James Moses, doctoral candidate in engineering science and mechanics, is spending his summer conducting research with Ludwig Maximillian University, Munich Germany, on the subject of characterization of synthesis of Nano Wires. The research project will lead to James senior capstone design project with Dr. Samia Suliman, assistant professor in engineering science and mechanics.

Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, is scheduled to deliver a plenary talk entitled “Elastodynamics of Inorganic and Polymeric Sculptured Thin Films,” on Wednesday June 25 at the 7th Iberian Vacuum Meeting and the 5th European Topical Conference on Hard Coatings in Caparica Portugal. For more information, please visit this website.

J. Glenn Ebersole, Masters of Engineering, Engineering Science ’73, of Lancaster has been elected Chairman of the UHLC (Utility Highway Liaison Committee). The UHLC is comprised of representatives of all the utility companies in Pennsylvania and each of the eleven (11) PennDOT Engineering Districts and the PennDOT Central Office Bureaus, including the Office of Chief Counsel and bureaus responsible for utility design, relocation, permitting and related matters in the Commonwealth.

A primary mission of the committee is to provide a forum for open discussion of issues, challenges and opportunities and to foster an enhanced atmosphere of cooperation between the Commonwealth utility companies and PennDOT. To learn more about Glenn, please visit his website.

Brad Bittel, graduate research assistant in engineering science and mechanics will be jointly presenting a talk with Dr. Patrick Lenahan, Distinguished University Professor, at the Electronic Materials Conference in Los Angeles, California from June 24 - 29. To learn more about this conference, please visit this website.

Dr. Patrick Lenahan, University Distinguished Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, will be chairing a meeting at the Electronic Materials Conference in Los Angeles, California from June 24 - 29. To learn more about this conference, please visit this website.

Michael Motyka, master of science candidate in the department of engineering science and mechanics under the research supervision of Professor Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, has been awarded the Newport/Spectra Award by SPIE, International Society for Optical Engineering.

He will present a paper entitled “Excitation of Surface Plasmon Polaritons at the Interface of a Metal and a Sculptured Nematic Thin Film” at the Optics and Photonics 2008 meeting of SPIE, to be held in San Diego, CA on August 10-14, 2008.

Three engineering science and mechanics faculty are recepients of the 2008 Grace Woodward Grants for Collaborative Research in Engineering Science and Medicine.

Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor and Timothy M. Ritty, assistant professor of orthopaedics at the Milton S. Hershey College of Medicine, have received $25,000 in funding to support their application entitled Sculpted Thin Films Designed to Improve Medical Device Tissue Integration.

Michael Lanagan, associate professor, Elena Semouchkina, associate professor, Andrew Webb, professor of bioengineering, and Keith Cheng, professor of pathology, biochemistry, and pharmacology, at the Milton S. Hershey College of Medicine, have received a $25,000 grant to support their application entitled Permittivity Ceramic Inserts for Submillimeter NMR Imaging of Zebrafish

Professor Melik Demirel’s, Pearce Assistant Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, recent work on simulation of lipid-bilayer membranes appeared on the front cover of PCCP journal. This work is completed in collaboration with doctoral student Rama Gullapalli and Professor Peter Butler, Associate Professor from the BioEngneering department at Penn State.

Dr. Judith A. Todd, P.B. Breneman Department Head Chair, the Alumni Advisory Board, and the Department of ESM hosted the 2nd alumni regional meeting at the Penn State Great Valley campus, Malvern, PA on Thursday, June 5, 2008.

The evening highlighted a social hour for alumni to catch up on one another’s accomplishments, a presentation on the state-of-the-department by Dr. Judith Todd, a presentation from Ravindran Akarapu on his perspectives as a research associate and a talk by Abdalla Nassaur on his views as a recent graduate. To complete the evening a dinner was enjoyed by all attendees.

The next meeting is scheduled in the fall to be in the DC/Virginia area. Stay tuned for more details.

Dr. Steve Schiff, Brush Chair Professor of Engineering in the departments of Neurosurgery, ESM, and Physics, has been published in MIT Technology review, June 2008 titled, New approaches to modeling the brain could improve electrical-stimulation therapies. The article highlights Steve’s work as an engineer and neurosurgeon, utilizing an engineering technique, known as control theory, to model the networks of neurons that produce the abnormal electrical activity that is characteristic of both seizures and movement disorders such as Parkinson's. To read more, please visit this website.

Professor Melik Demirel, Pearce Assistant Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, presented two talks. The first talk was at the Bio Sensors & Diagnostics session of NSTI Nanotech 2008 Boston meeting, on June 2, 2008. His talk is entitiled: “A SERS substrate for detection of E.Coli on Nanostructured Poly(p-xylylene).” To read more details are available at the NSTI website.

His second talk was at the Physics Department of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, on June 3, 2008. His talk is entitled “Oblique Angle Polymerization of Nanofibers and Nanotemplates”. More information about the physics department website.

Sean Pursel, masters of science in engineering science major, along with his advisor, Dr. Mark Horn, is to present a paper titled “growth characterization of magnesium and magnesium alloy sculptured thin films” at the SPIE Optics ad Photonics 2008 Nanostructured Thin Films conference on August 10-15, 2005. To read more about the conference, please visit this website.

Dr. Osama O. Awadelkarim, Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, spoke to America.gov in an interview just prior to traveling to Arusha, Tanzania, to attend the first science, technology and innovation workshop of American and African scientists. The workshop seeks to expand a partnership to explore the benefits of basic science research. Further Osama spoke about Africans helping Africa in their future developments in science and technologies. To learn more about Osama’s interview, please visit this website.

James Moses, Doctoral candidate in Engineering Science and Mechanics under the advising of Dr. Al Segall, has been selected as an American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) scholarship winner. In addition to the scholarship, James will be awarded a one-year Honorary Student Membership in ASNE that includes a year subscription to the Naval Engineers Journal. Further, James has been invited to attend ASNE Day 2008 held in Virginia in late June. Congratulations James on your accomplishments!

Dr. Charles Bakis, Distinguished Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, presented an invited presentation on "Durability of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Reinforcement Bars in Concrete" to the NSF International Workshop on the use of Fiber Reinforced Polymers for Sustainable Structures in Cairo, Egypt, May 22, 2008.

Chuck also presented a contributed paper on "Experimental Evaluation of Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Carbon and Aramid FRP Tendons" at the 5th Middle East Symposium on Structural Composites for Infrastructure Applications--Innovations and Applications, in Hurghada, Egypt, on May 23-25, 2008.

Dr. Charles Bakis, Distinguished Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, presented two invited seminars to the Department of Structural Engineering at the University of Naples "Federico II" in Italy, on May 16 and 19, 2008. The seminars are titled "Fiber Reinforced Polymers in Infrastructure: Mechanical Testing and Durability Issues," and "Fiber Reinforced Polymers in Aerostructures: Review of Recent Research."