The College of Engineering and Penn State Engineering Society (PSES) would like to express congratulations to this year's PSES Award winners including four from the Engineerign Science and Mechanics Department.

The 2008 PSU College of Engineering Faculty/Staff, Engineering Science and Mechanics Award Recipients are:

Mike Erdman, Chair of the ESM Alumni Advisory Board, has been awarded the PSES Distinguished Service Award

Akhlesh Lakhtakia has been awarded the PSES Premier Research Award

Mike Lanagan has been awarded the PSES Outstanding Research Award, and

Mark Horn has been awarded the PSES Outstanding Teaching Award.

The PSES Award recipients will be honored at the Engineering Awards Ceremony at the Kunkle Activities Center in Hammond Building on Friday, April 11, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Thanks go to Chuck Bakis who led our ESM PSES Awards Committee and to all the committee members. For more information about PSES Awards, please visit this website.

Under the coordination of Dr. Cliff Lissenden, the Ben Franklin Center of Excellence in Structural Health Monitoring will be hosting their third meeting at Penn State on April 16-17, 2008 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. The meeting will highlight guest keynote speakers, Ignacio Perez from the Office of Naval Research and Mark Derriso from the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Conference participants and presenters from industry, government, and academia will be present. A preliminary agenda includes both, keynote and technical presentations, project reports, poster displays, lab tours and breakout groups. Lunches will be provided and a reception followed by dinner on Wednesday evening.

Hotel reservations at the Penn Stater can be made by calling (800) 233-7505. We have reserved a room block ($105/night) with the reservation identification code BEN0415.

We look forward to seeing you in Happy Valley!

Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles G. Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, delivered an invited lecture entitled "Sculptured Thin Films Exemplify Nanoengineered Metamaterials" at the First Annual Vikram Memorial Lectures, organized by the Huntsville Electro-Optical Society, Huntsville, AL, on February 28, 2008.