Jason Ryan, a graduate student in ESM won a best poster paper award at the spring Materials Research Society (MRS) meeting held in San Francisco last month. His paper entitled “Electron Spin Resonance and Spin Dependent Recombination Studies of Silicon Dangling Bond Centers in Hafnium Oxide MOS Structures” was one of only three among over 300 poster papers to win this award, which included a check for $500. His coauthors include his advisor P.M. Lenahan, collaborators at SEMATECH G. Bersuker, P. Lysaght, and S.C. Song, Intel collaborator W. Tsai, and Penn State Students J. Campbell and T. Pribicko.

Jackie Van Pelt, E SC sophomore, is the recipient of a summer Cooperative Extension Internship for Schreyer Honors Scholars. Jackie will participate in the Adams County Ag Innovations Initiative where she specifically will be involved with engineering investigations on Retooling Pennsylvania Orchards with Innovative Technologies.

Matt Frank (E SC junior and Schreyer Scholar) has been selected to intern at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a national bi-partisan policy "think tank" in Washington, D.C. The institute has made special internship opportunities available to Penn State Schreyer Scholars for the past eight years. Scholars at CSIS conduct research and develop policy recommendations for government, non-profit agencies, industry and the military for various geographic areas in the world and on a variety of issues ranging from cyberterrorism, to the WTO, the nuclear arms race in India, policy, and the efficacy of trade embargoes.

We congratulate Matt on his outstanding success.

Benjamin Ross, Engineering Science senior, took first place in the Student Songwriters Competition in April 2006. The competetion was organized by students in Recreation, Park and Tourism Management (RPM) 356.

Engineering Science senior Benjamin Ross will be this year's spring 2006 commencement ceremony student marshal.

He has chosen Akhlesh Lakhtakia, distinguished professor of engineering science and mechanics, to be his faculty escort.