watts news 2009

1M a t e r i a l s • S c i e n c e • a n d • E n g i n e e r i n g

m s e . o s u . e d u

The Ohio State Univers i ty • Depar tment of Mater ia ls Sc ience and Engineer ing

Fall 2009

MSE Grad Studies Bridge Collapse, p.17 - Welding to Join MSE, p. 18 - Grad Serves in Congress, p. 21

Watts News

Items of Interest, p. 18

Alumni, p. 15

Research, p. 3

Chair’s Letter, p. 2Cutting-edge research, new faculty, innovative

recruitment, and top-quality academics.

Titanium alloys, sensing toxic chemicals,

nanoflowers, micro-caterpillars.

Ezis & Hughes honored by College, alumna

studies bridge collapse, alumni updates.

Welding Engineering to join MSE, OSU moves

to semesters, Humpty-Dumpty MSE-style.

Faculty & Staff, p. 13Padture receives AAAS membership, Rapp

lectures in Iran, staff receive service awards.

Contents

Student News, p. 20Service in Honduras, awards, internships,

business plan competition winner.

2 T h e • O h i o • S t a t e • U n i v e r s i t y

couple of large programs and the end

of significant Third Frontier research

investments from the State of Ohio. To

fill the gap, there has been a significant

influx of core program, basic science

support from federal funding agencies.

We had a very strong proposal-writing

season, and a number of new programs

have now begun, some of which are quite

substantial. The largest new-starts this

year include research in multimaterials

systems with adaptive microstructures

(Fraser, Mills, Wang, Williams, Zhao),

lightweight hydrides for hydrogen storage

(Zhao), environmentally conscious

corrosion inhibition (Frankel, Buchheit),

and ductile and fracture resistant bulk

metallic glasses (Flores, Windl).

To be sure, the changes in front of us are

exciting and challenging. I think it is fair

to say that we will have to be at our best to

manage them successfully. To learn more

about these and many other activities

going on in MSE, I invite you to browse

this issue of Watts News or visit our

website at mse.osu.edu. We are primed

for an engaging and rewarding year and

hope the same awaits you. As always, if

your travels bring you to campus, please

stop in and say hello.

Rudy Buchheit

Professor and Chair

Cha ir ’sLet ter

Greetings and welcome to the 2009

edition of Watts News! I invite you to

peruse this year’s issue to learn about

all the activities and accomplishments

going on in Materials Science and

Engineering.

As was the case everywhere, our year

unfolded against the backdrop of a

significant economic downshift. I am

often asked how this affected MSE. Some

consequences have been prompt. The job

market for BS degree holders went from

all-time best to all-time worst in a matter

of a very few months. Opportunities for

graduate degree holders have remained

strong enough for all those seeking

positions to find them. Other impacts are

still in front of us and not well defined.

Notable in this regard is the potential

decrease in the state subsidy to the

University due to continued weakness

in state tax revenues. How this will play

out within the University in the next two

years is not known, but MSE was fiscally

conservative during the good times, and

we are positioned well should cuts come

our way.

The economic picture created much

uncertainty and distraction this past year,

but a number of important initiatives

were set in motion. After years of debate

and a number of false starts, the Board of

Trustees moved this past April to approve

the implementation of a semesters-based

calendar. The University will begin its

new semester format in Autumn 2012.

The faculty is well into defining new

undergraduate and graduate curricula.

On another front, after discussions that

have also unfolded over some time, the

faculties of Welding Engineering and

Materials Science and Engineering have

voted to realign into a single department.

The new department will operate under

the Materials Science and Engineering

banner and will support both MSE

and WE undergraduate and graduate

degree programs. This alignment will

immediately push our faculty size into

the mid-30s range, expand our research

base, and move our undergraduate and

graduate populations to 250 and 170

students respectively. It will also add

significant new lab and office space

on west campus. Additional details on

these major changes can be found in the

following pages.

Our faculty and student researchers have

had a focused and productive year. At the

close of 2008, we counted 104 graduate

students in the program, up from 86 in

2007 and we welcomed an incoming pool

of 25 new graduate students this fall. This

past year, faculty researchers and their

groups authored 170 publications, up

from 130 a year before. A demographic,

I am especially pleased with is our PhD

degree production; 17 in 2008, up from

6 in 2007. Our research expenditures

were down from $13.4 million in 2007

to $8.9 million in 2008. This drop was

associated with the conclusion of a

On the cover:Colorized SEM micro-graphs of the dendritic structures resulting from the hydrothermal conversion of TiO2 nanostructures to BaTiO3. Image by Ben Dinan, MSE graduate student.



ResearchTitanium Research

Titanium and Titanium alloys (hereafter

titanium) are attractive because of

their structural efficiency and their

resistance to degradation in a wide

range of environments. Titanium also

is expensive. Nevertheless, it has gained

wide acceptance for aircraft, aircraft

and rocket propulsion systems, and for

chemical processing applications.

MSE at Ohio State has by far the most

comprehensive academic titanium

research program in the US and most

likely the free world. The major thrusts of

our program are computational modeling

of many aspects of titanium behavior,

detailed studies of microstructure

property relationships, mechanisms that

govern microstructure evolution, and

mechanisms of environmental attack.

The faculty members that are most

active in this effort include Professors

Fraser, Mills, Wang, Williams, and

Frankel. Professor Somnath Ghosh from

Mechanical Engineering also is involved

in several of these projects. Currently,

there are active research projects on

some aspect of titanium funded by The

Office of Naval Research, The Air Force

Research Laboratories, The Federal

Aviation Administration, The Defense

Research Project Agency and The Air

Force Office of Scientific Research. Total

external funding is ~$2M. In order to

leverage our expertise, we have active

ongoing collaborations with faculty

members who have complimentary skills

from Drexel University, Carnegie Mellon

University, The University of Michigan,

and Cornell University. In case you are

wondering, we have some excellent

faculty member colleagues at “Big Blue”

but none of them play football. (Maybe

they should?)

Some specific research activities include

the following:

Computational methods for

representing the three dimensional

microstructure of titanium in

digital form are being developed.

This will enable incorporation

of microstructure directly in

micromechanics models of

mechanical properties such as

strength, fracture toughness, and

fatigue. An integral part of this

effort has been development

of Bayesian neural networks

for correlating properties with

specific microstructural features.

OSU is broadly acknowledged as a world

leader in applying these methods to

titanium.

Another project is studying the root

cause of dwell fatigue in titanium.

Some titanium alloys (e.g. Ti-6Al-2Sn-

4Zr-2Mo) exhibit a large reduction

in fatigue strength when the load is

held at maximum value rather than

continuously cycled. Our research at

OSU has been able to account for this

effect qualitatively by coupling mechanics

modeling and detailed characterization.

In essence, room temperature creep leads

to internal load re-distribution which

triggers early crack initiation with an

attendant reduction in fatigue life. The

dwell effect can lead to non-conservative

designs which affect product life.

The use of metastable β titanium alloys

is growing. For example, alloys from this

class are now used in the landing gear of

the Boeing 777 and 787. Studies at OSU

are focused on understanding the basic

mechanisms of microstructure evolution

and the effects of

microstructural

variation on

strength, ductility

and fatigue

resistance. These

studies combine

our expertise

in phase field

modeling with our

characterization

capability which

utilizes the world

class Campus

Electron Optics

Facility (ceof.ohio-

state.edu) housed

in the basement

of Fontana Labs. If

you have not seen

this facility, you are

invited to schedule

a tour.

Still another activity involves the use of

friction stir processing of cast and hot

isostatically pressed Ti-6Al-4V to refine

the surface microstructure, thereby

improving the resistance to fatigue crack

initiation at lifetimes of 104 to 106 cycles

to failure. As part of this study, detailed

fractographic studies of failed specimens

has shown conclusively that the facets

seen on fatigue fracture surfaces are

the result of cyclic crack progression,

not cleavage as had been reported in

the literature. This result has major

implications for estimating the number

of load cycles after crack initiation. This

can be critical during failure analysis of

titanium components.

Studies to understand the effects

of microstructure on corrosion

susceptibility also are being conducted.

These studies couple our considerable

expertise in corrosion with our

microstructural characterization

capabilities.

Contact: Prof. James Williams, 614-292-

7251, [email protected]

Microstructures of β processed (top) and α+β processed (bottom) Ti-6Al-4V. (BSE images)

Inverse pole figure map of the alpha phase in friction

stir processed Ti-6Al-4V. (EPSP images)


Electrochemical Microscopy: Mapping Electrochemical Behavior onto Microstructurally Complex Metallic Alloys

Alloying enables strengthening and

toughening of metallic materials for

all manner of structural engineering

applications. In fully processed alloys,

alloying additions are often concentrated

into discrete particles, either intentionally

by thermomechanical processing, or

unavoidably due to low solid solubility

of inherent impurity elements. The

properties of particles are different

because their composition differs

radically from the majority phase of

the alloy. In the case of electrochemical

properties, differences lead to

susceptibility to localized corrosion.

Indeed, many microstructurally

complex, high-performance alloys are

often saddled with a localized corrosion

vulnerability that must be managed in

service through coatings, inhibitors, or

environmental controls.

Researchers in the Fontana Corrosion

Center (Prof. R.G. Buchheit and students)

and at Monash

University in

M e l b o u r n e ,

Australia (Dr.

N. Birbilis and

students) have

collaborated over

the past several

years to measure

the electro-

chemistry of

i n t e r m e t a l l i c

particles in

high strength

aluminum alloys

to understand

their role

in localized

corrosion and to

develop predictive

corrosion damage

a c c u m u l a t i o n

models. An electrochemical microcell has

been used to measure the electrochemical

behavior of naturally occurring particles,

or phase-pure intermetallic compound

crystals specially synthesized for

electrochemical work (Figure 1). To date,

over 40 unique intermetallic compounds

found in aluminum alloys have been

characterized.

In the newest line of work, methods

are being developed to map the

measured electrochemical properties

of intermetallic compounds onto real

or simulated alloy microstructures to

understand and predict spatial patterns

of localized corrosion in an approach

that amounts to “electrochemical

microscopy”.

Using scanning electron microscopy

(SEM), x-ray microchemical analysis,

and electron backscatter methods, it

is possible to image and identify the

intermetallic compound particles in

a microstructure. In Z-contrast SEM

images, the gray-scale contrast of an

intermetallic compound is often distinct

from that of the other phases present

(Figure 2). As a result, it is possible to

associate electrochemical characteristics

such as electrochemical potential, or

reaction rate with a gray scale contrast

level. Once electrochemistry has been

associated with contrast level , an image

representing the spatial variation in

electrochemical reaction rate across the

microstructure can be constructed.

