Mr. Ting Zhu (ESM doctoral student) gave an oral presentation titled "Device Optimization and Surface Morphology Investigation of NIR Light Harvesting PbSe Nanocrystal-Polymer Hybrid Photovoltaic Cells" in the
B7 Symposium "Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage," and co-presented another talk titled "Formation of Ultra-Thin Nanodot Films by Mist Deposition" in the Symposium "Nanoscale One-Dimensional Electronic and Photonic Devices,"both of the 212th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society in Washington D.C., October 7-12, 2007. Mr. Zhu's PhD research is being supervised by Dr. Jian Xu.

Judith A. Todd, P. B. Breneman Department Head Chair of Engineering Science and Mechanics, has been elected Vice President of the Society of Engineering Science. Dr. Todd's office is effective January 1, 2008 and runs through 2008.

Drs. Cliff Lissenden and Edward Smith will be hosting the Fall 2007 Ben Franklin Center for Excellence in Structural Health Monitoring conference on November 7 and 8, 2007 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.

The Center is advancing structural health monitoring to improve public safety, readiness, reduce maintenance costs, and foster a paradigm shift in design, by leveraging and fostering collaborative research and development efforts among academia, industry, and government entities. Our initial focus emphasizes energy, aerospace, automotive, medical and civil infrastructures, and the transfer of technologies to member companies, agencies, and institutions.

The agenda for the event includes two key note speakers, introduction of new Center members, showcasing ongoing projects at Penn State, and give the opportunity for attendees to learn what’s new with Structural Health Monitoring.

For additional information regarding the Center or becoming a member, feel free to contact Dr. Cliff Lissenden (lissenden@psu.edu) or Dr. Edward Smith (ecs5@engr.psu.edu).

Joby John, ESM doctoral student, presented a paper “Performance Variability and Inter-trial tasks Dynamics” (co-authored with Joseph Cusumano) at the 44th Annual Technical Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science, on the Texas A&M University campus, on October 21 - 24, 2007.

Susan Trolier-McKinstry
Penn State Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Wednesday, December 5, 2007
3:35 p.m.
114 Earth-Engineering Sciences Bldg.

Michael Gerhold
U.S. Army Research Office

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
3:35 p.m.
114 Earth-Engineering Sciences Bldg.

Engineering Science majors are required to conduct a capstone research and design project that integrates the scientific principles of research, design, and analysis and applies them to a particular field of engineering.

A list of students, their selected topics, thesis supervisor and more follows below.

Dr. Robert McGrath
Senior Vice President for Research
The Ohio State University

Friday, October 26, 2007
3:35 pm
114 Earth-Engineering Sciences Bldg.

Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) is pleased to welcome Mr. Jason M. Lyons to the staff. Mr. Lyons will be responsible for coordinating the ESM Alumni, Development, and Advancement activities with Dr. Judith A. Todd and Ms. Maureen Macaleer, Major Gifts Officer in the College of Engineering’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations, and for developing communications with departmental industrial partners. Mr. Lyons joins ESM from Penn State’s Office of Human Resources where he was responsible for the coordination and communications of several high-profile training programs including Mastering Supervision, Advanced Mastering Supervision, The Penn State Leader, ACOR Certification and Education Series (ACES), Pathways to Excellence: Key skills for New F&B Staff, and Central New Employee Orientation.

Mr. Lyons is pursuing a Penn State Bachelor of Arts Degree in Law and Society. He holds a degree in Business Administration/Management and Marketing from South Hills School of Business and Technology (2003).

Dr. Joanna Mirecki Millunchick
University of Michigan Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
3:35 p.m.
114 Earth-Engineering Sciences Bldg

Mr. Alexandre Likhanskii (ESM doctoral student) made an oral presentation titled "Investigation of asymmetric dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator, driven by repetitive nanosecond pulses" and co-presented a poster titled "Schlieren observation of vortex flow structures in asymmetric dielectric barrier discharges" at the 60th Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference in Arlington, VA, October 2-5, 2007. Mr. Likhanskii's research is being supervised by Dr. Vlad Semak.

Engineering Science and Mechanics faculty hosted undergraduate students at a question and answer pizza party on Monday, October 15, 2007. "I am delighted with the numbers of excellent students who participated in the event", says Professor Christine Masters, Undergraduate Program Coordinator. If you were unable to attend the event and would like more information concerning an undergraduate degree in engineering science, please contact Professor Masters by e-mail at: cbm100@psu.edu.

Mr. Jinjie Shi (ESM, Ph.D student) is the first author of a paper that will appear in the November 2007 issue of Nanotechnology. Mr. Shi's paper, titled "Nanoporous polymeric transmission gratings for high-speed humidity sensing", was co-authored with Vincent K. S. Hsiao (Postdoctoral Scholar) and Tony Jun Huang (Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics).

The Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Donald F. Heaney as Director of the Center for Innovative Sintered Products (CISP). Dr. Heaney has served as the Associate Director of CISP since 2000.

Dr. Heaney’s immediate goal for CISP is to engage the Board of Directors; develop strategic initiatives that will lead to increased industrial memberships, new sponsored research projects, collaborations and student support across the University; and, create a long-term vision for CISP’s future.

Dr. Heaney is an Associate Professor of ESM, has been a member of Penn State’s graduate faculty since 2000 and a member of the ESM faculty since 2006. Dr. Heaney’s group conducts research in the areas of microcomponent fabrication, titanium powder metallurgy, metal/ceramic brazing, and organic selection for the net shape fabrication of powdered materials. While Associate Director of CISP, Dr. Heaney was responsible for powder processing equipment acquisitions and member contract research.

