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eMaterials Newsletters

 

Wednesday, June 30, 2004Volume 4, Issue 5

 

Director's Message

Mark your calendars for the 4th Annual MRI Picnic scheduled for the afternoon of August 27th at the Pine Grove Mills Lions Club. All are invited. Details to follow.

MRI Affiliated Faculty Promotions

Congratulations to the following faculty members who were recently promoted

 

Venkatraman Gopalan, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

 

Ruyan Guo, Professor of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering

 

James D. Kubicki, Associate Professor of Geosciences, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

 

Mark Horn,Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics

 

Michael T. Lanagan,Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics

 

Qi Li, Professor of Physics, Eberly College of Science

 

Evangelos Manias, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

 

Suzanne E. Mohney, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

 

Joan M. Redwing, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Electrical Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

 

Nadine Barrie Smith, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, College of Engineering

 

Xiaoxing Xi, Professor of Physics, Eberly College of Science

First International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition Accepting Submissions. $75,000 Up for Grabs in "NANO Week" Event

Submissions are being accepted for the first International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition in which the top 25 entries will compete October 28-29 for a total of $75,000 in cash prizes.

 

The competition is being sponsored by InTICE: the Institute for Technology Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University and the Nano-Network, a consortium of nanotechnology-minded scientists, entrepreneurs and financiers in Northeast Ohio. Award winners will be announced during NANO Week, October 24-29.

 

Believed to be the first competition focused on the burgeoning market for nanotechnology, the business idea competition differs from traditional business plan competitions in that it is simply seeking submissions of concepts that have the potential to be profitable, nanotechnology-based businesses.

 

"The International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition was conceived as a means of shifting the thinking about nanotechnology from the laboratory to the development of real products and services," said Mark Brandt, founder and chairman of the Nano-Network.

 

Awards will be given in several categories, including best overall business idea. The first, second and third place winners will receive cash prizes of $50,000, $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. All three top winners will receive business plan writing assistance. And Scott Rickert, the chief executive officer of Nanofilm, one of nation's leading nanotechnology companies, has agreed to serve on the advisory board for the team that takes the top prize.

 

Read more...

Senate Passes Legislation to Protect Research Collaborations

A bill designed to encourage collaborative research among universities and between universities and industry passed the Senate last Friday. The Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) Act of 2004 will allow researchers and inventors who work for different organizations to share information without losing the ability to file a patent. Passage of the bill has been supported by the Association of American Universities (AAU), the American Council on Education and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. These proponents argue the need for the amendment to federal patent and trademark law stems from a 1997 court decision (OddzOn Products Inc. v. Just Toys) that deemed information shared among collaborators may be deemed a prior art, which could invalidate a patent unless there is a single owner of the invention. The CREATE Act, AAU contends, solves the problem by treating inventions as if they have a single owner as long as a formal, written joint research agreement in place between collaborators before the invention is made. The bill adds language that treats inventions of a common owner similarly to inventions made by a single person, if:

 

 

S. 2192, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, is virtually identical to H.R. 2391, which the House passed at the end of April. The full text of S. 2192, CREATE, is available at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.02192:

Contracts and Grants

Materials research accounted for more than $9.5 million in contracts and grants for the month of May! 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.

 

Chan, Moses H; Crespi, Vincent H; Weiss, Paul S; MRSEC: Center for Molecular Nanofabrication and Devices, National Science Foundation

 

Copley, Stephen M; Martukanitz, Richard P; Michaleris, Panagiotis; Acquisition of a 6 kW Nd: YAG Laser System, U.S. Department of the Navy

 

Fonash, Stephen J; Hallacher, Paul M; 2003/2004 Pennsylvania NMT Partnership, COP: Department of Community and Economic Development

 

Logan, Bruce E; Molecular Level Analysis of Macromolecule-Surface interactions in Bacterial Adhesion, National Science Foundation

 

Schobert, Harold; Song, Chunshan; Santoro, Robert J; Eser, Semih; Micci, Michael M; Yang, Vigor; Advanced Thermally Stable Coal-Based Jet Fuels, U.S. Department of the Air Force

 

Xi, Xiaoxing; Redwing, Joan M; Integrated HPCVD System for Multifunctional Materials, U.S. Department of the Navy

 

For a complete list of the contracts and grants for May go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/awards.asp?awardperiod=0405

Funding Opportunities

Materials Seminars

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

2:00 PM - 301 Steidle Bldg.
"Aurivillius Ceramics: Structure and Oxygen Ion Conduction"
Scott Misture, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University

 

Thursday, July 08, 2004

10:00 AM - 301 Steidle Bldg.
"Small angle x-ray scattering"
Ralph Colby, Materials Science & Engineering
Series - MCL Summer Open House
Notes - www.mri.psu.edu/mcl

 

Thursday, July 15, 2004

10:00 AM - 541 Deike Bldg.
"Chemical analysis (ICP, ICP-MS)"
Henry Gong and John Kittleson, Materials Characterization Lab
Series - MCL Summer Open House
Notes - www.mri.psu.edu/mcl