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Commencement 2008
Many Course III students, alumni, faculty, and staff celebrated with our newest graduates and their families under the tent outside Building 6. Photos of the party and the student awards will be posted soon.
Prof. Darrell Irvine named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
In May, Prof. Irvine was selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. This five-year appointment provides researchers with the resources and flexibility to pursue new ideas. To learn more about this honor, see the MIT News Office (May 27, 2008).
Recent Course III Awards
Prof. Sam Allen has been named the winner of the 2008 Capers and Marion McDonald Award. This award recognizes excellence in advising and mentoring. During his career at MIT, Prof. Allen has served not only
as a teacher and researcher, but also as a skilled advisor of
undergraduates, graduate students and junior faculty; an MIT-certified
mediator, trained in helping members of the department and Institute
community resolve conflicts amicably; and an central participant in numerous
Institute committees dealing with academic programs, outreach, and
activities beyond the formal classroom. He was among the first MIT faculty
members to participate in freshman advising, and has served the longest in
this capacity.
At the MIT Awards Convocation on May 6, Prof. Craig Carter received the Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching. Kevin McComber received one of the William L. Stewart, Jr., Awards, for students who have made outstanding contributions to co-curricular activities and events during the preceding year at MIT; he was recognized for his work with the GSC. Suelin Chen received one of the Laya and Jerome B. Wiesner Awards, recognizing student achievement in the creative arts and the performing arts; Suelin's work in music, dance, writing, and visual arts was cited by her nominees.
David Bono, Teri Chung, and Diane Rose were recipients of the 2008 School of Engineering Infinite Mile
Award. SoE Infinite Mile Award winners do their jobs extremely well and they make it easier for others to do the
same.
His colleagues say that Mr. Bono, the manager of the
Undergraduate Teaching Lab, is a “can-do, hands-on,
doesn’t-suffer-fools-gladly kind of guy. He will work hard
for you, provided that you work hard yourself. A trail of
1 a.m. back and forth e-mails attest to David’s stamina
and motivational powers with his student lab advisees.”
Teri Chung is the administrative assistant in the Tuller
group responsible for managing the team’s research,
educational, and outreach activities. She creatively thinks“outside-the-box” to contribute to more efficient and effective operational procedures to assist in reaching the
group’s objectives. She also initiates and coordinates K–12
educational outreach activities to promote science related
interest in local public schools.
Diane Rose currently works for Profs. Roylance, Russell,
and Wuensch; she has worked in the Department since
Nov. 2000. She is particularly recognized for her ability to
undertake “major tasks for the Department, especially
when a deadline is imminent. Most recently, for example,
she assumed a major part of the burden in assembling
reports from all of the members of our Department for
organization and submission to ABET for review and
accreditation of our Undergraduate Program. She did this
effectively, cheerfully, and with grace.”
Earlier this spring, Prof. Carter was announced as one of the 2008 MacVicar Faculty Fellows. MicVicar Fellowships are named for the late Dean Margaret MacVicar and recognize members of MIT's faculty for their innovative and dedicated teaching. See coverage in Tech Talk and from the MIT News Office.
MRS, the Materials Research Society, has announced its first group of Fellows. The 34 newly recognized fellows include Professors Subra Suresh, Ned Thomas, and Carl Thompson. Other MIT affiliates are John W. (Bill) Morris, '64 ScD '69, James S. Speck, SM '85 ScD '89, and fomer faculty member John W. Cahn.
The title of MRS Fellow honors MRS members who are notable for their distinguished research accomplishments and their outstanding contributions to the advancement of materials research, world-wide. The maximum number of new Fellow appointments each year is limited to 0.2% of the current MRS membership. The distinction is thus highly selective.
The MRS is the largest professional society serving the materials research community (significantly larger than the TMS, American Ceramic Society, and the Materials Physics or Polymer Physics Divisions of the APS), with over 14,000 current members worldwide.
Silvija Gradečak is a 2008 recipient of the NSF Career Awards. Prof.
Gradečak researches nano-electronics and photonics.
Subra Suresh, Dean of the School of Engineering and Ford Professor of Engineering, has been chosen by the Society of Engineering Science to receive the A.C. Eringen Medal for 2008, one of the highest and most distinguished prizes awarded in recognition of "sustained outstanding achievements in engineering science." In its annual meeting to be held this fall at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, Suresh will receive a medal, a cash prize, and lifetime membership in the society. In Suresh's honor, the society also plans to organize a special symposium devoted to the science and applications of advanced material, cell and molecular biomechanics, and nanotechnology to which Suresh has made pioneering contributions. The list of recipients of the Eringen Medal in recent years includes the late Nobel laureate Pierre de Gennes.
Talia Gershon, '08, has just won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. The Gates Scholarships are supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and are similar to the Rhodes Fellowship to Oxford University. The Gates Scholarships are given to students worldwide and are super-competitive, like the Marshall and Rhodes. Talia is one of about 40 US students who are offered Gates Scholarships, and one of about 100 worldwide. She will do her PhD in Materials at Cambridge, in the area of solar cell materials.
Anne M. Mayes '86 Fellowship
Established
 Anne's association with MIT began her freshman year when she fell in love with materials science after taking 3.091. She joined the MIT faculty in 1993 and was the first woman hired and promoted through the ranks to full professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Her deep commitment to teaching led her to introduce new disciplines, redesign the laboratory subjects, and teach what she would have wanted to learn as a student.