The ESM Alumni Advisory Board's (AAB) first annual Homecoming Tailgate was held on October 13th outside Beaver Stadium.

The Nittany Lions beat the nationally ranked Wisconsin badgers 38-7 in front of nearly 110,000 fans. Photos of the event are posted in the ESM gallery.

Mr. Jesse Hecht, (B. S., E SC, 2004) recently returned to the department to recruit both undergraduate and graduate students. Mr. Hecht is employed in the Launch and Test Operations Group of SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies)--a company that he describes as having significant growth potential for employees.

In August, 2006, SpaceX was selected by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo (reusable commercial space vehicles) to the International Space Station. Mr. Hecht's own involvement has included the satellite launch team and the development of a new launch pad at Cape Canaveral where his primary thrust has been devoted to the turn around vehicles for the shuttle.

Mr. Hecht is a member of the Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) newly created ESM Alumni Advisory Board and may be contacted at Jesse.hecht@spacex.com

Akhlesh Lakhtakia
Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
3:35 p.m.
114 Earth-Engineering Sciences Bldg.

Mr. Michael Erdman, ESM Alumni Advisory Board (AAB) Chair, is pleased to announce that the newly formed AAB is hosting an ESM Tailgate at the October 13th Penn State homecoming football game.

Mr. Erdman notes this is the first of many AAB activities planned to help create a community of ESM Alumni committed to assisting students in their careers and to furthering the goals of the Department. Opportunities for involvement include: Development and Alumni Relations; Recruitment, Retention and Placement; and Identity and Communications.

For further information, visit the ESM Alumni website.

Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) alumni have joined forces to create the ESM Alumni Advisory Board (AAB).The mission of the ESM Alumni Advisory board is to advance the Department's world-wide recognition, specifically in recruiting and retaining diverse, quality students, preparing these students for the work environment, and promoting the understanding, attractiveness, and perceived value of ESM in industry, research, and academia.

To execute this mission, the Alumni Advisory Board, working closely with Department faculty and staff, will establish an active network of alumni and students, interact with all involved parties to generate strong communication paths, and advocate for Department initiatives and ESM students throughout the "lifecycle" of their recruitment, education, and careers.

Guneet Sethi, (engineering science and mechanics doctoral candidate) will present a paper titled “Structure and Dielectric Properties of Amorphous Tantalum Pentoxide Thin Film Capacitors”, at the 2007 IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, to be held in
Vancouver, BC, Canada, October 14–17, 2007, The paper can be found in the program as oral paper 96.

Paper co-authors include Jennifer Sloppy, Matthew Olszta, Jing Li, Michael T. Lanagan and Mark W. Horn. Mr. Sethi is advised by Dr. Michael T. Lanagan.

Congratulations!

Dr. Drapaca joins the ESM department as an assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics. Dr. Drapaca received her Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her thesis was entitled: “Brain Biomechanics: Dynamical Morphology and Non-linear Viscoelastic Models of Hydrocephalus”. Since then, she has held post-doctoral fellowships in the Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo, and the Department of Physiology and biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester. Dr. Drapaca also holds the title of Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, Canada.

A highly respected theorist on the biomechanics of hydrocephalus, Dr. Drapaca’s computational modeling of hydrocephalus promises world-wide impact through enhanced understanding of this medical condition, improved treatments, and contributions to a hydrocephalus imaging project for the developing world.

Dr. Drapaca will be working collaboratively with Drs. Schiff and Gluckman, the Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences, and the Department of Neurosurgery at the Milton S. Hershey School of Medicine.

Congratulations to Mr. Xiaole Mao (Bioengineering), Mr. John Waldeisen (B.S., E Sc, 2007), and Dr. Tony Huang (the James Henderson Assistant Professor and assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics). Their scientific graphic titled "3D Hydrodynamic Focusing Process" was selected as the cover design for the October 2007 issue (Volume 7, Number 10) of the journal Lab on a Chip. The graphic was created for their paper titled "Microfluidic drifting--implementing three-dimensional hydrodynamic focusing with a single-layer planar microfluidic device," which appears on pages 1260-1262 of the publication.

Nadine Barrie Smith
Penn State Department of Bioengineering

Wednesday, October 10, 2007
3:35 p.m.
114 Earth-Engineering Sciences Bldg.

Ms. Dawn Nelson has joined the ESM Department as staff assistant to the department head. Ms. Nelson has over twenty years of Penn State experience including six years as a staff assistant in the Office of the President and seven years as an assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School. Ms. Nelson's responsibilities include assisting the ESM Departhead Head with on-going Strategic Plan initiatives. She is also a part of the department's alumni development team and serves on the department's Scholarship Committee.

Please join us in welcoming Dawn to the ESM Department.

Sulin Zhang, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, has been appointed as a member of the Penn State Graduate School.

Engineering Science and Mechanics is pleased to annouce the Fall 2007 Undergraduate Classroom Teaching Interns. Mr. Abdalla Nassar is working with Professor Mirna Urquidi-Macdonald in the development of class notes for E MCH 13 (Strength of Materials). Mr. Kevin Graves will be holding office hours and making class presentations in EMch 110H (Equilibrium Mechanics) along with Professor Lawrence Friedman.

Congratulations to both students on their achievement!

Bruce Gluckman, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics and associate director of the Center for Neural Engineering has been appointed associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.