The spatial variation of

electrochemical reaction rate

shown in Figure 2 is an example

of this approach. These figures

capture the polarity (anodic

or cathodic) and magnitude

of the electrochemical

reaction rate measured on the

different intermetallic phases

present in the alloy in dilute

chloride solutions at ambient

temperature but different

solution pH. When rendered in

3-D, sites of cathodic reaction

due to oxygen or hydrogen

reduction appear as deep

blue wells, and sites of anodic

reaction appear as bright red

spikes (Figure 3, top). Sites of

Figure 2. Above: Z-contrast SEM image of polished section of aluminum alloy 7075 showing a dispersion of intermetallic compound particles differentiated by gray-scale contrast. Below: Electrochemical reaction rate mapped onto the microstructure shown in top image. Blue indicates areas of net cathodic reaction, red indicates net anodic reaction.

Current A

/cm2

Figure 3. Above: Maps showing electrochemical reaction rate on Al alloy 7075 in dilute chloride solution at ambient temperature in solutions of the indicated pH. Below: SEM images of aluminum alloy 7075 exposed to dilute chloride solution at ambient temperature in solutions of the indicated pH.

Figure 1. The electrochemical microcell at Ohio State used for measuring the electrochemical behavior of small discrete phases in alloys. Inset: View of probe measuring electrochemistry of a discrete alloy phase.



New Way to Make Sensors that Detect Toxic Chemicalsby Pam Frost Gorder

MSE researchers have developed a new

method for making extremely pure,

very small metal-oxide nanoparticles.

They are using this simple, fast, and low-

temperature process to make materials

for gas sensors that detect toxic industrial

chemicals (TICs) and biological warfare

agents. The researchers described their

work in a recent issue of the journal

Materials Chemistry and Physics.

Patricia Morris, associate professor of

materials science and engineering at Ohio

State, leads a team of researchers who

develop solid materials that can detect

toxic chemicals. The challenge, she said,

is to design a material that reacts quickly

and reliably to a variety of chemicals,

including TICs, when incorporated into

a sensor. “These are sensors that a soldier

could wear on the battlefield or a first

responder could wear to an accident at a

chemical plant,” Morris said.

The material under study is nickel oxide,

which has unusual electrical properties.

Other labs are studying nickel oxide for

use in batteries, fuel cells, solar cells,

and even coatings that change color. But

Morris, along with Ohio State doctoral

student Elvin Beach, is more interested in

how nickel oxide’s electrical conductance

changes when toxic chemicals in the

air settle on its surface. Beach applies

a thin coating of the material onto

microelectro-mechanical systems (made

in a similar fashion to computer chips),

with a goal of identifying known toxic

substances.

The design works on the same general

principle as another, more familiar sensor.

“The human nose coordinates signals

from hundreds of thousands of sensory

neurons to identify chemicals,” Beach

said. “Here, we’re using a combination

of electrical responses to identify the

signature of a toxic chemical.”

The key to making the sensor work

is how the nickel oxide particles are

made. Beach and Morris have

devised a new synthesis method

that yields very small particles--

which provide the sensor a large

surface area with which to capture

chemical molecules from the air

--and very pure particles--which

enable the sensor to detect even

small quantities of a substance.

Each particle of nickel oxide

measures only about 50 atoms

across--that’s equivalent to five

nanometers.

Beach described the synthesis

method in very simple terms.

“Basically, you mix everything

together in a pressure vessel, pop

it in the oven, rinse it off and it’s

ready to use,” he said. Of course,

for the process to go smoothly,

the researchers

have to meet

specific conditions

of temperature

and pressure, and

leave the material

in the pressure

cooker for just the

right amount of

time. They found

they can make the

particles in as little

as twelve hours,

but no more than

twenty-four hours.

“Too short a time,

and the nickel oxide

doesn’t form, too

long and it reduces

to metallic nickel,”

Beach explained. After he removes the

nickel oxide from the pressure cooker,

he washes it in a common solvent to

free up the nanoparticles. At that point,

the material is ready to use. Most other

synthesis methods require another

additional step, a high-temperature heat

treatment.

Starting with a microsensor silicon

chip array provided by collaborators at

the National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST), Beach adds a layer of

particles using a device called a picoliter

drop dispenser (a picoliter is a trillionth

of a liter). He describes the dispenser

intense cathodic activity are expected

to sustain attack leading to large pits

around intermetallic particles. Sites of

intense anodic activity are expected to be

short-lived small pits where intermetallic

particles are dissolved from the alloy

selectively.

A comparison of the reaction rate

projection from electrochemical

microscopy correlates remarkably well

with localized corrosion morphologies

developed on high-strength aluminum

alloy 7075 (Al-Zn-Mg-Cu) samples that

were allowed to corrode freely during

exposure to aqueous solutions in separate

experiments (Figure 3, bottom). The

ability of the electrochemical microscopy

approach to correctly forecast localized

corrosion morphologies illustrates the

potential of the method.

Ongoing work is aimed at associating the

full current-potential electrochemical

response on a pixel-by-pixel basis to

enable exploration of the effects of

changing environmental conditions on

alloy electrochemistry and localized

corrosion damage accumulation.

Contact: Prof. R.G. Buchheit, 614-688-


MSE researchers at The Ohio State University have coated these microsensor silicon chip arrays, which were provided by collaborators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with tiny particles of nickel oxide. Once further developed, this technology could lead to sensors that detect toxic industrial chemicals and biological warfare agents. Photo by Jo McCulty, courtesy of The Ohio State University.

Elvin Beach (left) and Patricia Morris (right), of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University, have devised a new method of creating nickel oxide particles for chemical sensors. Photo by Jo McCulty, courtesy of The Ohio State University.


as a kind of inkjet printer that places a

droplet of a liquid suspension containing

particles onto a surface--in this case, the

chips. According to Morris, this is the

first time that nickel oxide nanoparticles

have been applied in this way.

But to Beach, the most important “first”

to come out of the study is their discovery

of the reaction pathway--that is, the

various chemical steps that take place

inside the pressure cooker during the

synthesis of the material. Now that the

researchers know the reaction pathway,

they can devise ways to add chemical

dopants to the nanoparticles. Dopants

would change the function of the sensor,

for instance, to speed the response rate.

A one-gram batch of nickel oxide

nanoparticles costs about $5.00 to

make; one chip carries four nanograms

(billionths of a gram) of material, so each

sensor costs only pennies to fabricate.

Other applications could include exhaust

or pollution monitoring and air quality

monitoring.

Collaborators on the project include

Steve Semancik and Kurt Benkstein at

NIST. Study coauthors include: Krenar

Shqau, an Ohio State postdoctoral

researcher; Samantha Brown, then an

undergraduate student visitor from

Northwestern University who will join

Ohio State this fall to pursue her doctorate

in Chemistry; and Steven Rozeveld at

Dow Chemical Co., who helped Beach

produce electron microscope images of

the nanoparticles. This work is

funded by the National Science

Foundation and The Ohio State

University.

Contact: Assoc. Prof. Patricia Morris, 614-247-8873,

[email protected]

Gas Sensor Technology using “Nano-flowers”

Results from the Sensor

Array Technology group

led by Associate Professor

Patricia Morris, have

recently been featured

in The Ohio State

University’s Research

News for methods to

fabricate sensors that

detect hazardous gases. The goal is to

design a material that responds quickly

and accurately to a variety of chemicals

at very low concentrations. Long-term

stability is also an important property of

the sensor device. These sensor devices

are similar to the human nose which

coordinates signals from hundreds of

thousands of sensory neurons to identify

gases. Similarly, the artificial sensor uses

a combination of electrical responses

from sensor arrays to identify the

concentration of a specific gas.

The group’s efforts include synthesizing

metal-oxide particles in the form of

nanoparticles, nano-structured materials,

and hollow particles for use as the sensing

material to increase sensor performance.

NiO and SnO2 nanoparticles are created

with a particle size between five and

ten nanometers. Five nanometers

(billionths of a meter) is approximately

50 atoms in diameter. In order to make

the particles, precursors are placed in

a Teflon®-lined pressure vessel that is

heated in an oven. The combination of

temperature and pressure involving the

correct precursors leads to the formation

of nanoparticles. The small particles give

the sensor a large surface area to capture

molecules from the air which enable the

sensor to detect very small quantities of

a substance. ano-structured materials

including TiO2, SnO

2, NiO, and ZnO are

also synthesized for sensor devices to

increase the surface area of the material.

SnO2 nano-structured particles,

sometimes referred to as “nanoflowers”

due to their appearance (see images).

The many surfaces that extend out

from the material are advantageous for

adsorption and detection of hazardous

gases. The material is a few microns

(millionths of a meter) in

diameter, but has nano-sized

features. These materials

have shown fast response

and recovery times (quicker

detection) compared to

other metal-oxide materials

used for sensors.

Once the metal-oxide

materials are synthesized,

the particles are suspended

in liquids designed to have

the proper viscosity and

surface tension in order

to deposit the materials

controllably on sensor

platforms. The group uses a

sophisticated inkjet printer

The high surface area produced by this technique is advantageous for gas sensor devices.

Scanning electron microscope images of SnO2 “nano-flowers”

synthesized for gas sensor research.



SEM image of graphite stamp (top) and optical image of site-specifically stamped pattern of few layers graphene (FLG) on a silica substrate (bottom). D. Li, W. Windl and N.P. Padture, The Ohio State University

Double perovskite crystal structure

Buffer Layer Design For Double Perovskites

Associate Professor Patricia Morris and

her students are presently studying thin

film growth of complex oxides. Using a

pulsed laser deposition system, a laser

beam is shot at a solid oxide target where it

ablates the surface, allowing atomic layers

of material to deposit onto a substrate.

The complex oxides of interest are

known as double perovskites because of

their unique crystal structure. Materials

in this family have interesting properties

like ferroelectricity, superconductivity,

colossal magnetoresistance, and

Researchers Find Better Way to Manufacture Fast Computer Chipsby Pam Frost Gorder

MSE engineers at The Ohio State

University are developing a technique

for mass producing computer chips

made from the same material found in

pencils. Experts believe that graphene-

-the sheet-like form of carbon found

in graphite pencils--holds the key to

smaller, faster electronics. It might also

deliver quantum mechanical effects that

could enable new kinds

of electronics.

Until now, most

researchers could only

create tiny graphene

devices one at a time,

and only on traditional

silicon oxide substrates.

They could not control

where they placed

the devices on the

substrate, and had to

connect them to other

electronics one at a

time for testing.

In a paper published

in the March 26, 2009

issue of the journal

Advanced Materials,

OSU Professor Nitin

Padture and his

colleagues describe

a technique for

stamping many

graphene sheets onto a substrate at once,

in precise locations. “We designed the

technique to mesh with standard chip-

making practices,” said Padture, College

of Engineering Distinguished Professor

in Materials Science and Engineering.

