraction that allows people to go into a flow state, readily.”

Chicago-Kent Law Professor Analyzes Trump Indictment

WGN-TV

The charge against former President Donald Trump “arises under New York law and it focuses on the falsification of a business record,” said Chicago-Kent Professor Harold Krent. “That’s a misdemeanor under New York state law, but it can be elevated to a felony if it’s found to be in connection with another criminal purpose, such as falsification of election filings, which might in fact be what’s at stake here.”

Tags:

• Law and Policy

College of Architecture Awards 2023 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize

Architectural Record

On Friday evening, March 24, the winner of the 2023 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) was announced in Chicago. The venue was Crown Hall itself, a steel and glass masterwork by Mies van der Rohe on the campus he designed for the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Jury chair Sandra Barclay presented the award to the studio of Mexican architect Mauricio Rocha for its expansion of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City.

Tags:

• Architecture and Design

In Research Done by Law Professor Daniel Martin Katz, Latest Version of ChatGPT Nails Bar Exam with Score Nearing 90th Percentile

ABA Journal

GPT-4 took all sections of the July 2022 bar exam and earned a score so high that it approaches the 90th percentile of test-takers, according to researchers Daniel Martin Katz, a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, and Michael James Bommarito, a professor at the Michigan State University College of Law. “Our analysis highlights that GPT-4 has indeed passed the bar and has done so by a significant margin,” they wrote in a paper.

Seattle at Forefront in Adding 'Caste' as a Protected Class, Writes Chicago-Kent Adjunct Professor

Chicago Daily Law Bulletin

Adjunct Professor Christopher Garcia writes in an article that Seattle recently became the first U.S. city to add “caste” to its list of categories protected from discrimination.

Architecture Professor Carol Ross Barney and American Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal Winner Explains Her Inspiration

CBS2 Chicago

Carol Ross Barney recently won the highest award given by the American Institute of Architects. She calls it a shining light for Chicago and for women in the field. CBS2 caught up with Barney to talk about her work and her vision.

Tags:

• Architecture and Design

Bar Exam Score Shows AI Can Keep Up with 'Human Lawyers,' Says Chicago-Kent Professor

Reuters

“I heard so many people say, ‘Well, it might get the multiple choice but it will never get the essays,’” Chicago-Kent College of Law Katz said of his efforts giving GPT the bar exam. GPT-4 passed the Uniform Bar Exam, including the essay and performance test.

Editorial: Thanks In Part to Illinois Tech Innovation, ‘Range Anxiety’ Won’t Hamper Electric Cars For Long

Chicago Tribune

Fear of running out of power out of range of a recharging station is a major impediment to the widespread adoption of electric cars, but scientists in Illinois are changing that. Mohammad Asadi, an assistant professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, last month co-published a paper in the journal Science with Larry A. Curtiss and other Illinois colleagues about their work on a novel lithium-air battery that has a solid electrolyte made with a mix of polymer and ceramic. By combining those two materials, the paper argued, the product could leverage both “ceramic’s high ionic conductivity and the high stability and high interfacial connection of the polymer.” The resulting battery, the paper claimed, has the potential for “reaching ultra-high power densities far beyond current lithium-ion technology.”

Tags:

• Engineering Innovation