March 2009

"Faculty"

• Professor Christopher Kiely, professor of Materials Science & Engineering and Director of the Center of the Nanocharacterization Laboratory at Lehigh, is part of an international group of scientists who are studying the use of gold and palladium nanoparticles as catalysts in the production of hydrogen peroxide. The group of chemists and materials scientists recently published their work in a February issue of Science magazine. Andrew Herzing, a Lehigh alumnus who graduated with a Ph.D. in 2006, is also involved. Herzing operates the aberration-corrected electron microscopy facilities in the Surface and Microanalysis Science Division of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
• Professor Dan Frangopol, the Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair of Structural Engineering and Architecture in the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, is one of six newly elected Fellows of the International Society for Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructures (ISHMII) and will receive his Certificate of Fellowship at the annual conference in Zurich, Switzerland in July. To be considered for Fellow status, a member of ISHMII must make a profound impact on structural health monitoring or civil engineering infrastructure.
• Professor Filbert Bartoli, the Chandler Weaver Chair and professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, along with Professor Yujie Ding and Ph.D. candidates Qiaoqiang Gan and Zhan Fu of the same department have been developing a metal grating structure that is able to slow or stop terahertz light waves. Having the ability to slow or stop light waves allows scientists to create electronic chips that store and transmit data with an optimal efficiency. In early February, the team demonstrated that their grating structure could be scaled down in size to a dimension compatible with light waves in the telecommunications portion of the spectrum.

"Students"

• David Browne '09, an undergraduate in Materials Science & Engineering took 1^st prize in the undergraduate section of the Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division's poster competition at the annual The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) meeting on Monday February 16. Brown used travel funds that he was awarded in his 2^nd place finish in last April's David and Lorraine Freed Undergraduate Research Symposium. Browne's winning poster was titled, Sol Gel Synthesis and Conversion of Spinel Thin Films. He is advised by professors Helen Chan and Rick Vinci, both of the Materials Science department.
• Ahmed Issa '09, a Materials Science & Engineering major has been studying the use of gold to create a ruby-red hue in glass. Issa, who works with Diamond chair and professor of Materials Science & Engineering, Himanshu Jain, is now studying the use of this glass in optics. This project involves scientists from nearly every continent excluding Antarctica and Australia.
• Five Lehigh engineering graduate students -- Yongsheng Ou, Huajiing Wen, Chao Xu, Happiness Munedzimwe, and Lixiang Luo -- will be participating in the Summit on the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges on March 2^nd and 3 ^rd in Durham, North Carolina. The Summit, hosted by Duke University in partnership with the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering and Olin College, will draw leading engineering, science, humanities, and social science scholars together to the discuss the challenges and opportunities of the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge.

"Alumni"

• Dong-Ning Wang, who earned her Ph.D. in materials science and Engineering at Lehigh in 1998 has performed painstaking research on the history of Chinese student attendance at Lehigh. 2009 marks the 130th year since the first Chinese student enrolled at Lehigh and the 100th year since the first meeting of the Chinese cultural club. In honor of these and other milestones for Chinese students, Wang will unveil her research at the launching of her website, the Lehigh Chinese Alumni Heritage Project page on March 20, 2009. The event and reception are scheduled from 12-3pm in the University Center.

"Programs"

• Lehigh's Rossin Junior Fellows will be participating in the Lehigh Valley's first Canstruction® event. Four teams comprised of Fellows and students from Broughal Middle School will be competing to create structures made entirely out of full cans of food. This year's entries include a banana split, SpongeBob, the Eiffel Tower, and Dino from the Flintstones. All food used in the Canstruction event will be donated to the South Bethlehem Neighborhood Center.
• The March installment of the 2009 Khan Lecture Series will take place on Friday March 20, 2009 at 4:10 in Sinclair Laboratory Auditorium. William F. Baker will present Engineering the World's Tallest: Burj Dubai, speaking about the building that, once erected, will be the tallest man-made structure ever created.
• The 2009 Eureka! Series of Student Competitions awarded an all-time high of $27,000 in grant money to its winners this year. The program, which is co-sponsored by the Lehigh Entrepreneurs Network and the South Bethlehem Keystone Innovation Zone, invites students to participate in a semester-long entrepreneurial and innovation boot camp hosted by the university. The Series covers three individual competitions in which student winners are granted thousands of dollars to pursue their business plans.
• The annual David and Lorraine Free Undergraduate Research Symposium will occur on Wednesday April 1, 2009 in Packard Lab. The symposium celebrates the accomplishments of undergraduate engineering researchers and provides students with an opportunity to network with their peers. The top six Lehigh finishers will move on to participate in the April 16th Lehigh University 2009 Academic Symposium which will highlight examples of outstanding undergraduate and graduate student research. Each of the twelve engineering disciplines may nominate a student to participate. This year marks the first time that the event will also include an equal number of undergraduate participants from Lafayette College in Easton.
• The student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers is hosting an event concerning energy issues on Thursday, March 26th at 6 pm in Packard Auditorium. The series of speakers will be from the Lehigh community and from industry, including Air Products. The topics will include the current state and trends of energy consumption and the option of using hydrogen as a fuel.

     

P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science
Lehigh University • Packard Laboratory, 19 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015 • (610) 758-4025