Friday, October 26, 2001Volume 1, Issue 3
Director's Message
On Tuesday, October 30th (12:30 pm - 4:00 pm, 189 MRL Bldg)12 different groups of faculty from the Colleges of Engineering, Science, and Earth and Mineral Sciences will make 10 minute presentations (followed by 5 minute discussions) about their "Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team" (NIRT) proposals. I encourage all faculty to attend because your comments and suggestions can help strengthen these efforts, but moreso, because it is an ideal way to find out what your colleagues are doing and to get involved or nucleate a new activity yourself. Last year, Penn State faculty won a total of three NIRT Grants (out of a maximum allowed of four).
I would also like to call your attention to the recently announced DOE Nanoscale Science and Technology Initiative. There is no limit to the number of proposals that can be submitted. The October 30th discussion of NIRTs, and subsequent down-selection, should create a reservoir of ideas for development and submission to DOE. DOE has their nanotechnology solicitation at http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/Fr02-02.html
Regards,
Carlo Pantano
Microreactors
Do you have interest or expertise relevant to microreactors? These are small devices (including lab-on-a-chip) designed to synthesize and/or modify gases and liquids "on-demand" and "on-site" (e.g. for semi-conductor manufacture, tissue engineering, drug delivery, analytical chemistry, etc.). There is considerable industrial interest in this technology, but progress requires a blend of chemistry, catalysis, design, engineering, micro/nano-fabrication and MEMS, materials, etc. If you have an interest in developing an initiative in this area, let us know what you can bring to the effort contact Validate to view address - Send Email via form.
Materials in Medicine
Hershey Medical School (HMS) and University Park were drawn a little closer through an informal workshop on Materials in Medicine hosted by the Orthopedics Dept. and sponsored by MRI on Oct. 5, 2001 at HMS. Presentations and discussion focused on research collaboration in both hard- and soft-tissue applications of biomaterials, and the biological response to materials interfaces.
If you are interested in participating in the next workshop, you can contact Erwin Vogler at Validate to view address - Send Email via form.
Buckley Prize to Professor Jainendra Jain
Jainendra Jain of the department of physics has been awarded the Oliver Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society for his theoretical prediction of a new kind of particle called the composite Fermion. The Buckley prize is the highest award of the Society in the field of condensed matter physics.
The quantum Hall effect is one of the successes of modern condensed matter physics (Nobel Prize award recently to Laughlin, Stormer, and Tsui). The essence of Jain's theory is that the complex system of electrons in the fractional quantum Hall effect can be mapped into a simple, weakly interacting system of bizarre particles called "composite fermions" wherein an even number of magnetic flux quanta are bound to an electron. A measure of the success of Jain's simplified particle is that it not only explains and unifies the previously known facts, but has also led to surprising new discoveries.
Faculty Contracts & Grants
Materials research accounted for nearly $6.5 in contracts and grants for the month of September 2001! The largest of these contracts and grants (those greater than $200K) are listed below, along with a link to the complete list of contracts and grants. These data are provided by OSPs Strategic Information Management System. We will provide this report each month to help familiarize our community with who we are and what we do.
Schlom, D.; Chen, L.; Gopolan, V.; Trolier-McKinstry, S.; Xi, X., Supplement to--Artificially Engineered Nanoscale Ferroelectrics, National Science Foundation
Kumar, Sanat, Combinational Gradient and Chemically Patterned Surfaces for Wettability and Adhesive Tests, U.S. Department of Commerce
Colby, Ralph, Real Space Imaging of Phase Separated Blends and Biocompatible Scaffold Materials by Confocal Microscopy and Optical Coherence Tomography, U.S. Department of Commerce
Macdonald, Digby, The Fundamental Role of Nano-Scale Oxide Films in the Oxidation of Hydrogen and the Reduction of Oxygen on Noble Metal Electrocatalysts, U.S. Department of Energy
Pantano, C.; Allara, D., UV Resonance X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer, National Science Foundation
Tressler, Richard, Engineering Development of Ceramic Membrane Reaction System for Converting Natural Gas, Industry
Grutzeck, Michael, Physical, Chemical and Structural Evolution of Zeolite - Containing Waste Forms Produced from Metakaolinite and Calcined Sodium Bearing Waste (HLW and/or LLW), U.S. Department of Energy
Chan, Moses, MRSEC: Center for Porous Materials, National Science Foundation
Shung, K.; Shrout, T.; Cao, W., A Resource on Medical Ultrasonic Transducer Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mayer, T.; Mallouk,T.; Jackson, T., Directed Assembly of Molecular Logic Architectures Using Functionalized Metallic Nanowires, U.S. Department of the Navy
Materials Seminars
Friday, October 26, 2001Location: 115 EE WestMonday, October 29, 2001
Title: CMOS-Based Microsystems
Speaker: Oliver Brand, ETH Zurich
Location: 339 DaveyTuesday, October 30, 2001
Title: Using Scanning Microscopes for Measuring the Properties of Empty Space and of Materials
Speaker: Umar Mohideen, Univeristy of California
Location: 339 DaveyWednesday, October 31, 2001
Title: Applications of Nanoporous Materials in Microelectronics and MEMS
Speaker: Theodore Doll, of the Technische Universitat Ilmenau (Germany)
Location: S5 OsmondThursday, November 01, 2001
Title: Organic Electroluminescent Metal 8-Quinolinalato Chelates: Systematic Approaches for Establishing Structure/Function Relationships
Speaker: Linda Sapochak, University of Nevada
Location: 22 DeikeThursday, November 01, 2001
Title: Block Copolymer Thin Films: Patterns, Patterning, and Nanofabrication
Speaker: Richard Register, Princeton University
Location: S5 OsmondThursday, November 08, 2001
Title: Nanowires: Synthesizing the Computer of the Future
Speaker: Thomas E. Mallouk, Penn State
Location: 22 Deike
Title: High throughput experimentation in the life sciences and materials research
Speaker: Karsten Danielmeier and Hermann Bach, Bayer
