Olympic swimmers are clocking times milliseconds faster at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing

Olympic swimmers are clocking times milliseconds faster at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing thanks in part to engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Using a technology called Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV), a team led by Tim Wei, an aerospace engineering professor at RPI (Troy, N.Y.), was able to pinpoint trouble spots for U.S. swimming coach Sean Hutchison, who used the information to alter his swimmers' strokes and cut their times.

"For the first time we have learned how to apply the principles of fluid mechanics to improve the way swimmers move through the water," said Wei, who worked with U.S. swim team's biomechanics manager, Russell Mark, on the project. read more