There are many products on the market that use Liquid Crystal technology that was developed at Kent State. Here are some products that wouldn’t exist without theLiquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University:

1. The Boogie Board

The Boogie Board is a Digital Writing tablet that uses Liquid Crystal technology to allow the user to use very little power to write on the surface of the tablet and erase easily.

       “The Boogie Board was developed entirely at Kent Displays,” said Asad Khan the chief technology officer at Kent Displays and Doctoral Graduate from Kent State.

The tablet is developed and is manufactured at Kent Displays, “a joint venture between Kent State University and Manning Ventures,” according to the My Boogie Board website.

2. Computer, Smartphone and Ipod Displays

Liquid Crystal technology is used in most high-quality displays. In an article by Nicholson Baker, he tells how about how he is surrounded by liquid crystal displays.

“In a Best Buy one Sunday afternoon, standing in front of the wall of TV’s in the back, I thought, just look at all these incredible screens. We take them for granted,” said Baker in his piece in The New Yorker.

Brands such as Apple, Samsung, LG, Sharp, Song, Vizio, Insignia and Panasonic use liquid crystal displays for their products.

3.  Window Coatings

Liquid Crystals are used to coat windows to give the appearance of frosted glass that gets darker when more sunlight is applied to the window. According to theUniversity of Maryland, liquid crystals have been used on windows “for privacy, in exhibits, for safety visors used by pilots and in heads-up displays.”

4.  Mood Rings

Mood rings are filled with thermotropic liquid crystals that change color based on body heat, according tohow stuff works. The ring correlates a mood to a specific body temperature.

“Liquid Crystals are a passive device… they do not produce their own light but they manipulate environmental light,” explained Hiroshi Yokoyama, the director of the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University.

Gabrielle Woodard is the arts and sciences reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].