Anne's polymers research led to breakthroughs in reducing pollution from plastic molding, improving rechargeable batteries, and filters to improve water supplies. Her many honors and awards include the Materials Research Society's Outstanding Young Investigator Award and the MacVicar Fellowship, MIT's highest award for teaching excellence. More about her research can be found on her DMSE webpage and on her group website.
After a serious illness, Anne has returned to her hometown of Mustang, Oklahoma. We miss her humor, dedication, and desire to make MIT better and are delighted to honor her with a Fellowship that supports the students whom she loves so much. To date, more than three-quarters of the necessary funds have been raised.
Join us and make your gift online today!
DMSE research in the news
Electric cars discussed
Prof. Gerd Ceder was interviewed for a story in the Economist (June 19, 2008).
"Paper towel" developed for oil spills
Prof. Francesco Stellacci and other researchers have created a membrane that can absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil, and can be recycled many times for future use. The oil itself can also be recovered. Some 200,000 tons of oil have already been spilled at sea since the start of the decade. See the MIT News Office for the full story (May 30, 2008).
MIT-developed "Perfect Mirror" used in laser surgery
New England Cable News broadcast a story about OmniGuide, a company that manufactures laser surgery devices of Prof. Fink is the CEO (May 19, 2008).
Bacteria-resistant films created
Professors Rubner and Van Vliet, grad student Jenny Lichter, and senior Maricela Delgadillo are part of a team of MIT researchers who have developed bacteria-resistant films with the potential for medical-industry use in order to prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections. See the MIT News Office for further details (May 15, 2008).
Biologically based, nano-scale rechargeable batteries
Professors Belcher and Chiang work toward new battery developments. See the MIT News Office (March 11, 2008).
MIT researchers work toward engineering blood vessels
Christopher Bettinger, MSE grad student, is lead author on a paper describing work toward inducing cells to form parallel tube-like structures that could one day serve as tiny engineered blood vessels. See the MIT News Office for the full story. Spotlight Dec. 18.
Thomas group
development is potential medical breakthrough
With other MIT researchers, they have invented a microfluidic way to efficiently make particles with exquisite internal structure. See Technology Review (Dec.
3, 2007).
Prof. Chiang profiled in Boston Sunday Globe Magazine
As part of the "Living Green" issue, Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang's work on rechargeable batteries for automobiles was profiled in the Globe Magazine (Nov. 18, 2007).
Prof. Thomas and group develop color-changing gel
MIT researchers have created a new structured gel that can rapidly
change color in response to a variety of stimuli, including
temperature, pressure, salt concentration and humidity. Among other
applications, the structured gel could be used as a fast and
inexpensive chemical sensor, says Professor Edwin Thomas, head of the
Department of Materials Science and Engineering. One place where such
an environmental sensor could be useful is a food processing plant,
where the sensor could indicate whether food that must remain dry has
been overly exposed to humidity. Thomas is senior author of a paper
on the work in Nature Materials. A critical component of the
structured gel is a material that expands or contracts when exposed
to certain stimuli. Those changes in the thickness of the gel cause
it to change color, through the entire range of the visible spectrum
of light. The work was funded by the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency and the NSF. See the MIT News Office for further details.
Tuller group develops electronic nose
A tiny "electronic nose" that MIT researchers have engineered with a
novel inkjet printing method could be used to detect hazards
including carbon monoxide, harmful industrial solvents and
explosives. Led by MIT professor Harry Tuller, the researchers have
devised a way to print thin sensor films onto a microchip, a process
that could eventually allow for mass production of highly sensitive
gas detectors. "Mass production would be an enormous breakthrough for
this kind of gas sensing technology," said Tuller, a professor in the
Department of Materials Science and Engineering who presented the
research Oct. 30 at the Composites at Lake Louise Conference in
Alberta, Canada. The prototype sensor consists of thin layers of
hollow spheres made of the ceramic material barium carbonate, which
can detect a range of gases. Using a specialized inkjet print head,
tiny droplets of barium carbonate or other gas-sensitive materials
can be rapidly deposited onto a surface, in any pattern the
researchers design. The miniature, low-cost detector could be used in
a variety of settings, from an industrial workplace to an air-conditioning system to a car's exhaust system, according to Tuller.
The research is funded by the NSF. See the MIT News Office for further details.
Prof. Cima and colleagues develop testing for cancer markers
Prof. Michael Cima and researchers from Harvard and MIT have developed a means to test for cancer by using nanoparticles with magnetic properties that change in the presence of cancer markers. While similar research has been performed before, the toxicity of the nanoparticles has prevented their use in humans. Cima and his colleagues
have encased the nanoparticles in a polymer reservoir. See Chemical Technology for further details. Aug. 13.
Podcasts on Nanomechanics
Podcast discussions are now available for all those interested in the field of Nanomechanics.* The podcasts were created by Prof. Christine Ortiz and Course III students in conjunction with the MIT undergraduate engineering subject 3.052 Nanomechanics of Materials and Biomaterials
(stellar site). We're very grateful to all the podcasters for making this exciting new venture available!
A podcast by Prof. Angela Belcher explains how viruses can produce eco-friendly batteries.
Please see our alumni
newsletter for further DMSE news. The Opportunities page on the Materials@MIT site announces faculty postings, fellowship and scholarship announcements, and employment listings. Previous news items
can be viewed in our spotlight
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