Thursday, June 5, 2008Volume 8, Issue 2
Materials Day 2008 Explores Materials for Energy Technologies
Materials Day 2008 began with well-attended workshops offered by faculty experts that covered a range of subjects of interest to the materials community, including energy storage, materials characterization, nanofabrication, metamaterials, polymer actuators, fuel cells, and flexible electronics. Industry attendees were offered tours of the Materials Characterization Laboratory, NNIN Nanofabrication Laboratory, and the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization lab facilities, all located in the Materials Research Institute Building.
In the opening day’s Keynote address, Tom Richard, Penn State professor and director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, outlined the challenges of declining natural resources and increasing pollution. He also offered an optimistic assessment of our ability to find solutions, based in large part through advances in materials research.
To view a photo gallery from Materials Day 2008 go to: eMaterials/v08i02/Photo_Gallery.asp
Pioneers of Materials
Pioneers of Materials is a new, occasional feature spotlighting an MRI researcher with a long and distinguished history of contributions to materials research.
For most faculty in academic departments, it would be quite unusual to spend an entire distinguished career in a field without ever having taken a single course in that field. Not so for Jerry Johnson, who taught computer science at Penn State for more than 30 years. Trained as a materials scientist at a time when there were no computer science courses available, Johnson learned by reading manuals and hands-on practice, and thereby helped to advance two fields - scientific computing and X-ray diffraction. In the process, he passed his knowledge along to other faculty in a series of courses he taught around the world, and to more than 25,000 students in computer science courses at Penn State.
MRI Staff Excellence Award 2008
Rick Bailey, database specialist
Rick Bailey, winner of MRI’s 2008 staff excellence award, is part of the IT team at MRI, a group whose responsibilities are constantly expanding as computers and information technology become more interwoven into the way we communicate and conduct business. MRI’s databases support our user facilities, MCL and the Nanofab, our financial and personnel records, and our connections to the rest of the University data systems, including IBIS. Most of MRI’s administrative staff count on Rick at some point to give them the information they need to do their job.
Grants and Contracts
Materials research accounted for more than $13.7 million in contracts and grants for the months February through April! 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 OSP's Strategic Information Management System.
- Allcock, Harry R; Mallouk, Thomas E; Horn, Mark W; Improved Electrodes and Electrolytes for Dye-Based Solar Cells; U.S. Department of Energy
- Badding, John V; Sen, Ayusman; Vogler, Erwin A; Protein and Cell Adhesion on Novel PTFE Nanostructures; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Colby, Ralph H; Zhang, Qiming; Ionic Liquids in Electroactive Devices (ILEAD) MURI; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Cross, Leslie E; New Flexoelectric Piezoelevtric Composites for Energy Harvesting; U.S. Department of the Navy
- Dillon, Gregory P; Composite Manufacturing Technology for Reduced Cost Impeller; Industry
- Eden, Timothy J; Cold Spray Coatings in Support of Military Combat Systems; Industry
- Eklund, Peter C; Foley, Henry C; Chung, T C; Advanced Boron and Metal Loaded High Porosity Carbons; U.S. Department of Energy
- Horn, Mark W; Dickey, Elizabeth C; Allara, David L; Ashok, S; Gopalan, Venkatraman; Jackson, Thomas N; Trolier-Mckinstry, Susan E; Growth, Characterization and Modeling of Monolithic Silicon Microbotometer Materials for Uncooled Infrared Detectors; U.S. Department of the Army
- Keating, Christine D; Barcoded Nanowires for Multiplexed Clenical Diagnostics; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Keating, Christine D; Model cytoplasm: From fundamentals to asymmetric division of cytomimetic vesicles; National Science Foundation
- Lanagan, Michael; Zhang, Qiming; Carper, Randall A; Shrout, Thomas R; Wang, Qian; Unconventional Dielectric Materials and Structures for Ultra-High Performance Pulsed Power Capacitors; U.S. Department of the Navy
- Mallouk, Thomas E; Crespi, Vincent H; MRSEC: Center for Molecular Nanofabrication and Devices; National Science Foundation
- Painter, Paul C; Mathews, Jonathan P; Coal-Solvent Interactions Under Non-cracking Conditions; Industry
- Randall, Clive A; Dickey, Elizabeth C; GOALI: Electrical Degradation in Thin Layer BaTiO3: Microchemical Origins Microstructural Control; National Science Foundation
- Redwing, Joan M; Mayer, Theresa S; Mallouk, Thomas E; Dickey, Elizabeth C; Wronski, Christopher R; High Aspect Ratio Semiconductor Heterojunction Solar Cells; U.S. Department of Energy
- Song, Chunshan; Ma, Xiaoliang; Nano-porous Molecular-Basket Sorbents for Removing Contaminants in Cathode Air for Navy Fuel Cell Systems; U.S. Department of the Navy
- Tittmann, Bernhard R; Technical Specifications for the Design and Testing of Advanced Ultrasonic Detection Methods; Industry
- Weiss, David S; Interacting Atoms in an Optical Lattice; National Science Foundation
- Yin, Shizhuo; A Polarization Insensitive, Ultra Fast, High Extinction Ratio Switch; U.S. Department of the Army
For a complete list of the contracts and grants for February through April go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/awards.asp?awardperiod=0804
