Akhlesh Lakhtakia, distinguished professor of engineering science and mechanics, delivered an invited lecture entitled "Emerging Directions in Sculptured-Thin-Film Research" at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the German Physical Society and the 21st General Conference of of the Condensed Matter Division of the European Physical Society at Dresden, Germany, March 27-31.

Sandra Watson, ESM budget assistant, and Kelly Owens, ESM accounting assistant, have completed the Pre-Award Certificate semester of the Administrative Committee on Research (ACOR) Certification and Education Series (ACES) program. The ACES is a two-year; four-semester certification program. The 80 classroom hours learning experience is a combination of workshops, online education, mentoring, and competency assessment -- all leading to certification.

Congratulations to both.

Barbara Shaw, professor of engineering science and mechanics, has been approved for a University sabbatical leave of absence Spring Semester 2007. She will conduct final phase (after four years of exposure) in-situ measurements in the field at the LaQue Center in Kure Beach, NC, and damage assessment and analysis at the laboratories of Concurrent Technologies in Largo, FL. The work will be conducted in collaboration with her research partners at the U.S. Army. Leaves of absence are granted for purposes of intensive study or research that will increase the quality of the individual's future contribution to the University

Distinguished Professor Akhlesh Lakhtakia has just returned from an extensive lecture tour in India where he delivered talks at the Banaras Hindu University, the Indian Institute of Technology, and Rai University. A listing of the talks can be found below.

Nicholas J. Salamon, professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM), has retired from the College of Engineering after 20 years of service. Dr. Salamon received his doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University in 1971. He earned his master's and bachelor's degrees, respectively, from Iowa (Engineering Mechanics, 1969) and Drexel University (Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 1965). Prior to joining Penn State Dr. Salamon was an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin and Associate Professor at West Virginia University. He joined Penn State as Professor of ESM in 1985.

Dr. Ivi Smid, Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, presented two papers at the 2006 Interenational Conference on Tungsten, Refractory and Hardmetals VI, February 7-8, 2006, in Orlando, Florida. The conference included fourteen technical sessions dealing with aspects of refractory including novel processing such as microwave sintering, behavior/deformation, W & WC composites (to name a few).

Dr. Smid's presentations were on the "Manufacturing and Machining Performance of Tough Coated Hard Particles and Products thereof" and a "Novel Approach for Processing of Pure Niobium". If you would like more information about Dr. Smid's research, please contact him by e-mail at smid@psu.edu