Dr. Osama Awadelkarim, Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, will travel to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in late January to attend the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority Board meeting. Dr. Awadelkarim is attending this meeting on behalf of the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization.

It’s called Hydrocephalus -- a build-up of fluid that leads to a swelling of the brain and an enlarged head. Dr. Steve Schiff, director of the Center for Neural Engineering at Penn State University, said that without treatment it can cause brain damage or death.


“Hydrocephalus is literally a medical word that means water on the brain. It is the most common reason that a child would need to have neurological surgery,” he said.

A small amount of fluid surrounding the brain is normal.

“We produce about a cup of fluid a day and it bathes and cushions our brains. And every drop we make has to be taken out of the head by the body. And there are tiny, little fluid channels that allow that to happen,” he said.

Unless, that is, something goes wrong.

Schiff said, “One of the reasons children get in trouble with this is that they have an infection and the inflammation plugs up the small channels that the fluid needs to exit through. Or they might have some bleeding at the time of birth and that blood can also plug up these channels. And then sometimes children are born with some channels that are not formed correctly.”

The blockages trigger an infection. Schiff says the most common treatment has been to insert a tube to drain fluid from the brain to the stomach. The body can then absorb and later eliminate it. However, sometimes the tubes themselves can become blocked. If that happens, the child needs immediate medical care.

Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics, has been named the Honorary International Chair Professor for the National Taipei University of Technology. This honor is given in recognition of an outstanding achievement in the discipline of Nanophotonics.