Senior Bradford Lapsansky has been awarded a Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for the academic year.

The SMART Scholarship for Service Program was established by the Department of Defense (DOD) to support undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines with the goal of increasing the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at DOD laboratories. Awardees receive a full scholarship and are employed upon degree completion at a DOD research facility.

Following graduation, Bradford will work for the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground's Communications-Electronics Center of the Research, Development and Engineering Command in Maryland.

Congratulations, Bradford!

With support from Zachary Simmons, director of the ALS Clinic at Hershey Medical Center, and Steven Schiff, Brush Chair Professor of Engineering, graduate student Andrew Geronimo is advancing brain technology and its possibilities for people living with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and others who have lost voluntary motor control.

The technology is called Brain Computer Interface (BCI) and it works with an EEG cap to process information about the brain that has been recorded through the scalp. If successful, users would be able to control computer programs using their mind. Andrew has been working on the BCI project for three years, primarily testing the technology with college students, but has begun a new phase of research involving ALS patients. Andrew is measuring the impact of cognition and genetics, among other factors, on BCI and how the technology can be used for communication and daily living.

Andrew was interviewed about his work by the ALS Association's Greater Philadelphia Chapter and featured in a blog post on the chapter's website.

To learn more about Penn State's Center for Neural Engineering click here.

Two graduate students from the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics have received 2013 Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Congratulations to Beth Bimber and Amber Black on their accomplishments.

In total, eleven graduate students from the College of Engineering have received fellowships. To view the entire list click here.

The NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. The NSF received more than 13,000 applications for graduate fellowships and made 2,000 award offers.

Dr. Patrick Lenahan and his students, Mark Anders, Mike Mutch, Thomas Pomorski and Liam Young, attended the 55th Electronic Materials Conference and the Device Research Conference at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana on June 25-29, 2013. Mark Anders presented on "Electrically Detected Magnetic Resonance Study Comparing 4H SiC n- and p- MOSFETs." Thomas Pomorski presented on "ESR and SDT Studies of BEOL (Low-K) Dielectrics and Etch Stop Layers." Dr. Lenahan presented a paper on "Zero Field and Low Field Spin Dependent Transport in MOS Devices: A New Tool for the Study of Dielectric/Semiconductor Interface and Dielectric Defects," and chaired a session on "Oxide Thin-Film Integration—Alternative Dielectrics, Epitaxial Oxides, Multifunctional Oxides, Superlattices and Metal Gates."

Jason Bostron won the Student Poster Competition at the Annual Spring Workshop for the Center for Acoustics and Vibration (CAV). The workshop is a two day event held at the Nittany Lion Inn and attended by corporate sponsors, international liaisons, US government liaisons and Penn State CAV faculty and students. Graduate students from a variety of engineering disciplines in the fields of acoustics and/or vibration submitted posters for the session held at the Café Laura on the University Park campus. Bostron’s poster was on the use of ultrasonic guided interface waves for bond evaluation of coatings on metal structures. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Acoustics and is advised by Dr. Joseph Rose.

The Fall 2012 project team from the ESC 497 Multidisciplinary Design Project course was honored with the Most Innovative Video award at the College of Engineering Design Showcase in late April.

The winning team developed an interactive display demonstrating the workings of a pneumatic tube for the Discovery Space children’s museum in State College. The display had two coils of transparent tubing and allowed the children to pick a path – either a dollar bill flowing to a collection box, or a colored ping-pong ball that is launched toward the ceiling requiring the kids to chase it around the room.

Team members were Austin Darigo, Melanie Macek, Daniel Severns, and John Sonnelitter, and the instructor was Mike Erdman. The video can be viewed on the Learning Factory website for future students and industry sponsors to see what our students can do.

Brett Corl, (B.S., E SC,), has accepted a position of stress engineer with Boeing, Ridley Park, PA. A spring 2013 graduate, Brett interned during summers with Boeing in its Everett, WA facility where he performed stress analyses on the spoiler hinge fittings for the company’s 787 jets. Brett is a Centre County native and his academic success story was recently featured in a Centre Daily Times article. We wish Brett continued success in his new engineering endeavors.

Kyle Sinding, undergraduate in Engineering Science, was notified that he has been selected to receive an American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) Engineering Undergraduate Award based on his paper “The Past, Present and Future Contribution of NDE in My Life.” ESM Congratulates Kyle on his accomplishments!

Daniel Leonard, graduate student in Engineering Science and Mechanics, has been notified by the Hydro Research Foundation that he has been selected to receive a Hydro Fellowship. The Steering Group members felt that Daniel has the ability to do high-quality graduate work and are pleased to offer this fellowship to him in recognition of Daniel’s great potential for success. The fellowship is based on successful academic research progress and with continued recommendation from Daniel’s academic advisor.

The Hydro Research Fellowship is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and is designed to provide opportunities and benefits to outstanding early career graduate students. The fellowship includes a possible opportunity to work with an industry partner, a tuition allowance of up to $16,900 and a living stipend of up to $26,000 annually.

Leonard’s research focuses on computation of cavitating flow in hydroturbines. His efforts in designing hydroturbines and machinery with reduced cavitation may reduce material loss, vibrations and repair costs. Leonard’s work may also increase operational efficiencies and provide cost savings to the hydroelectric power industry.

He is advised by Jules Lindau, head of the advanced fluid-thermal modeling department in the Applied Research Laboratory.

Dr. Judith A. Todd, Engineering Science and Mechanics Department Head has announced the winners of the spring 2013 ESM Today Graduate Research Symposium. ESM Today is a showcase for the research done by the graduate students of the Engineering Science and Mechanics department.

Poster Awards
1st prizes
Daniel Ahmed, “Probing Fast Biomolecular Process Using Time-Controlled Chemical Waveforms in Microfluidic Channels”
Maryam Neshastehriz, “Self-Lubricating Ni-Encapsulated Hexagonal Boron Nitride Coatings via Cold-Spray”

2nd prizes
Changjin Huang, "Coarse-grained Modeling of Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis of Nanoparticles"
Chandra Chindam, “Acoustic Scattering from Sculptured Thin Film Elements"

Paper Awards
1st prizes
Koray Sekeroglu, “Transport of Droplets and Gels on Nano-PPX Surface”
Jason Sheldon, "A Comparison of Fluid-Structure Interaction Coupling Algorithms”

2nd prizes
Joseph Mahoney, “Optimal Strategy Selection in Shuffleboard with Penalty”
Hitesh Basantani, “Through-film Conductivity of VOx Thin Films for IR Imaging"

Congratulations!