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Friday, May 21, 2004Volume 4, Issue 4

 

Director's Message

Held on April 15th, the third annual Materials Day was a resounding success. More than 80 industrial and governmental representatives visited Penn State's University Park campus to learn about the myriad facets of materials research conducted at Penn State. Lectures from prestigious industrial and governmental representatives were given in the morning to a packed HUB-Robeson Auditorium. More than 140 posters were presented by faculty, post doctoral fellows and graduate students. After the poster session, breakout sessions provided our distinguished visitors with lively discussions and reports on specialized areas of materials research.

 

In case you missed Materials Day, or if you attended and want to view a schedule of events, links to presentations that were given during the morning session and a link where you can view the posters that were presented go to http://www.mri.psu.edu/events/materialsday/

Faculty Spotlight

Paul S. Weiss
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
http://stm1.chem.psu.edu/

 

Paul Weiss is interested in understanding and controlling molecules at the smallest imaginable scale. Single molecules, molecules interacting on surfaces, molecules in monolayers, molecular rulers, molecular motors, controlled patterning in nanolithography, and membranes and their biological properties - these are just a few examples of the territory his group covers. The addition of biomaterials to his repertoire started after his first sabbatical 7 years ago when he had his research team start looking at how theories they had developed about solid surfaces could be ported over to biology.

 

For the full story go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/FacultySpotlight/PaulWeiss/

Crossover 2004

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, in cooperation with the Materials Research Institute and the Hershey College of Medicine are organizing Crossover 2004 to be held October 21 - 22 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. The meeting has been organized to explore the interface between life sciences and the physical sciences with an emphasis on materials at Penn State. Please mark this date on your calendar and plan to attend this important event.

 

The program has three primary objectives:

 

The program technical content will include:

 

Details on the Huck website will be posted soon.

MCL Summer Characterization Open Houses

The Materials Characterization Lab (MCL) will be hosting weekly open houses throughout the summer to introduce interested parties to the analytical capabilities available through MCL. The open houses will be held Thursdays at 10:00 AM beginning June 3rd through August 12th. Each open houses will consist of the following: an overview of the technique, applications from Penn State materials, discussion of MCL capabilities, how to get started (contact people locations, training, rates, etc.), campus resources (coursework, faculty experts, etc.) and a brief lab tour. These open houses will be free; no advanced registration is required. Refreshments will be provided. More information is available at http://www.mri.psu.edu/facilities/mcl/

 

Contracts and Grants

Materials research accounted for more than $8 million in contracts and grants for the months of March and 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 OSPs Strategic Information Management System.

 

Allara, David L; Quantum Computation Using Self-Assembled Molecular Spin Arrays, U.S. Department of the Army

 

Mayer, Theresa S; Jackson, Thomas N; Mallouk, Thomas E; Keating, Christine D; Directed Assembly of Molecular Logic Architectures Using Functionalized Metallic Nanowires, U.S. Department of the Navy

 

Redwing, Joan M; Mohney, Suzanne E; Mayer, Theresa S; Mizul, A; NIRT: Semiconductor Nanowires: Building Blocks for Nanoscale Electronics, National Science Foundation

 

Schiffer, Peter E; Low Temperature Studies of Novel Magnetic Materials, National Science Foundation

 

Wang, Chao-Yang; Development of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Technology with Low Water Crossover and Using Concentrated Fuel, Industry

 

Weiss, Paul S; Horn, Joseph F; Chemically Advanced Nanolithography, U.S. Department of the Air Force

 

For a complete list of the contracts and grants for March and April go to: http://www.mri.psu.edu/awards.asp?awardperiod=0404

Funding Opportunities

 

Materials Seminars

Since we are between semesters, there are no current seminars to list.

 

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