“Graphene has huge potential; it’s been

dubbed ‘the new silicon,’” said Padture,

who is also director of Ohio State’s Center

for Emergent Materials (cem.osu.edu).

“But there hasn’t been a good process for

high-throughput manufacturing it into

chips. The industry has several decades

of chip-making technology that we can

tap into, if only we could create millions

of these graphene structures in precise

patterns on predetermined locations,

repeatedly. This result is a proof-of-

concept that we should be able to do just

that.”

Graphene is made of carbon atoms

arranged in a hexagonal pattern

resembling chicken wire. In graphite,

many flat graphene sheets are stacked

together. “Think of a stack of graphene

sheets in graphite as a deck of cards.

When you bring it contact with the

silicon oxide and pull it away, you can

‘split the deck’ near the point of contact,

leaving some layers of graphene behind.”

that dispenses picoliter drop volumes

onto very small substrates. The diameter

of the orifice for the print-head where the

particle-laden suspension passes through

is 50 microns. Therefore, the particle size

of the material (described previously) is

important during deposition in order to

not clog the print-head.

The microsensor substrate consists of

a silicon chip fitted with a platinum

heater and gold electrodes to monitor

the material’s electrical resistance. The

change in the material’s resistance

corresponds to a change in the

surrounding atmosphere. More research

is currently being performed on the

metal-oxide synthesis, deposition, and

testing of these sensor devices. This

work is funded by the National Science

Foundation and the Orton Research

Foundation.

Contact: Assoc. Prof. Patricia Morris,

614-247-8873, [email protected]

half-metallicity. These properties

are very important when applied to

electronics. Until recently, however,

these characteristics were not observable

unless the materials were kept very cold.

New research is being done on materials

that display these properties at or above

room temperature conditions, which

make them far more useful for industrial

purposes.

One such oxide, Sr2FeMoO

6 (SFMO), is

of interest for its magnetic properties and

possible usage in magnetic data storage.

However, because of its chemistry, film

growth of this oxide is very challenging.

In collaboration with the Center for

Emergent Materials (CEM), Dr. Morris

and her students are studying buffer layer

materials as a tool to foster the growth of

these complex compounds. Sr2GaTaO

6

(SGT) is a similar double perovskite

that has similar lattice parameters, is

easier to grow, and will not interfere

magnetically with SFMO. Films of SGT

have been made and characterized

with x-ray diffraction and Rutherford

backscattering spectroscopy. Work is

also being done to design specific buffer

layers to match desired perovskites based

on the lattice size. Bulk studies have

shown that by adding different amounts

of Al to SGT, lattice parameters will

change systematically, therefore creating

a wide range of possible buffer layers.

Contact: Assoc. Prof. Patricia Morris,

614-247-8873, [email protected]


Photovoltaics Researchers Join Forces to Improve Solar Cells

Ohio State engineers are taking

advantage of advancements in materials

for electronics to develop more efficient

and affordable solar technologies. Solar

cells, generally made of silicon, currently

are not efficient at harnessing solar

energy. Now, however, engineers are

investigating how indium, gallium, and

nitrogen could be used to make wide

bandgap semiconductors for solar cell

production.

“The key to success is being able to

grow the semiconductor crystals

without generating defects that drop

the solar conversion efficiency,” says

Assistant Professor Roberto Myers,

who collaborates on photovoltaic work

with Siddharth Rajan, also an assistant

professor. Both have dual appointments

in electrical and computer engineering

and in materials science and engineering,

enabling them to take advantage of

resources provided by both departments

and by the university’s Institute for

Materials Research.

“Advanced semiconductor materials are

capable of using a much higher fraction

of solar energy than silicon and are, in

fact, already being used to power space

vehicles,” Rajan says. “However, they

are more expensive than silicon and

are, therefore, not used for terrestrial

applications yet. Our work aims to come

up with new innovative ways that would

reduce the cost of these solar cells but still

ensure that they provide high efficiency.”

Myers and Rajan worked together

to procure a new molecular beam

epitaxy system, which allows them to

grow the various layers of III-Nitride

semiconductor crystal structures with

nanometer-scale control. They also

use another new tool, a metal organic

chemical vapor deposition system, to

enable epitaxial growth of semiconductors

and nanostructures based on arsenides,

phosphides, antimonides, and dilute

nitrides.

Rajan brings expertise in electrical

measurement to the project, while Myers

conducts the optical measurements.

Together, the two can explore the potential

of these lesser-known materials to

determine how the materials’ properties

could be harnessed for solar energy.

Researchers have shown that a single

sheet, or even a few sheets, of graphene

can exhibit special properties. One such

property is very high mobility, in which

electrons can pass through it very quickly,

a good characteristic for fast electronics.

Another is magnetism: magnetic fields

could be used to control the spin of

graphene electrons, which would enable

spin-based electronics, also called

spintronics. Yet another characteristic is

how dramatically graphene’s properties

change when it touches other materials.

That makes it a good candidate material

for chemical sensors.

In this method, Padture and his Ohio

State colleagues carved graphite into

different shapes--a field of microscopic

pillars, for example--and then stamped

the shapes onto silicon oxide surfaces.

In this first series of experiments, they

were able to stamp high-definition

features that were ten layers thick, or

thicker. The graphite stamp can then

be used repeatedly on other locations

or substrates, potentially making this a

mass-production method.

They used three different kinds of

microscopes--a scanning electron

microscope, optical microscope, and

atomic force microscope--to measure

the heights of the features and assure

that they were placed precisely on the

substrate. They eventually hope to stamp

narrow features that are only one or two

layers thick, by stamping on materials

other than silicon oxide.

In computer simulations, they found

that each material interacts differently

with the graphene. So success might rely

on finding just the right combination of

substrate materials to coax the graphene

to break off in one or two layers. This

would also tailor the properties of the

graphene.

Padture’s co-authors on the paper include

Dongsheng Li, a postdoctoral researcher,

and Wolfgang Windl, associate professor

of materials science and engineering.

This work was partially funded by the

Center for Emergent Materials at Ohio

State, which is a Materials Research

Science and Engineering Center

(MRSEC) sponsored by the National

Science Foundation. The $17-million

center is one of only 27 MRSECs around

the country, and its main research focus is

magnetoelectronics. Partial funding was

also provided by Ohio State’s Institute

for Materials Research.

Contact: Prof. Nitin Padture, 614-247-


Siddharth Rajan (left) and Roberto Myers collaborated to procure this new molecular beam epitaxy system for Ohio State’s Semiconductor Epitaxy and Analysis Laboratory. The system enables them to grow new materials that could be used to create more efficient solar cells. Photo by Jo McCulty



“We need people with skill sets in

processing, materials growth, optics, and

electronics, and to integrate those skill

sets to solve this problem,” says Steven

Ringel, professor and Neal A. Smith

Endowed Chair in Electrical Engineering

and director of the Institute for Materials

Research, adding that Rajan and Myers,

who joined Ohio State in autumn 2008,

have extensive experience in collaborative

efforts. Ultimately, the two will

collaborate with Ringel, a world leader in

high performance photovoltaic materials,

to integrate extremely thin films of these

promising ultra-efficient materials to a

variety of alternative substrates through

which ultra low-cost and highly efficient

solar energy conversion can be achieved

at high production rates.

Myers and Rajan also are among faculty

members whose work is central to the $48

million state-, industry- and cost share-

funded Wright Center for Photovoltaics

Innovation and Commercialization,

which enables collaboration with the

solar industry at large-scale and start-up

levels.

“Solar energy by photovoltaics,” Myers

says, “is one of the strongest technologies

for renewable energy. Since photovoltaics

contain no moving parts, have low

maintenance costs, and are based on

solid-state materials, they can last

indefinitely.”

Contact: Asst. Prof. Roberto Myers,

614-292-8439, [email protected] and

Asst. Prof. Siddharth Rajan, 614-292-


Photon counting device in Roberto Myers’ Optical Characterization Lab which is used to measure the lifetime of optically excited electrons and holes, a key parameter in photovoltaic materials.

New Cluster Tool for Combined Diamond and Nitride Crystal Growth

A team of OSU researchers has won a

National Science Foundation award for

the acquisition of a hybrid crystal growth

tool for synthesis of both electrical quality

diamond and III-Nitride semiconductors.

The team of researchers spans two

colleges and three departments including

Physics (Prof. Johnston-Halperin, CME,

principal investigator on the proposal;

Prof. Fengyuan Yang, CME; Prof. Harris

Kagan, HEPX), Electrical and Computer

Engineering (Prof. Siddharth Rajan; Prof.

Stephen Ringel) and Materials Science and

Engineering (Prof. Roberto Myers). This

cluster tool will allow for in situ sample

transfer of substrates between diamond

and nitride growth chambers, giving

it the unique capability to grow high

quality wide-bandgap semiconducting

heterostructures. Diamond exhibits

world record hardness and thermal

conductivity and its large band gap

makes it favorable for certain electronic

applications. Recent developments in

synthesis of diamond by microwave

plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD)

have resulted in artificial diamond with

engineered electronic properties useful

for a wide range of applications. Unlike

diamonds found in nature, grown at

high temperature and pressure over

eons, plasma CVD grown diamonds are

produced using a mixture of methane

and hydrogen plasma incident on a

heated substrate. If a diamond substrate

is used, a single crystal

diamond film is possible.

In addition to diamond

synthesis, the tool contains

a separate growth chamber

for growth of wide band

gap GaN using a molecular

beam of Ga atoms reacting

with ammonia (NH3) on

a heated substrate. These

systems will be used to

explore heterostructures

combining diamond and

nitride nanostructures.

This research activity will

support local, national, and international

collaborations including the Center

for Emergent Materials (CEM, an

NSF funded MRSEC at OSU), the

RD42 collaboration (located at CERN

in Geneva, Switzerland), the Wright

Center for Photovoltaic Innovation and

Commercialization (PVIC, a state of Ohio

funded research center at OSU) and the

Center for Affordable Nanoengineering

of Polymeric Biomedical Devices

(CMPND, an NSF funded NSEC at

OSU). Critical assistance in preparing the

proposal was provided by the Institute

for Materials Research at OSU.

Contact: Asst. Prof. Roberto Myers,

614-292-8439, [email protected] and

Asst. Prof. Siddharth Rajan, 614-292-


Ferrous Induction Furnace Advances Foundry Studies

A 150 lb capacity ferrous

induction furnace

(Inductotherm 3000Hz

75kW) was installed

in the OSU Casting

Laboratory. This is

an exciting addition

to the facilities. The

furnace allows students to melt steel

and cast iron by reaching temperatures

as high as 1600ºC, a capability that has

been unavailable in the Lab. Steel and

cast iron account for more than 80%

of all metals that are cast; casting such

metals provides our students invaluable

experience and expands the research

capabilities of the MSE department.

