Winter 2007
In This Issue:
Focus On Energy
CrossOver 2006
The Huck Institutes’ new director, Peter Hudson, introduced an engaging line up of guest speakers and faculty presenters at CrossOver 2006, located this year in the University’s HUB/Robeson Center. Faculty and industry came to learn from government representatives about funding opportunities and agency initiatives, to foster collaborations between materials and life scientists, and to engage with industry partners in technological collaborations.
New director of the Huck Institutes, Peter Hudson.
Gregory Babe, President and CEO of Bayer MaterialScience LLC, presented a keynote address.
W. Lance Haworth, Ph.D., acting director of the NSF Materials Division, gives the federal funding perspective.
Christopher Siedlecki, associate professor of surgery and bioengineering, was session chair for the biomedicals track.
Kent Vrana, chair of the Department of Pharmacology at the Penn State College of Medicine, presented a method of creating a purified strain of stem cells based on ceramide, a growth inhibitor useful in attacking cancer tumors.
Penn State researchers obtained a total of 37 patents, 11 of which were in the life sciences, 11 in materials related technologies. Eva Pell, Senior Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, presents researchers with plaques engraved with the first page of their patents.
Barbara Shaw, professor of engineering science and mechanics, discussed implantable biomaterials with microstructures controlled down to the nanometric scale.
Hydrogen Day 2006
Hydrogen Day 2006 was about more than just hydrogen this year, though there was plenty to learn about the prospects for a hydrogen-based future. As Bruce Logan, director of Penn State’s H2E Center, made clear in his opening remarks, this year’s Hydrogen Day focused on the challenges of both producing alternative energy and dealing with environmental issues.
Fields of corn stover could become energy crops, providing extra income for small farms.
Biofuels such as this biodiesel made from corn are under intensive study at Penn State.
Daniel Cosgrove explains the nanostructure of cellulose.
Expansins, cell wall loosening plant proteins, were first discovered by Cosgrove and his team.
