Elaine Sanders has accepted a position as Professional Enrichment Staff Assistant in the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence effective April 1, 2005. In addition to her role as personal assistant to Dr. Todd, Ms. Sanders' contributions to the ESM department include strategic planning and development. We wish Ms. Sanders the best in her new role.

Akhlesh Lakhtakia, University Distinguished Professor, has been awarded the Penn State Engineering Society's Outstanding Advisor Award for 2005. Presentation of the award, and other PSES awards, will be made on March 18, at 1:00 p.m. in the Kunkle Lounge (Hammond Building).

Lucas Passmore, (Ph.D., ESM) and Karthic Sarpatwara (Ph.D., ESM) will present a paper entitled "A Modified Three Terminal Charge Pumping Technique Applied to Vertical Transistor Structures" at the American Vacuum Society International Conference on Microelectronics and Interfaces to be held in Santa Clara, California, March 20-24, 2005. The paper is co-authroed with K. Sarpatwari,S. A. Suliman, O. O. Awadelkarim, R. Ridley, G. Dolny, J. Michalowicz, C.-T. Wu.

Once again, ESM graduate student Lucas Passmore will be working with the Bradford County US First Robotics Team. Lucas has been working with the team since his senior year of high school.

The FIRST Competition is a national contest which immerses high school students in the exciting world of engineering. Over six short intense weeks, students and local volunteers work together to brainstorm, design, construct, and test their robot. The teams then compete in a spirited, no-holds-barred regional tournament complete with referees, time clocks and huge amounts of cheering.

To learn more about the competion, visit they Team 84 website at: http://www.team84.org/

Engineering Science and Mechanics is proud to provide team sponsorship!