Such a furnace is a basic component of a

well-rounded casting laboratory.

The funds were provided by private

entities including the Central Ohio

American Foundry Society (AFS)

Chapter, the Southwestern Ohio AFS

Chapter, the Wisconsin AFS Chapter,

Installed and working well in the Casting Lab, an Inductotherm 3000Hz 75kW furnace.


Modeling Microstructure Evolution During Phase Transformation and Deformation

Phase transformation and deformation

in structural materials involve coupled

mechano-chemical processes, which

impose a difficult challenge to existing

simulation methods. At the Center for

Accelerated Maturation of Materials

(CAMM) new modeling techniques

and capabilities have been developed

to address these issues.[1] For the

first time, modelers are able to 1)

utilize directly ab initio calculations

in modeling dislocation transmission

across heterophase-interfaces; 2) capture

atomistic processes at diffusional time

scales[2] (Fig. A); 3) find critical nucleus

in solid-sate transformations and

deformation processes[3]; and 4) simulate

highly anisotropic microstructures

with strong spatial variation and

correlation (e.g., variant selection and

micro-texturing as shown in Fig. B), with

full incorporation of crystallography and

interfacial dislocation structures.

Advanced materials for structural

applications are known to exhibit

pronounced anisotropic properties

due to the presence of various

microstructural heterogeneities and

the inherent anisotropy of deformation

mechanisms. Current modeling

approaches utilize highly simplistic

descriptors of the microstructure that are

empirically correlated to the properties.

Such an approach is utterly inadequate

for addressing design needs. The new

modeling capabilities being developed

Fig. A: Modeling of atomistic processes at diffusional time scales. Fig. B: Simulation of highly anisotropic microstructures.

at CAMM will allow for building a

quantitative understanding of the

microstructure-property relationships.

Robust constitutive laws are likewise

being developed that capture the

effects of heterogeneous distribution of

various microtructural features on the

macroscopic behavior while minimizing

much of the effort that is currently

required for applying an existing alloy for

new applications as well as for developing

new alloy systems.

Contact: Prof. Yunzhi Wang, 614-292-


[1] Y. Wang and J. Li, “Acta Materialia Overview: Phase Field Modeling of Defects and Deformation,” Acta Mater. (2009-in press); [2] W. Cox, S. Sarkar, T. Lenosky, E. Bitzek, J. Li and Y. Wang, “Diffusive Molecular Dynamics” (to be published); [3] C. Shen, J. Li and Y. Wang, “Finding Critical Nucleus in Solid State Phase Transformations,” Met. Mat. Trans. 39A (2008) 976-983 (Editor’s choice, available on-line).

the Central Illinois AFS Chapter,

Cummins, and the Foundry Educational

Foundation. The melting furnace was

installed through the admirable efforts

of two of the department technicians,

Ken Kushner and Ross Baldwin, which

saved the MSE department a significant

amount of money. The time donation

by Michael Nutts (Inductotherm) is also

gratefully acknowledged. The equipment

will be used for teaching and research.

Current research sponsored by AFS,

Ashland, Caterpillar, Cummins, Rio

Tinto and Tupi (Brazil) addresses the

problem of casting skin formation,

effects, and prevention in compacted

graphite iron castings. This material has

found increased usage in the automotive

industry, as it is the only alloy that satisfies

the increased pressure and temperature

requirements of the motor blocks for the

new high mileage diesel engines.

The members of the MSE AFS Student

Chapter are very excited about the

availability of this new equipment and

they have already planned a number

of projects that will put the induction

furnace to good use.

Contact: Prof. Doru Stefanescu, 614-

292-5629, [email protected]



Advancing Hydrogen Storage Technology

Ji-Cheng (J.-C.) Zhao, associate professor

of materials science and engineering,

received two U.S. Department of Energy

grants for the development of suitable

hydrogen storage systems and materials

for vehicles. Zhao, a Fellow of ASM

International, received

$1.1 million for “Aluminoborane

Compounds for On-Board Vehicular

Hydrogen Storage” and $1.2 million

for “Lightweight Intermetallics for

Hydrogen Storage.”

“A grand challenge to the implementation

of hydrogen-powered vehicles is the

development of suitable on-board

hydrogen storage systems and materials

that can satisfy the performance targets

proposed by the U.S. Department of

Energy,” Zhao says. “That is the reason

that a substantial effort of my research

is devoted to tackle this challenge.” Zhao

has seven students and post-doctoral

researchers working on hydrogen storage

research with funding from the National

Institute of Standards and Technology as

well as the energy department.

His research focus is on metal hydrides,

a solid storage option that has the

This image illustrates the crystal structure of a new compound, Mg(CH3OH)

6B

12H12

(CH3OH)

6, synthesized by the Ohio State hydrogen storage research team led by professors J.-C. Zhao and Sheldon Shore. The team is synthesizing similar compounds for hydrogen storage for

on-board fuel cell powered vehicular applications.

advantage of high volumetric density.

The key is to develop reversible and high

gravimetric density metal hydrides that

will meet the Department of Energy

FreedomCAR 2010 hydrogen storage

targets. Substantial progress has been

made in synthesis, characterization, and

mechanistic understanding of complex

metal hydrides, especially high-capacity

borohydrides. His team, in collaboration

with Sheldon Shore, professor of

chemistry, has already synthesized four

new compounds and is testing their

properties to explore their suitability for

hydrogen storage.

Zhao is a representative U.S. expert

serving on the International Energy

Agency Hydrogen Implementation

Agreement Task 22 on hydrogen storage.

He has six U.S. patents and 13 patent

applications on hydrogen and energy

storage materials and systems.

“The Ohio State hydrogen storage team,

with Prof. Shore’s boron chemistry

excellence, is really unique in the world in

our synthesis capability.” Zhao says. “We

hope to discover new hydrides to advance

the hydrogen storage technology.”

Contact: Assoc. Prof. J.-C. Zhao, 614-

292-9462, [email protected]

A Micro-sized Caterpillar with Nano-sized Hairs

Titanium alloy debris, prepared by

mechanical filing, were oxidized to

produce TiO2 nanohairs on the surface

of the filing. The size of the debris

was approximately 100 µm having a

wavy surface that mimics the shape of

a caterpillar without any hairs. TiO2

nanohairs were grown on the surface

of the alloy debris by heat treating at

700°C under a limited supply of oxygen

(flowing Ar with 500 ppm of oxygen).

The length of the oxide nanohairs is in

the range of 1 and 2 µm and the diameter

ranges from 30 to 70 nm (see inset in

image above). With these nanohairs, the

debris resembles the shape of a caterpillar

with hairs. The oxide nanohairs were

identified as the TiO2 rutile phase by

electron microscopy. These nanohairs

have potential applications in sensors,

electronics and optoelectronics,

photocatalysis, and biomedical devices.

This work was conducted by graduate

student Benjamin Dinan and Huyong Lee.

Contact: Prof. Sheikh Akbar, 614-

292-6725, [email protected] and Assoc. Prof. Suliman Dregia, 614-292-1081,

[email protected]

TiO2 nanohairs form on the oxidized surface of Ti filings.


Research on Materials Aspects of Sliding Friction and Wear

It is now well known that materials in sliding contact exhibit dramatic changes in

structure and chemical composition adjacent to the sliding interface. These changes

influence the evolution of both friction and wear as sliding proceeds. Sliding tests,

combined with an array of complementary characterization techniques (XRD, OM,

SEM, EDS, AES, FIB, TEM, Microhardness, Kelvin probe, etc.), have demonstrated

the involvement of severe plastic deformation and mechanical mixing leading to the

formation of nanocrystalline or amorphous tribomaterial. The results depend on the

materials, the environment, sliding velocity, temperature, and other sliding conditions.

Typical sliding wear debris particles have the same structure and composition as the

tribomaterial.

In recent years, Prof. Rigney’s research group has combined experimental work with

2-D and 3-D molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. An example, from the work of

S. Karthikeyan, is shown in Figure 1. MD simulations help to explain effects of relative

hardness, crystal orientation and defect content. They also suggest that the interacting

materials flow like a fluid, complete with development of vorticity associated with

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The presence of vorticity accounts for mechanical

mixing, composition profiles and the disappearance of markers near the interface.

Vorticity also contributes to amorphization and the formation of nanocrystals.

This work has revealed much about the dynamic processes contributing to sliding

behavior. Development of a predictive model for sliding wear remains elusive. It will

undoubtedly require incorporation of the fracture characteristics of the tribomaterial

produced by sliding.

Fig. 1: (a.) Initial configuration for an MD simulation of a bicrystal of Cu sliding against an Fe crystal of orientation x, y, z: [100]Fe[010]Fe[001]Fe. This uses a right-hand coordinate system with x to the right and y pointing toward the top of this page. The presence of the grain boundary in the Cu crystal strongly influences the development of deformation and structure during sliding. (b.) Nanocrystalline structure produced by sliding for the initial configuration shown in (a.). All of the following are involved: propagation of shear bands, formation of epitaxial Cu on Fe and dynamic recrystallization. Ref.: Karthikeyan et al., Wear 267(2009)1166.

Contact: Prof. Emeritus David Rigney, 614-292-1775,

[email protected]

a) b)

Right: A nickel-based superalloy developed for the demanding environments of turbine jet engines. This polycrystalline material gets the majority of its strength at elevated temperatures from the gamma prime precipitate phase and grain boundary morphology. This material has been heat-treated to produce serrated high angle grain boundaries (blue), special twin boundaries (green) and gamma prime precipitates (red).

Image by Jennifer Walley, PhD student in Prof. Michael Mills’ research group.

Below: Finite element analysis results from LS-DYNA on electromagnetic actuator and expanded AA 6061 tube.

Image by Yuan Zhang, PhD student in Prof. Glenn Daehn’s research group.



gave the plenary lecture. The award was

made with the following notation:

“During a remarkably productive career

spanning over four decades, Dr. Gupta

has published an impressive list of

thought provoking and frequently cited

articles in several areas of glass science

and technology. Specifically, the Morey

Awards Committee selected Dr. Gupta

for his outstanding contributions in the

areas of glass structure, glass transition,

phase separation, and the strength of glass

fibers....In addition to his fundamental

contributions in glass science, Dr. Gupta,

during his eight years at Owens Corning’s

Science and Technology center, made

significant contributions in many areas

of glass technology.”

Padture Receives AAAS Fellowship

Professor Nitin Padture has been

elected Fellow of the American

Association for the Advancement of

Science (AAAS). Nitin’s Fellowship

has been awarded to recognize

outstanding contributions to the

field of advanced ceramics and

nanomaterials, particularly for

understanding of processing and

mechanical behavior of ceramic

composites and coatings. Nitin was

presented for Fellowship at the AAAS Forum in Chicago in

February 2009.

