Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, delivered the Inaugural Lecture on September 16 at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Spanish section of Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale (URSI), held in Santander, Spain. His lecture was entitled "Nanotechnology and metamaterials: A marriage made in heaven". More information can be found at this website.

ESM Faculty, Dr. Joseph Cusumano, Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, and Dr. Steven Schiff, Brush Chair Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, were awarded Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) pilot project funding.

Cusumano will collaborate with Drs. Xuemei Huang and Stephen Piazza on a pilot project entitled “Gait Asymmetry as a Clinical Tool for Early Detection of Parkinson’s Disease.” Schiff will work with Drs. Vivek Kapur and Mary Poss on a pilot project entitled “The Origin of Postinfectious Hydrocephalus in Developing Countries.” Out of the 67 applications received, 19 projects were chosen for funding.

Dr. Tony Huang, Assistant Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, is manipulating tiny objects like single cells or nanosized beads often requires relatively large, unwieldy equipment, but now a system that uses sound as tiny tweezers can be small enough to place on a chip. While optical tweezers are large and expensive, acoustic tweezers are smaller than a dime, small enough to fabricate on a chip using standard chip manufacturing techniques. Tony is also manipulating live cells without damaging or killing them.

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Source: Penn State Live