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eMaterials Newsletters

 

Thursday, March 6, 2003Volume 3, Issue 3

 

Director's Message

 

Materials Day at Penn State

 

You are invited to present a poster at the Second Annual Materials Day on April 15th, from 10am-2pm at the HUB-Robeson, Alumni Hall. This year we have invited a broad spectrum of industry representatives to Materials Day. For this reason we are asking you to focus your poster presentation in one of the areas listed below, and to summarize all of your activities and accomplishments relevant to that general focus area. Please remember to depict the interdisciplinary aspects and technological/commercial impact of your work. After the poster session there will be lab tours and a schedule of one-on-one meetings with industry representatives who request such in advance. (Details about poster format to follow).

 

 

What is Materials Day?

 

 

I do hope that you will all share our vision to promote collegiality and collaboration, and to market our materials research in this way. Any ideas that you may have to further enhance the effectiveness and outcome of this event are welcome at any time.

 

Thank you for your participation,
Carlo Pantano

MRI Faculty Spotlight

Dr. Patrick Lenahan, Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics

The next generation of computers will hinge on the development of new materials for silicon-based transistors. A critical factor in reducing transistor size is the ability to make thin insulator layers. Presently, gate oxides are less than 20 atoms thick; strong international research efforts to reduce the insulator thickness are rapidly approaching the fundamental physical limits of oxide thickness. An alterative approach is to explore new dielectric materials with higher dielectric constant than silicon dioxide. These new materials will allow for thicker gate oxide layers, which will allow the technology to advance a few more generations.

 

For the full story go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/articles/PatrickLenahan/

Contracts & Grants

Materials research accounted for more than $2.9 million in contracts and grants for the month of February! The largest of these contracts and grants (those greater than $150K) 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.

 

Allara, David L; Nanocell Approach to a Molecular Computer, Rice University

 

Kumar, Sanat K; Combinational Gradient and Chemically Patterned Surfaces for Wettability and Adhesive Tests, U.S. Department of Commerce

 

Lanagan, Michael T; Furman, Eugene; High Frequency Electrical Characterization of Dielectric Components, Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse

 

Shrout, Thomas R; Cao, Wenwu; Tutwiler, Richard L; Stitt, Joseph P; Medical Ultrasound Transducer Technology, University of Southern California

 

Shrout, Thomas R; Randall, Clive A; High Performance, High Temperature Perovskite Piezoelectrics, U.S. Department of the Navy

 

Weiss, Paul S; DARPA Moletronics II: The Nanocell Molecular Computer, Rice University

 

Materials Seminars

Monday, March 10, 2003

Time: 10:00 AM
Location: 189 MRL Bldg
Title: Self-Moving Cell Linear Motor for Precision Nano Positioning
Speaker: Byungwoo Kang, Samsung Electromechanics

Monday, March 24, 2003

Time: 12:00 PM
Location: 339 Davey Lab
Title: Modeling the Dynamic Response of Nanowire Structures for Integrated Nanomechanical Biosensor Arrays
Speaker: Gary Gray, Engineering Science & Mechanics

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

Time: 3:35 PM
Location: 114 EE&S Bldg
Title: Fuel Processing for Hydrogen Production and Fuel Cell Applications

For a complete list of upcoming materials-related seminars go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/seminars.asp

Funding Opportunities