The Center for Neural Engineering hosted "Implanting Change: The Ethics of Neural Prosthetics" at the University Park campus on August 26-28, 2007. Center for Neural Engineering Director and conference organizer Dr. Steven Schiff notes "the conference was an opportunity for intensive dialogue among leading thinkers to discuss the rapidly evolving ethical dilemmas related to neural implants. The conference explored the most pressing ethical issues for clinicians, researchers, and recipients of neural prosthetics including new human subjects protections required for neural prosthetics research, evaluations of the risks and benefits for neural prosthetic therapies, enhancements which lie beyond the boundaries of medical care, and the legal, ethical, economic and social implications of neural prosthetics.

Eduard Ventsel, professor of engineering science and mechanics, presented a paper titled "Analysis of Behavior of Laser-Welded Square and Rectangular Honeycomb Sandwich Panels, LASCELL, Subjected to Bending and Uniform Pressure Loads" at the Materials Science and Technology 2007 Conference and Exhibition, held in Detroit, MI, September 16-17-2007.

Barbara Bogue, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, Christine Masters, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, and Samia Suliman, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, will participate in the 2007 Penn State hosted Harvard Workshop on Strong Women, Saturday, September 22, 2007. Workshop topics include strategic persuasion and strategies for leading change. The program is designed to provide skills to succeed in accomplishing goals in negotiations and meetings.

The Engineering Science and Mechanics Department is saddened by the loss of Professor Emeritus Ling-Wen Hu. The Centre Daily Times obituary (including funeral service details) for Dr. Hu follows below.

Ling-Wen Hu January 28, 1922 - September 11, 2007 Ling-Wen Hu, 85, died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Born in Nanjing, China, on January 28, 1922, he was the son of the late Professor Xiao-Shi Hu and Xiu-Ying Hu. On Nov. 26, 1953, he married Ling Gut Wong, MD. Mr. Hu earned a BS from National Central, China, in 1943. He also earned his masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1949, from the University of Washington. Finally, he earned his PhD in Engineering Mechanics in 1952 from Penn State University. During his lifetime he was an Assistant Professor at Penn State from 1952 to 1956, then an Associate Professor from 1956 to 1962. From 1962 to 1984 he was a Full Professor for Penn State, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1984. Mr. Hu was a member of the American Philatelic Society, Penn State Alumni Association, Sigma Xi Fraternity, and SESA. He is survived by a son, Da-Shih Hu, MD of Hanover, N.H.; and one daughter, Shih-In Ma, of Murphys, Calif. Friends will be received from 6 to 8 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007, at Koch Funeral Home, State College. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, at the funeral home, with Monsignor David Lockard officiating. Burial will commence at Centre County Memorial Park. Memorials may be made to the Centre County Community Foundation Inc., P.O. Box 824, State College, PA 16804-0824 (Memo - fun for Ling-Wen Hu.)
Source: Published in the Centre Daily Times on 9/14/2007

Tony Huang, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, will present three papers at the 2007 Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting in Los Angeles, CA, September 26-29, 2007. Dr. Huang will also serve as a conference session chair. The titles of the papers are noted below.

"Dynamic self-assembly of monodisperse microbubble lattice and its potential biomedical applications."

"Holographic Nanoporous Polymer-Based Multifunctional Materials for Biosensing and Drug Delivery"

"Large-Scale Fabrication of Ordered Au Nanodisk Arrays for Label-Free Biosensing and Imaging"

Clifford Lissenden, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, was a case study moderator for SHO TIME for Incoming Sophomore and Junior Scholars 2007. The Schreyer Scholars College sponsored event was held Wednesday through Friday, August 22 - 24, 2007. The case study segment provided opportunities for students to meet with faculty of their own discipline in a small group setting.

Ms. Lisa Daub, administrative assistant for the Center for Nanofabrication Education and Utilization and Engineering Science and Mechanics, has been selected to participate in the ACOR Certification and Education Series (ACES) program. 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.

The ACES program will cover topics such as: Proposal Preparation, Budget Building, Advanced Budget Building, F & A Costs, Purchasing Equipment and Other Direct Costs, Travel, Effort Certification, Payroll, Subcontracting, Matching Funds and Cost Sharing, Conflict of Interest, Program Income, Account Set-Up and Pre-Award Costs, Cost Transfers, Internal Service Organizations, No-Cost Extensions, Closeout and Property management and Disposal, Research Compliance and Integrity, and Record Retention.

Charles E. Bakis, professor of engineering science and mechanics, co-authored "Part 2: Mechanics of Composite Materials" in Research Directions in Computational and Composite Mechanics, a report of the United States National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNC/TAM), June 2007. The non-technical report was prepared to enhance the visibility and future directions of computational mechanics in response to issues raised in the National Academy of Sciences report Rising Above the Gathering Storm.

Professor Bakis co-authored Part 2 with Dr. Carl T. Herakovich of the University of Virginia.

Samia A. Suliman, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, will present a paper titled "Electrical Studies on Metal/SrTa O6 or TiO2/Si Substrate Stack Systems" at the Microelectronics Technology and Devices SBMicro 2007 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 3 - 6, 2007.

Albert E. Segall, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, will present an invited paper titled "Science Fiction in Engineering Instruction: The Final Frontier?" at the International Conference on Engineering Education, in Coimbra, Portugal, September 2-7, 2007.