Padture Named College Distinguished Professor

Professor Nitin Padture was named College of Engineering

Distinguished Professor in January 2009. This is in

recognition of his research excellence and impact, and his

leadership in the field of advanced materials at Ohio State

and beyond. Associated with this honor are discretionary

funds to support Prof. Padture’s research.

Facu l t y & Sta f f

Prof. Prabhat Gupta receives the 2009 George W. Morey Award from Mark Davis, Chair of the Glass and Optical Division of ACerS.

Gupta Receives ACerS Morey Award

Congratulations to Professor Prabhat Gupta, the 2009 George W. Morey Award

winner. The George W. Morey Award

is presented by the Glass and Optical

Materials Division of The American

Ceramic Society and sponsored by

PPG Industries. The award recognizes

achievements in the field of glass

science and technology. Unofficially, it

is the most prestigious honor given to a

glass scientist by the Glass and Optical

Materials Division of the American

Ceramic Society. This year’s award was

presented June 1, 2009 at the Vancouver

PACRIM8 meeting where Prof. Gupta

Mobley Receives ASM Distinguished Life Member Award

Professor Emeritus Carroll E. Mobley received the Alpha Sigma Mu

Distinguished Life Member award.

This award is granted to “an individual

who has served

the materials

c o m m u n i t y

and/or Alpha

Sigma Mu over

a long career

and shall have

established an

international

r e c o g n i t i o n

for his/her

service.” The

award is

ASM’s highest honor and is conferred

upon those select few whose technical

attainment and contributions to

society through leadership in the field

of materials science and engineering

have resulted in significant benefits to

mankind.

Rapp Lectures in Iran, May 2009

Professor Emeritus Bob Rapp received

an invitation to visit Iran from Prof. Ahmad Saatchi, who is a National

Distinguished Professor and Chairman of

MSE at Isfahan University of Technology

in Isfahan, (or Esfahan) Iran. Ahmad had

been a PhD student in the Metallurgical

Engineering Department in the 1980’s,

during the Iranian revolution. Following

some trouble to get a visa, Bob flew to

Iran on May 12, about three weeks prior

to Iran’s infamous election and the

ensuing demonstrations. Isfahan is the

former seat of the government, home of

early emperors, site of the famous 400-

year old Iman plaza, and an extremely

interesting and important city of about

A few of the students and faculty who attended one of Prof. Rapp’s lectures at the Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran. Prof. (and alumni) Ahmad Saatchi is second from the left in the first row with other Isfahan faculty.

two million. (The April 2009 issue of the Smithsonian magazine

presented an article about Isfahan.) During his five-day stay in

Isfahan, Dr. Rapp presented three lectures, “Hot Corrosion,”

“Complex Fused Salts,” and “Interfacial Phenomena in Scaling

Reactions.”

Following visits and discussions with students in Isfahan,

Prof. Rapp flew for one day to Shiraz, the site of the famous

Persepolis, where he again presented a lecture.


MSE Faculty Receive College Awards

The College of Engineering held its

Annual Engineering Awards Dinner at

the Blackwell Hotel, where the following

MSE faculty were recognized:

Lumley Research AwardsMike MillsDoru StefanescuRudy Buchheit

Innovators AwardGlenn Daehn was recognized

for development of high velocity

and impulse metal forming and

its application to a variety of

manufacturing and materials

characterization problems

including forming, joining, welding,

springback control, embossing, and

strength and ductility testing.

Additional Awards

Gerald Frankel visiting Professor at the

University of Paris.

Gerald Frankel T.P. Hoar Award from

the UK Institute of Corrosion, 2008.

Prabhat Gupta Fellow of the Society of

Glass Technology, UK, 2008.

Winston Ho Inaugural Innovators

Award, College of Engineering,

2008. Recognizes Prof. Ho for major

membrane technologies for high purity

hydrogen production for fuel cells and

energy applications, and for low-cost,

high efficiency water purification.

John Morral was named an NSF

DMR American Competitiveness and

Cameron Lindsey and Megan Daniels Nominated for Above & Beyond Award

The MSE department was pleased to

nominate both Cameron Lindsey,

Assistant to the MSE Chair, and Megan Daniels, Undergraduate Academic

Advisor, for the 2009 College of

Engineering Above and Beyond Awards.

Cameron’s nomination letter praises her

dedication, creativity, enthusiasm, and

ability to adapt to the ever-changing

environment in the Chair’s office. Megan,

too, provides tremendous support for

the mission of the department through

innovative outreach and application of

technological resources. But it is, perhaps,

in her role as self-described “momma

bear” that she is most appreciated by our

students as she watches over them as they

advance through the Bachelor’s degree.

Facu l t y & Sta f f con ’ t

Innovation Fellow “for transformative

and pioneering experimental and

theoretical approaches to alloys by

design, and for exceptional contributions

to disseminating knowledge to students

and the community.”

Heather Powell – Oak Ridge Associated

Universities, Powe Junior Faculty

Award supporting “Collagen Scaffolds

Engineered with Graded Pore Structure

for Islet Transplantation”.

Doru Stefanescu delivered four lectures

on solidification science at the University

of Jönköping in Sweden.

James Williams Robert Mehl/Institute

of Metals Lecture from TMS.

25 Years of Service

In September, Geoff Hulse and David Jones were recognized by the College

of Engineering for twenty-five years of

service to The Ohio State University. Both

Geoff and Dave joined the University

in 1984, with Dave hired as part of a

VAX System Support Group and Geoff

hired to oversee the VAX support staff

housed in Chemical Engineering. They

maintained a large VAX 11/780 “mini”

computer which was the size of two home

refrigerators and was many times slower

than present-day desktops. Geoff and

Dave have overseen a great deal of change

since those days and, along with Mike Davis (who began working for them as

a student employee), have developed the

computing infrastructure that supports

the research and academic efforts of both

the MSE and Chemical and Biomolecular

Engineering departments.

Dave, following an interest in

programming, switched from Physics to

Computer Science as his college major.

In the early 1990’s, he was part of a

networking group at the university that

developed the directory system used by

OSU’s central e-mail system. Helping

the university improve the quality of its

data during this period was an important

accomplishment for the group and has

been of great benefit in the subsequent

years.

Geoff was instrumental in bringing

together the (then) three departments—

Ceramic, Metallurgical, and Chemical

Engineering—to purchase computing

resources for the departments’ academic

and research pursuits. Beyond his

computing expertise, Geoff ’s talents

as both a photographer and graphic

designer have likewise been a tremendous

asset to the departments. One impressive

example of his work was the multimedia

presentation he developed for the

Chemical Engineering department’s

Centennial Celebration.

Both departments wish to thank Geoff

and Dave for their many years of

service to the university!

Cameron Lindsey Megan Daniels



Alumni1970’s

Edward Dalder (PhD ‘73) is Vice

President of Dalder Materials Consulting,

Inc. in Alameda, CA.

Michael Javaras (BS ‘77) is the Director

of Operations at Meyer Products

in Cleveland, OH and currently

manufactures snow and ice removal

equipment.

1980’s

Michael Budinski (MS ‘86) is Chief of

the Materials Labor Division with the

National Transportation Safety Board in

Washington, D.C. He recently published

a book titled Engineering Materials:

Properties and Selection.

Valerie (Balint) Harris (BS ‘80) resides

in England and recently completed

her MSc in Water and Environmental

Engineering. She is working to bring

safe, adequate water supplies to the

economically disenfranchised in third

world countries.

Seth Silverman (MS ‘81) joined Hess

Corporation in September 2008 as a

Senior Engineering Advisor-Materials.

He lives in Houston, TX with his wife

and daughter, Hayley, who was adopted

as an infant from China in 1996.

1990’s

Seth Donnelly (BS ‘99) works as a

Proposal Engineer at ABB Inc. in

Wickliffe, OH.

Craig Dusek (BS ‘99) is a Manufacturing/

Process Engineer at American Trim, LLC

in Lima, OH. Craig and wife Rebecca

married in May of 2004 and they now

have two sons, Samuel and Joseph, born

in October 2006 and October 2008.

Matthew Magee (BS ‘93) is a partner at

Adage Capital in Boston, MA serving as

a Portfolio Manager.

Sree Mouli Majji (MS ‘99) is the Senior

Consultant with Teradata, Inc.

2000’s

Santi Chrisanti (PhD ‘08) is a Principal

Process Engineer at Formfactor, Inc. in

Livermore, CA.

Andrew Geiger (BS ‘05)

works as a Technical

Sales Representative

for Anton Paar GmbH

in Ashland, VA.

Brian Guhde (MS ‘09) is working as

a Technology Development Manager

at Americhem in Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

He and his wife are looking forward to

the arrival of their first child, a son, in

November.

Edward Herderick (PhD ‘09) serves as

a Congressional Fellow representing the

Materials Societies (MRS, TMS, ACerS).

Ed and his wife Michelle moved to

Washington, D.C. in September where

Ed will begin his one year fellowship.

Congressional Fellows act as a special

legislative assistant to a member of

Congress (see article in the “Student

News” section).

Dave Norfleet (PhD ‘07) works as a Staff

Consultant for Engineering Systems Inc.

in Aurora, IL.

Donovan Richie (MS ‘08) is an

engineer with Kiefner & Associates in

Worthington, OH.

Jessica (Licardi) Subit (BS ‘03, MS ‘06)

works with GE Aviation in Cincinnati,

OH as a Materials Development Engineer

and as CMC Development Engineer &

Technician Team Leader.

Danelle Violet (BS ‘07) is currently

working in the Advanced Development

Program at Schneider Electric in

Nashville, TN.

Sehoon Yoo (PhD ‘05) works as a Senior

Researcher at the Korea Institute of

Industrial Technology in Incheon, South

Korea.

Taking MSE into Biomedical Engineering

Justin Koepsel (BS ‘06) is pursuing a

doctoral degree in the Department of

Biomedical Engineering, University

of Wisconsin, Madison. His current

research focuses on controlling

protein-surface and cell-surface

interactions in a very defined manner

to explicitly explore how certain

factors influence the behavior of

different stem cell types.

“The knowledge I acquired as an

undergraduate in Materials Science and Engineering at OSU

has provided me a solid basis for identifying and solving

materials related problems in my graduate research,” says Justin.

“More specifically, my background in materials science often

provides a unique perspective to the widespread knowledge

base of the biomedical engineering community that allows us

to more efficiently solve problems and advance technology as

an interdisciplinary team.”

O-H-I-O! Xi-Yong Fu (PhD ‘01) with daughter Allison, son Brandon, and wife Hanyan show their Buckeye spirit while on a cruise in the South Caribbean.

