What's New at ESM?

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.