eMaterials@Penn State

Friday, March 25, 2011 - Volume 11, Issue 1


Smart Polymers at the Nanoscale

A new addition to MRI and the materials community at Penn State, Dr. Zoubeida Ounaies, associate professor of mechanical engineering, arrived this January from Texas A&M University, where she served on the faculty of aerospace engineering and materials science and engineering. No stranger to University Park, she holds bachelor and master's degrees in mechanical engineering, and a Ph.D. in engineering science and mechanics, all from Penn State.

Ounaies' research area is polymer-based smart materials that can be used for sensing, actuation, energy harvesting, and energy storage. Smart materials, which can respond to external changes such as electric and magnetic fields, temperature and stress, are a vibrant field of study at Penn State.

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New Experimental Battery and Energy Storage Center Opens

On Monday, March 21st, an opening ceremony marked the kick-off for the Battery and Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Center in Reber Building, home of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. The BEST Center is a university-wide initiative that includes faculty from the Colleges of Engineering and Earth and Mineral Sciences, with future participation expected from the Eberly College of Science.

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Tying Materials Research to GPIC

The goal of the Department of Energy is to reduce the annual energy use of buildings by 80% by the year 2050. The goal of the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC), a US DOE Energy Innovation Hub led by Penn State, is to demonstrate operational energy savings of 50% by 2013-2015 by transforming the commercial building retrofit and new construction processes in a cost effective manner. "This goal demands rethinking every technical approach and solution set as well as adopting new business value propositions, public policy positions, and workforce development process," according to their overall program goal statement.

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Grants and Contracts

Materials research accounted for more than $25 million in contracts and grants for the months of August thru February! The largest of these contracts and grants (those greater than $200K) are listed below. These data are provided by OSP's Strategic Information Management System.

  • Huang, Jun (Tony); On-Chip Optofluidic Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (O-LSCM) for Early Cancer Detection; NIH Office of the Director
  • Pantano, Carlo G; Exploration and Modeling of Structural Changes in Waste Glass under Corrosion; Battelle - Idaho National Laboratory
  • Lissenden, III, Clifford J; NEUP: Monitoring microstructural evolution of Alloy 617 with nonlinear acoustics for remaining useful life prediction; multiaxial creep-fatigue and creep-ratcheting;Battelle - Idaho National Laboratory
  • Hickner, Michael A; Wang, Chao-Yang; ARRA: Transformative Renewable Energy Storage Devices Based on Neutral Water Input ; Industry
  • Randall, Clive A; ARRA: Energy Storage Device (ARPA-E); Industry
  • Thynell, Stefan T; Yetter, Richard A; Lee, Jong-Guen; Adair, James H; Spray and Combustion of Gelled Hypergolic Propellants for Future Rocket and Missile Engines; U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Acquisition Center
  • Horn, Mark W; Dickey, Elizabeth C; Allara, David L; Ashok, S; Growth, Characterization and Modeling of Monolithic Silicon Microbolometer Materials for Uncooled Infrared ;Detectors U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Acquisition Center
  • Velegol, Darrell; Sen, Ayusman; IDR: Emergent Assembly & Patterning of Dynamic Catalytic Motor Systems; National Science Foundation
  • Trolier-Mckinstry, Susan E; High Strain Actuators for Miniaturized Actuators and Self-Powered Sensors;NAVAL Postgraduate School Foundation, Inc.
  • Yetter, Richard A; Risha, Grant A; Nanoenergetics and High Hydrogen Content Materials for Space Propulsion; Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Zhang, Qiming; Rahn, Christopher; Braille Display using EAP; National Eye Institute
  • Runt, James P; Settles, Gary S; Dillon, Gregory P; Hargather, Michael J; Elastomeric Polymer-by-Design to Protect the Warfighter against Traumatic Brain Injury; Office of Naval Research
  • Winograd, Nicholas; Molecular Imaging of Biomaterials ? Single Cells; National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
  • Mayer, Theresa S; NNIN: National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network; Cornell University
  • Keating, Christine D; Artificial Metabolons: Models for proximity-driven control over multienzyme pathways; National Institute of General Medical Sciences
  • Zhang, Qiming; SBIR Phase II: Unconventional Air Conditioning and Refrigeration System Based on Giant Electrocaloric Effect in Polar-Fluoropolymers; Industry
  • Gomez, Enrique D; Hickner, Michael A; Doping and Morphological Control at the Semiconductor-Electrode Interface in Organic Solar Cells; National Science Foundation
  • Colby, Ralph H; Velegol, Darrell; Ramirez, Laura M; Controlling Rheology by Tuning Colloidal Interactions; National Science Foundation
  • Datta, Suman; Narayanan, Vijaykrishnan; Mayer, Theresa S; Midwest Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery Project 1.5 (MIND 1.5); Notre Dame, University of