Hong Jin Kim (PhD ‘07) and Ms Jungsuk Song were married November 29, 2008 at the AT Center in Seoul, South Korea. The couple honeymooned in Guam.

ASM Awards Howe Medal

The Howe Medal, oldest of ASM awards, recognizes the authors

whose paper has been selected as the best published in a volume

of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions. The award for 2008

was granted to the paper titled “Measuring Stress Distibutions

in Ti-6Al-4V Using Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction” (M&MT,

vol 39A, Dec. 2008, p 3120-3133). Adam Pilchak (PhD ‘09)

took part in this research directed by Dr. Matthew P. Miller of

Cornell University while Prof. Miller was on sabbatical at Ohio

State.


Ezis and Hughes Receive College Distinguished Alumni Awards

The Annual College of Engineering

Awards Luncheon was hosted on

September 11 in the Blackwell Hotel

Ballroom. Present at the luncheon were

many past college awardees as well as this

year’s honorees and family members. A

barbeque was hosted on the Knowlton

Patio with Brutus and the OSU

Cheerleaders later in the evening as part

of the 12th Annual Buckeye Reunion

Under the Stars. Two alums from the

Ceramic Engineering and Metallurgical

Engineering programs were honored

for their achievements, Andre Ezis and

Ronald Hughes.

Andre Ezis

graduated from

Ohio State with

a B.S. in ceramic

engineering in

1966. Upon

g r a d u a t i o n ,

he worked at

Owens Corning

Fiberglas in

Newark, OH as

a production

engineer. He

later returned

to Ohio State

and received

his M.S. in

1969 in nuclear

engineering.

Ezis is currently CEO of Pyromatics

Corp. in Willoughby, OH. Pyromatics

is a technology company, focused on

the development and manufacture of

high-purity, fused-quartz materials

and products. Headquartered in the

Cleveland area since 1975, the company

services a worldwide customer base.

Industries using their diverse fused-

quartz products include: semiconductor,

solar, metal processing, electronics and

aerospace companies.

Ezis’ career experience also includes

serving as vice president of R&D

for Ceradyne Inc. focused on the

development and manufacture of

structural ceramics for semiconductor

processing equipment. He was also co-

founder and vice president of Cercom

and assisted in the preparation and

marketing of a business plan to raise

the required capital/investment for the

formation of Cercom Inc.

Recognitions include the Henry

Marion Howe Medal, NASA Certificate

of achievement and the Henry Ford

Technological Award. Ezis was born in

Riga, Latvia. He immigrated to Germany

and then later to the United States in

1950. He and his wife, Kira, have five

children and reside in Vista, CA.

Ronald Hughes, a generous friend of

the MSE department and 1970 Ohio

State BS/MS graduate in metallurgical

engineering, is manager for advanced

engineering at Severstal International

in Dearborn, MI, responsible for steel

product application in automotive and

non-automotive designs using advanced

CAE simulation tools.

Prior to joining Severstal, Hughes worked

in hot-dip metallic coatings research at

Armco Steel in Middletown, OH. He

joined Ford Motor Company in vehicle

materials development and planning to

promote and to analyze applications of

high strength and coated steels to meet

CAFE standards and improve vehicle

corrosion protection.

Active in the American Iron and Steel

Institute, he served as chairman for

the ground-breaking task force that

united and leveraged the resources of

ten competitive steel companies for

large-scale advanced automotive design

projects with Porsche Engineering,

showcasing the capabilities of steel.

This North American AISI success was

critical to, and a template for, launching

Alumni con ’ t

the UltraLight Steel AutoBody family of

international consortia of over 30 steel

companies to demonstrate the design

and manufacturing capabilities of AHSS

to produce safe, affordable, fuel-efficient

and environmentally responsible vehicles.

Additionally, Hughes served as chair of

the operating executive committee of

Auto/Steel Partnership and continues

working with the group restructuring

A/SP to reflect the new realities for all

vehicle companies.

Industrial honors include the Leadership

Excellence Award from AISI; Auto/Steel

Partnership Instrumental Change Award;

and AISI Institute Finalist Medal for

co-authoring a paper on the kinetics of

aluminum-silicon-iron coating reaction/

diffusion during the hot-stamping of

boron steels based on Severstal contract

research at OSU.

College of Engineering Interim Dean Gregory Washington with Ronald Hughes during the Alumni Awards Luncheon.

College of Engineering Interim Dean

Gregory Washington with Andre Ezis during

the Alumni Awards Luncheon.

2008 MSE Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient:D. Scott MacKenzie

On November 21, 2008, the MSE

department was pleased to award

alumnus D. Scott MacKenzie the

MSE Distinguished Alumni Award for

2008. Scott received his BS degree in

Metallurgical Engineering from The Ohio

State University in 1981. Later he received

MS and PhD degrees from the University

of Missouri, Rolla. He is currently a



MSE Grad Studies Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

The eight-lane I-35W highway bridge in Minneapolis, MN collapsed at about 6:05

PM CDT on August 1, 2007. NTSB investigators identified the U10W truss node was

a likely failure initiation site for the collapse[1, 2]. A finite element modeling group team

was formed from persons

in NTSB, FHWA, SUNY,

and SIMULIA Central to

study in detail the stress and

strain in the gusset plates of

the U10W joints. Min Li at

SIMULIA Central was a key

member of the modeling

group team. Working with

the team, Min created

the detailed U10W local

finite element model using

many nonlinear modeling

capabilities in Abaqus/

Standard, embedded the

local model into the FHWA

structural bridge model,

performed most of the detailed finite element analyses, and wrote much of the report[2].

The figure above is one example of the analysis results[1]. Based on the results from

the Abaqus model and other investigations, one of the conclusions from NTSB was:

“gusset plates at the U10 nodes, where the collapse initiated, had inadequate capacity

for the expected loads on the structure, even in the original as-designed condition.”[1]

Min graduated in 2006 with a Ph.D. degree in Materials

Science and Engineering. During her study at the Department

of Materials Science and Engineering, she took courses such

as Finite Element Method, Plasticity, Mechanical Behavior of

Materials, and Fracture Mechanics. She modeled the constitutive

behavior of magnesium AZ31B sheet with strong basal texture

and implemented the model into Abaqus/Standard using

UMAT routine. These courses and research work prepared Min

to conduct the stress analysis for the bridge collapse.

References:1. “Collapse of I-35W Highway Bridge Minneapolis, Minnesota August 1, 2007,” Highway Accident Report NTSB/HAR-08/03 PB2008-916203, National Transportation Safety Board, Washingon, D.C., November 14, 2008. See http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2008/HAR0803.pdf2. “Structural and Local Failure Study of Gusset Plate in Minneapolis Bridge Collapse,” Modeling Group Contractor Final Report, National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, D.C., November 12, 2008.

View of node U10W looking north, indicating lateral shift west of upper end of L9/U10W diagonal member at point of instability. (For purpose of illustration, the amount of lateral displacement, including bowing of gusset plates, is exaggerated by a multiple of 5.)

Min Li (PhD ‘00) was part of a team of researchers studying the Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007.

George J. Theus Presents Keynote at 2009 MS&T Conference

Metallurgical Engineering alum

George J. Theus (PhD ‘72) will

present the 2009 Alpha Sigma Mu

Keynote presentation at this year’s

Materials Science & Technology

Conference and Exhibition (MS&T

’09), held October 25-29 at the

David L. Lawrence Convention

Center in Pittsburgh, PA. George is president of

Metallurgical Engineering Ltd. in Aurora, IL. His

keynote lecture will be “The Current Status of Nuclear

Power Generation.”

Technical Specialist at

Houghton International

in Valley Forge, PA, where

he directs laboratory

investigations on new

products and solutions

to customer problems.

Scott is an active

member of technical

societies and in 2008

was named a fellow of

ASM International. He

was cited by ASM for

his seminal R&D work on the heat treatment of

nonferrous alloys.

Scott presented a talk to the faculty and students

entitled, “Application of CFD and FEA to Predicting

Distortion in Heat Treated Gears”. The MSE

department was pleased to host Scott and his wife

Pat during their stay, including dinner and an OSU-

Michigan game.

2008 MSE Distinguished Alumni Award recipient D. Scott MacKenzie

Alumni, Maybe You Can Help?

Looking to fill job openings? The Department would be happy to help you connect with potential employees. If

we may be of assistance, please contact Mr. Mark Cooper at (614)-292-7280 or by e-mail at “[email protected]”.

Help with travel costs to TMS. February’s annual TMS Meeting will be held in Seattle, WA. The conference is

a great opportunity for students to learn more about materials and to network with peers and professionals in

the field. Planning for the annual meeting has started for the undergraduate MSE Club. The Club would greatly

appreciate contributions toward student travel costs. A shape memory alloy Script Ohio will be sent as a thank

you for your support. Contact: Jonathan Pham, President of MSE Club ([email protected], 937-554-4592)

Nitinol Script Ohio by the MSE Club. Thank you for helping our students!


Welding Engineering-MSE Realignment

The MSE and Welding Engineering

faculties have voted unanimously to bring

the Welding faculty, staff, students, and

programs to MSE. As of the beginning of

Autumn Quarter, the realignment action

has been endorsed by the Interim Dean

of Engineering, Dr. Gregory Washington,

and by a vote of the College Faculty. We

await votes by the University Senate and

the Board of Trustees and approval by

the Office of Academic Affairs, all of

which may occur by the end of the 2009

calendar year.

The realignment will bring five regular

faculty, three staff, 95 undergraduates, 50

graduate students, associated degree and

research programs, and many dedicated

Welding Engineering alumni from

around the world to MSE. Resources to

hire three new faculty are also associated

with the realignment. The department

will still be known as Materials Science

and Engineering but will house both

the Welding Engineering and Materials

Science and Engineering degree

programs. The realigned department will

include the MSE office and lab space in

the Watts-MacQuigg-Fontana complex

and the Welding Engineering space at

the Edison Joining Technology Center

on West Campus. This is a very exciting

opportunity for both programs and we

look forward to welcoming the Welding

Engineers to MSE through the course of

the upcoming year.

I tems o f in terest . . .

Semesters

Mark your calendars! August 22nd, 2012,

will be the first day of class at Ohio State

under its new semester-based calendar.

The Board of Trustees approved a

proposal to move the University to a

semester calendar this past April. The

Andy Bruening Joins MSE as an Instructor

The MSE faculty welcomed Dr. Andy

Bruening as an Instructor this fall. Andy

is the Lead Science Teacher at the Metro

Early College High School. The Metro

School (themetroschool.com) is a science,

technology, engineering, and mathematics

(STEM) focused, intellectually vibrant

learning community open to students

in Franklin County. Metro Early

College High School is designed to serve

students who want a personalized and

extraordinary learning experience that

prepares them for a connected world

where math, science, and technology are

vitally important.

