Dr. Melik Demirel, Associate Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, is organizing a summer school on nanoscale science and biological interfaces. The School is aimed at graduate students and junior researchers working in the field of surface science that have interest in simulation, characterization, experimental approaches of biomolecule-surface interactions.

DATES: June 19 - July 1, 2010
LOCATION: University of California, Santa Barbara

For more information, please visit this website.

The 37th annual Nelson W. Taylor Lecture included talks by four noted Penn State faculty followed by a lecture from this year’s Taylor honoree, Tobin J. Marks of Northwestern University. Marks, a chemist and materials scientist, is winner of the National Medal of Science. This year’s talks were organized around the interactions of light with matter. A brief summary of each of the speakers’ remarks are noted at this web site.

Anish Upadhyaya and Vivek Verma, Ph.D. graduates from Engineering Science and Mechanics are on the faculty of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. While at Penn State, Anish was advised by Randall German, Professor Emeritus, and Vivek was advised by Jeff Catchmark.

On December 5th, Brennan DeCesar and James Moses, graduate students in Engineering Science and Mechanics participated in the 7th Annual Bellefonte YMCA Polar Bear Plunge at Bald Eagle State Park. This event raises funds for the Strong Kid’s Campaign. The Strong Kid’s Campaign enables the YMCA to turn no one away for their inability to pay for membership. This year, the Bellefonte and State College YMCA are expected to give out a combined $250,000 in financial assistance to families in need. Their financial assistance program called “Open Doors” is one aspect of the Strong Kids Campaign and it provides assistance for various programs and memberships to individuals of all ages. The funds raised from the Polar Plunge are directly used for the Open Doors program.

James has been a member of the YMCA for the past few years only because of this program and wanted to help out to give back and the Plunge was one way to do that. Each participant was required to raise $50 in sponsorship money. Brennan and James were able to raise $107.00 for the event.

Previous years' numbers were blown out of the water with 137 plungers raising more than $30,000. The previous year had only 74 brave souls taking the plunge.

Drew Pulsifer, graduate student in Engineering Science and Mechanics, will present a paper entitled “Modification of conformal evaporated film by rotation technique to improve replica uniformity on nonplanar biotemplates,” at the SPIE Photonics West conference. The meeting is held on January 25 – 28 in San Francisco, California. Drew is being advised by Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics. To learn more about the conference, please visit their website.

Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, and his work with butterfly wings was highlighted in the January 2010 issue of Materials Today magazine. Dr. Lakhtakia’s groundbreaking research opens the door for future research into smaller electronic circuitry and other photonic capabilities such as better solar energy concentrators.

Muhammad and Hina Faryad are the proud parents of their first child, a daughter names Shireen, born at 6:41 am on December 27. Muhammad is a PhD student in the ESM department, advised by Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics.

Dr. Patrick Lenahan, Distinguished Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, will travel to Santa Fe, New Mexico on January 8 to present two talks at the Physics and Chemistry Semiconductor Interface Conference.

The annual PCSI conference is devoted to achieving a fundamental understanding of the physical, chemical, biological, structural, optical, magnetic and electrical properties of surfaces and interfaces. These studies include characterization of growth processes, interfacial phenomena, transport and the structure and influence of defects. To learn more about the conference, please visit their web site.

In December 2009, Dr. Dinesh Agrawal, Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Director of Microwave Processing and Engineering Center gave an invited lecture as a Guest Professor at Wuhan University of Technology in Wuhan China. The topic of the lecture was “Microwave Processing of Materials: Latest Developments.”