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Wednesday, April 15, 2009Volume 9, Issue 2

 

Faculty Spotlight: Adrianus (Adri) van Duin

 

Force Fields Fill the Gap in Materials Simulations

 

VanDuinAdri van Duin, a chemist with a theoretical bent, is happy to find himself surrounded by practical engineering types intent on solving real world problems.  It is a good sign, he says, when theory guys are employable in departments that have the word engineering in their title.  Only five or ten years ago such a thing would have been unthinkable, van Duin believes.  It shows that the gap between science and engineering is getting smaller.


Adri van Duin’s theoretical research fits nicely into that gap.  The inventor of a computational method called reactive force fields (ReaxFF), van Duin’s simulations lie between the highly accurate but computationally expensive quantum mechanical-based simulations, and the larger scale simulation tools that describe physical interactions in molecules and materials but cannot describe chemical reactions in which bonds break and reform.


A recently appointed faculty in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, van Duin began to develop his force field method during his first postdoctoral appointment at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England.  In that university’s Department of Fossil Fuels and Environmental Geochemistry, he worked on simulations of how water and oil interact with mineral surfaces, an important consideration for oil producers trying to determine which sort of underground reservoirs are likely retain oil.

 

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Research Spotlight: Joe Lonjin

 

Lab Safety is One of Many Jobs for Joe Lonjin, Manager for Research Facilities Joe

 

Safety is not a set of regulations that make it harder to do research, according to Joe Lonjin, who took over as MRI’s Manager for Research Facilities when Gaylord Shawver retired in 2008.  Safety is a culture, a way of life that keeps people healthy as they do their research. “We are coming into labs to assist researchers in working safely, and to make sure they know the rules that now apply since OSHA began enforcing workplace safety at PSU last year.  These are rules we all must follow in order to perform safe research,” he explains.

 

Joe’s background gives him a strong set of skills for managing the physical plant of a varied research enterprise such as MRI. In his senior year in the electronics program at Penn College, Joe was part of the first class in the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU) at University Park, an 18-credit program designed to give a hands-on immersion in nanotechnology for manufacturing.  During the course of his CNEU program, Joe spent 50 percent of his time in the clean room of the Nanofab.


After graduation, Joe was offered a position as a technician in the Nanofab, which was then operated by the College of Engineering.  He started at the end of 1999, repairing equipment and backing up the safety officer, eventually taking the lead on safety and facilities for the Nanofab.

 

In early 2003, Joe’s Army Reserve unit was called to active duty in Iraq.  After the fact, it was a good life experience, he says, seeing the war first hand, travelling to nearly every city in the country.  Iraq was a contrast in cultures.  As he travelled from the Kuwait border northward, the land turned from desert to mountains.  Primitive stone and mud hut villages gave way to nearly modern cities, most of the resources concentrated in the places where Saddam had his residences.  Trained in Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats, which never materialized, he found himself spending most of his 15-month deployment as a specialty mechanic, supporting roving and fixed combat teams.

 

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Hosler MCL Lab Has New Air Conditioning System

 

The MCL Lab in 6/7 Hosler has a new air conditioning system just in time for the warmer weather and increased lab temperatures.  For the past several summers, the old air conditioning system for the Hosler lab has not been able to cool the area effectively.  This week, the Office of Physical Plant is finishing up the installation, testing, and balancing of a new, improved capacity air conditioning system.  Users who have been avoiding the lab’s sweltering temperatures and high humidity can come around again soon to experience the more comfortable, cooler lab conditions.

 

The Hosler lab, one of three MCL user locations on campus, offers the following characterization techniques in a convenient central campus location:  Scanning Electron Microscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy, Electron Probe Microanalysis, DMAX-Rapid Microdiffractometry, and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering.  For more information about the MCL facilities in 6/7 Hosler, contact Mark Angelone Validate to view contact info or John Cantolina Validate to view contact info

 

The National Science Foundation

 

The National Science Foundation plans to use $3B in new stimulus funding to expand research awards.

 

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Grants and Contracts

 

Materials research accounted for more than $11.5 million in contracts and grants for the months February and March! 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 Strategic Information Management System.

 

 

For a complete list of the contracts and grants for February and March go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/awardsFeb_March.asp

 

Seminars  

  

"Managing for Value in the Current Precious Metals Environment"

Richard O'Brien, President & Chief Executive Officer, Newmont Mining Corp.

Friday, April 17, 2009

3:30 PM - 22 Deike Building

 

"On the Hydrogen Lubrication Mechanisms of Nearly-Frictionless Carbon Films: An Imaging TOF-SIMS Study"

Ali Erdemir, Senior Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

10:00 AM - 102 Chemistry Building

 

 "Strongly Correlated Electron Systems: a Dynamical Mean Field Theory Perspective"

Gabriel Kotliar, Rutgers University

Series - CAMP Seminar

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

3:30 PM - 339 Davey

 

 

...more seminars.