In his role as Instructor with MSE, Andy

will be working collaboratively with

faculty in MSE, our MRSEC Center for

Emergent Materials outreach activity,

Battelle, and the ASM Foundation

to develop approaches that promote

continuity and depth in STEM education

at the college-high school interface for

students in Ohio and beyond.

Andy brings considerable skill and

experience to this important activity.

He has an extensive background in the

sciences with a Bachelor’s degree in

Marine Geology from Eckerd College and

a Ph.D. in Geology from the University

of South Carolina (USC). Over the

past 10 years, he has taught extensively

both at the high school and collegiate

level. He taught high school Physics

move marks the end of years of discussion

and aborted attempts to implement

semesters. The move was finally made

at the urging of the Governor Strickland

and Chancellor Fingerhut, who seek to

align academic calendars at institutions

across the Ohio University System. While

the implementation date may seem far

off, the MSE faculty is well along in its

efforts to revise the MSE graduate and

undergraduate curricula. Draft curricula

will be posted on the MSE website later

this fall with a request for comment

from our students, alums, and external

advisory committee.

Helping Teachers Grow Talent in Materials Science and Technology

The Ohio Science, Technology,

Engineering, and Math Learning

Network (OSLN), in conjunction with

Columbus-based Battelle and The Ohio

State University are working with the

ASM Materials Education Foundation

through a unique teacher capacity

building grant of $150,000.

This grant will enable ASM to continue

its partnership with Ohio State by

offering workshops for Ohio teachers and

and Earth Science classes from 1998 to

2001 before returning to school for his

Ph.D. in 2001. As a graduate student at

USC, he taught laboratory courses and

several undergraduate courses. At Metro,

Andy currently teaches Principles of

Engineering, Introduction to Engineering

Design, and Environmental Science. As

faculty advisor to the STEM Club, he has

mentored several teams to the National

Society of Black Engineers Regional and

National Lego Robotics Championships.

Andy’s innovative experiential techniques

demonstrate his enjoyment of teaching

and have provided his students with

mastery level concepts and ideas. We are

thrilled to have Andy on board and look

forward to developing novel approaches

for promoting STEM education by

redefining how recruiting and train-

ing happen

at this im-

p o r t a n t

juncture

in a

student’s

career.

Dr. Andy Bruening



Humpty Dumpty, MSE-style

How do you protect a raw egg from a six story drop without

slowing it down? Students in Assoc. Prof. Kathy Flores’ “MSE 361:

Introduction to the Mechanical Behavior of Materials” were assigned

this task as their final project in Spring ‘09. The project requires

that the students consider how material deformation can dissipate

the energy of an impact, similar to a bicycle helmet or armor

plate. Parachutes, wings, or other means of intentionally slowing

the descent of the egg are not allowed. To further discourage

unintentional “floaters”, the eggs also need to hit a specified target

area.

A team-building exercise--as

well as a creative application

of classroom concepts--the

course fielded eight groups

of five students. Each group worked to design, construct,

test, and analyze the performance of their protective

egg-carrying devices. In order to prove that they had

optimized their designs, the teams each constructed

and demonstrated two protective devices: one designed

to protect the egg, and one with just enough protective

material removed to allow the egg to break. A portion of

the group’s grade depended on minimizing the weight

difference between the “pass” and “fail” designs. Most

groups took a highly empirical approach to their designs, developing and testing several

prototypes with drops from varying levels of the Arps parking garage.

The official “Drop Day” was June 4, 2009, when the students demonstrated their devices

with drops from the 6th floor of MacQuigg Labs onto the patio below. Members of the wider

MSE community, including several graduate students and faculty members, gathered in the

patio to hear students describe their designs and to cheer on the demonstrations. This year’s

solutions ranged from encasing the egg in bread slices in a peanut butter jar, to suspending

the egg in a flour-and-water mixture in an aluminum can placed in a coffee can filled with

water with a brick on the bottom. The MSE 361 Egg Drop 2009 highlights can be found on

the Department’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/osumaterials.

Ewww... Jackie Ohmura checks the results of her team’s drop.

Keith Johnson and Holly

Oliver used Jello to cushion

the six-story fall.

Assoc. Prof. Kathy Flores explains the rules of the MSE 361 Egg Drop. The contest always draws a big crowd!

Grad School? Save the date!

The MSE department will host its annual Graduate Program Open House

January 29 & 30, 2010. For details, visit mse.osu.edu/goh.

expand the materials science curriculum

tools suitable for high schools. The grant

will enable the development of a new

pilot program which provides materials

science “starter kits” of lab equipment

and curricular tools to Ohio high school

teachers who have been trained by ASM

through its Materials Camp program.

This pilot program will allow ASM to

prepare and launch a stand-alone high

school-level materials course. The grant

includes OSLN designation of ASM as a

“preferred provider” of materials science

professional development training for

teachers and schools offering courses.

The Department of Materials Science

and Engineering at Ohio State will play a

key leadership role in forming a network

of high school teachers and schools in

Central Ohio focused on offering high

quality materials courses. Prof. Glenn Daehn, the Mars G. Fontana Professor

of Metallurgical Engineering at OSU will

help launch the network.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by

OSLN and Battelle, who are the leaders

in Ohio STEM education innovations,

working with a consortium of

government, education, and industry

leaders,” said ASM Foundation Board

Chair, Dr. Raymond Decker. “Our

partnership with Ohio State materials

science and engineering faculty has

proven very productive.”

“For organizations such as Battelle,

the importance of investing in the

education of tomorrow’s scientists can

not be overestimated,” said Richard

Rosen, Battelle’s corporate vice president

for education and philanthropy

partnerships.

The ASM Materials Education

Foundation is located in Geauga County,

Ohio, and is the charitable educational

outreach arm of ASM International,

a non-profit, individual membership

organization representing 35,000 global

members who are scientists, engineers,

and technical experts working in

industry, government research labs and

education in the high-tech arena of

materials science information.


Student News

Summer Internship Provides Experience for the Coming School Year

Keith Johnson, a third-year MSE major,

spent his summer as a lab technician

at FirstEnergy Beta Labs located in

Mayfield, OH.

FirstEnergy is “a diversified energy

company headquartered in Akron, OH.

Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved

in the generation, transmission, and

distribution of electricity, as well as

energy management and other energy-

related services. Its seven electric utility

operating companies comprise the

nation’s fifth largest investor-owned

electric system, based on serving 4.5

million customers within a 36,100-

square-mile (93,000 km2) area of Ohio,

Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; and its

generation subsidiaries control more

than 14,000 megawatts of capacity. In

2007, FirstEnergy ranked 212 on the

Fortune 500 list of the largest public

corporations in America.” (source

wikipedia.com)

Beta Labs is a lab set up in support for

FirstEnergy’s energy production plants

and outside companies in the energy,

chemical, refining, and automotive

industries. It contains water, oil, and

coal testing facilities, along with a fire

extinguisher lab, metrology lab, and

metallurgical lab.

Said Keith, “The metallurgical lab

always had work and from my short

stay there I felt like I gained a great look

into corrosion and high temperature

metallurgical damage modes. All this,

just in time for third year course work!”

Jeff Blough (right) of FirstEnergy quizzes Keith about

Internal Diameter Corrosion Fatigue in a reheater

tube. Jeff is an alum of the OSU Metallurgical

Engineering program (MS ‘72).

Accomplishments

Greg Ebersole earned Honorable

Mention in the 2009 NSF Graduate

Research Fellowship Program. This is

a highly selective program and Greg’s

honor is rare and distinctive.

Lin Li received a $5,000 international

travel scholarship from the International

Center for Materials Research at

Santa Barbara. This will allow Lin to

pursue a collaboration with Helena

Van Swygenhoven at the Paul Scherrer

Institute in Switzerland.

Lauren Neufarth, Junior

in MSE from Liberty

Township, OH, received

the TMS Light Metals

Division Scholarship. Said

Lauren, “This generous

award greatly helped me

financially, but more so it helped me feel

reassured in myself and in my abilities

to continue to pursue and reach my

education and career goals. I am very

grateful for the confidence TMS has

shown to have in me, and this honor has

encouraged me to continue to work hard

Senior Picture

Congratulations 2009 Senior Class!Front row, l-r: Jacob Portier, Amanda Lorenz, Olivia Rumpke, Brian Peterson

Second row: Dan Owsley, Kazuhiro Chisaka, Saurabh Sedha, Evan Standish, Meredith Herzog, Berk GencerThird row: Diandra Rollins, Caitlin Toohey, Mike Shnider, John Sosa, Angel Carrasquillo

Fourth Row: Tom Wynn, Steven Woodward, Greg Ebersole, Brad Meibers, Craig Vanderbilt, Jon Scholl

Photo by Geoff Hulse



Outstanding Junior Scholar AwardRecognizing an

outstanding junior

student.

Justin Bennett

George R. St. Pierre AwardFor scholarship

and professional

activities in the MSE

department.

Evan Standish

Alan J. Markworth Memorial AwardTo the student who best

reflects the personal and

professional talents of Prof.

Alan Markworth.

Caitlin Toohey

Mr. Herderick Goes to Washington

Edward D. Herderick was awarded the prestigious 2009-2010 Materials

Societies Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship. Ed will

spend one year working as a special legislative assistant on the staff of

one of Ohio’s U.S. Senators, Sherrod Brown. Activities involve conducting

legislative work, assisting in hearings and debates, preparing briefs, and

writing speeches. Fellows attend an orientation program on Congressional

and executive branch operations.

Ed received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in August

2009. He received his BS (2005) and MS (2007) in MSE from Ohio State as

well. His graduate research has been done under the advisement of Prof.

Nitin Padture and has been focused on the synthesis, characterization,

and property measurement of metal-oxide-metal heterojunction nanowires. During his

graduate studies Ed was an NSF IGERT fellow (2005-08) and received a Diamond Award from

the American Ceramic Society (2008). In addition to his academic work, Ed has been an active

member of the campus community, serving on the OSU Council of Graduate Students and also

taking part in many outreach activities. His main area of policy interest is in improving the way

we generate, transmit, and consume energy to provide economic growth and strengthen national

security in an environmentally sustainable manner.

and challenge myself. Thank you very

much.”

Daniel Paquet, a Ph.D. student working

with Prof. Somnath Ghosh was awarded

the Best Poster Award at the Physical

Metallurgy Gordon Research Conference

held on August 2-7, 2009. The objective

of the conference was to explore the

recent progress in use of computational

materials models to unify the science

and engineering of metallic materials.

Daniel presented his work on multi-

scale modeling of ductile fracture of cast

aluminum alloys.

Student Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received department awards at the annual ASM-

Columbus meeting and Student Awards Night, April 15, 2009.

Justin Bennett with

Prof. Kathy Flores

Caitlin Toohey with

Prof. Wolfgang Windl

Evan Standish with Prof. Em. George St. Pierre

John Sosa with Prof. Glenn Daehn

Women in Engineering Awards

Six MSE students were honored for their

academic excellence Februray 19, 2009

at the annual Women in Engineering

Banquet:

Top Academic AwardsSophomore, Jacqueline OhmuraJunior, Stacey Vansickle

Outstanding Academic Awards

Senior, Amanda LorenzJunior, Elizabeth MartinSophomore, Tiffany NganSenior, Caitlin Toohey

The MSE Chair AwardTo the outstanding senior

scholar in the Materials

Science and Engineering

Program.

Gregory Ebersole

R.E. ‘Ernie’ Christin Memorial AwardFor the student who best demonstrates

how industrial experience has influenced

his or her educational development.

Olivia Rumpke

Mars G. Fontana AwardTo the outstanding senior

scholar conducting

research in metallurgy.

John Sosa

Foundry Educational Foundation Scholarship Recipients

In April, 2008, the Central Ohio Chapter

of the American Foundry Society

awarded a number of scholarships,

totaling $8600, to Ohio students.

Angel CarrasquilloBerk GencerTaylor HopkinsDaniel OwsleyEvan StandishEvan UchakerCraig VanderbiltAaron WashburnAdam Young

Greg Ebersole and Department Chair Prof. Rudy Buchheit


Nanofiber Solutions wins 2009 Deloitte Business Plan Competition at Fisher

A team presenting

a newly patented

n a n o t e c h n o l o g y

device won the 2009

Deloitte Business

Plan Competition

on Saturday, May

16, 2009. The team,

Nanofiber Solutions,

developed a start-

up business plan to

market nanofiber

mats to improve

screening and research

in biomedical fields.

The winning team

received $95,000 in

cash and services to

use as start-up funds to transform their idea into a thriving business.

The Nanofiber Solutions team included Jed Johnson, a doctoral candidate in

OSU’s Materials Science in Engineering; Assoc. Prof. John Lannutti, associate

professor in the program; Brian Barnhart, an MBA candidate at Carnegie

Mellon and alumni of the Ohio State MSE department (BS ‘05); and Ross

Kayuha, CEO at Columbus-based Strategic Thinking Industries. The student

members of Nanofiber Solutions are all graduates of Ohio State’s Technology

Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Academy offered by the Center for

Entrepreneurship at Fisher College of Business. The programs and its leadership

have been recognized nationally for its innovative approach to the development

of entrepreneurial talent.

“Deloitte is pleased to sponsor the business plan competition particularly in this

time when innovation and entrepreneurial spirit is so important for our country

and communities in stimulating the economy” said John McEwan, managing

partner of Deloitte’s Columbus office. “The business plans presented were

excellent and demonstrate the wonderful dreams and talent that reside at Ohio

State.”

Denman Undergraduate Research Forum

Among 522 students participating in

the May, 2009 Denman Undergraduate

Research Forum, were many MSE

undergraduate students. The Forum is

an opportunity to showcase outstanding

student research and encourage all

undergraduates to participate in

research as a value-added element of

their education.

Throughout the day the MSE students

displayed posters detailing their research,

and answered questions from judges

and the university public. Students

were judged by faculty, corporate, and

external judges, with winners receiving

cash awards.

Congratulations go to Diandra Rollins,

whose project “Hollow Metal-Oxide

Microshells for Advanced Gas Sensor

Applications” earned third place in the

Forum’s Engineering category. Diandra’s

project advisors were MSE Prof. Patricia

Morris and then doctoral student Elvin

Beach.

Nikolas Antolin: Structure

Determination of Non-Stoichiometric

SrTiO3 with Atomic Potentials

Advisor: Wolfgang Windl

Gregory Ebersole: Mathematical

Modeling of the Mechanical Behavior

of Engineered Skin

Advisors: Heather Powell, Peter

Anderson

Diandra Rollins: Synthesis and

Characterization of Hollow Microshells

for Gas Sensors

Advisors: Patricia Morris, Elvin Beach

Matthew Snider: Sorption Behavior

of Amorphous Silica by High-pressure

TGA

Advisor: Hendrik Verweij

John Sosa: Exploration of Kinetic

Metallization on Deposited Particles

Advisors: Hamish Fraser, Peter

Collins

Evan Standish: Solidification

Modeling to Predict Dendrite Arm

Spacing

Advisors: Jerrald Brevick, Doru

Stefanescu

Stacey Vansickle: Fabrication of

Micropillars in the Cortical Region of

Bovine Bone

Advisors: Katharine Flores, Katrina

Altman

Top-bottom: Diandra Rollins, Matthew Snider, Evan Standish, Nikolas Antolin, John Sosa, Greg

Ebersole, Stacey Vansickle

l-r: Steve Karzmer (Calfee Corp.), John McEwan (Deloitte & Touche), Ross Kayuha (CEO of Nanofiber Solutions), Assoc. Prof. John Lannutti, Jed Johnson, and Michael Camp of the Fisher College of Business.



Engineering Service Learning at OSUby Elvin Beach, PhD ‘09

In the spring of 2008, I had the opportunity to travel

with a group of engineering students to Montana de

Luz, an orphanage for children living with HIV, in

south-central Honduras. The orphanage is built on

a hill overlooking the surrounding valleys filled with

sugar cane and two small villages.

Montana de Luz (MdL) houses between 30 and 40 children

and provides a nurturing environment, education, and medical

treatment for all of the children living there. It has continued

to expand during the past five years and adapt to the needs of

both the young and adolescent children living there.

A group of engineering students led by Prof. John

Merrill from the College of Engineering has been

venturing to MdL during spring break for several

years. During the winter quarter at OSU, projects

are identified with the director and on-site staff of

MdL that are implemented by teams of 3-4 students

per project during the trip. Our group addressed

several needs at MdL. Drinking water quality,

specifically high levels of arsenic in the water, was

measured and shown to be almost completely

removed with a three stage filtration system that

also reduced yearly filter replacement costs by several hundred

dollars. Water quality for one of the villages located in the

valley below MdL was also assessed and an improved chlorine

delivery system was designed, built and installed on site to

improve drinking water quality in the village where several of

the people who work at MdL live.

Another group, led by Gabe Moulton from the Office

of Information Technology, set-up a computer lab with

computers and monitors donated from various computer

labs around OSU. The computer team also provided a cost

effective solution for satellite-based internet access to the

remote location where the orphanage is located. Other projects

included construction of a rainwater collection system to help

grow vegetables in the gardens, insect and snake-proofing the

few on-site air conditioning units (seriously there were snakes

in them), and building some durable soccer goals for the

annual MdL soccer tournament. No matter the job, the kids

were always enthusiastic to help and even more excited when

3:00 play-time came around.

The trip was very rewarding and fulfilling from the standpoint

of making some improvements around the complex, but even

more so just for the chance to meet and spend time with the

kids. Overall this was a great opportunity to meet new people,

travel to a new country all while making a contribution to

an organization which makes a huge difference in these kids’

lives.

There are plenty of opportunities of this nature at OSU.

The Engineers for Community Service (ecos.osu.edu) is a

student run organization that works both locally and

internationally and is a good place to start looking

to get involved. If anyone is interested to learn more

about Montana de Luz, please visit their web-site

(www.montanadeluz.org).

As an aside, another student in MSE, Devin Braun,

a Junior in the program, also took part in the MdL

work. His focus was primarily on water-related

projects. Devin volunteered during Spring Break 2009

and offers his thoughts about the experiences on the

MSE department’s blog. Be sure to read his May 7,

2009 entry found at osumaterials.wordpress.com.

Upper left: The Montana De Luz house in south-central Honduras. Upper right: Elvin and Saul, MdL Maintenance Supervisor, in the MdL workshop. Center: View from the MdL Orphanage. Lower left: 3:00 play time! Lower right: Spring Break 2008 OSU Engineers for Community Service Group.

Thank you for your service!

The following students gave generously of their time and talents to

serve as officers in the department’s MSE Club in 2008-2009:

Brian Peterson, President

Berk Gencer, Vice Pres.

Caitlin Toohey, Treasurer

Olivia Rumpke, Secretary

Top R-L: Katie Kinstedt, Ben YegerBottom R-L: Amanda Verhoff, and Devin Braun


Materials Science and Engineering177 Watts Hall2041 College Rd.Columbus, OH 43210-1179

Editors: Rudy Buchheit, Heather Parsons Design: Mark Cooper Photos: Geoff Hulse, Megan Daniels, University Communications

Deve lopment

Sheikh Akbar

Lisa Allen

Peter Anderson

Joseph Bailey

Peggy Barron-Antolin

Marjorie Bennett

Walter Bennett

Burton Brubaker

James Clum

Hendrik Colijn

Connie Cron

Thomas & Leslie Croyle

Chandrashekhar Damle

Richard Daniel

Earl Dietz

Marie Ellinger

William Ellinger

Carl Gartner

Anne & Robert Geist

Carrie & Le Roy Gordon

Joyce Hannon

Richard Hannon Jr

John & Martha Hirth

Ronald Hughes

Robert Johnston Jr

Linda & Allen Katz

Ann & Ronald Kegarise

Trent Latimer

Dalton Lowe

Robert Matz

Charles Mayer

Dennis McGarry

Steven McGinnis

William McKinnell Jr

Robert Miller

Elizabeth Morin

Joseph Nachman

Howard Pickering

The MSE department wishes to thank each of its supporters for their generosity. It is by means of such kindness that this program is able to provide

our students with the high quality education that serves them so well. The generous donors below have assisted the Department at a level of

$100 or more over the last year. For more about how you can support the Department’s educational and research efforts, please contact us by phone: (614) 292-2553; e-mail: [email protected]; or visit mse.osu.edu/alumni.

Michael Reidelbach Sr

Frederick Roehrig

Jay Scharenberg

Paul Schasney

David Stahl

J Christian Stallsmith

Donald Stickle

Sigel & Mabel Stocker

John Varhola

Yunzhi Wang

Nicholas Warchol

S J Whalen

James Woolley

Peihui Zhang

Companies:3M Foundation

AIST Foundation

Alcoa Foundation

Altstetter Family Trust UAD

American Foundry Society-Illinois

Chapter

American Foundry Society-Wisconsin

Chapter

American Foundrymans Society-

Central Ohio Chapter

Ashland Incorporated

ASM International

Computherm LLC

Cummins Business Services

DNV Columbus

Ecolab Foundation

Foundry Educational Foundation

General Motors Corp-North American

Operations

L H Marshall Company

QIT-Fer et Titane Inc

The Dow Chemical Foundation

watts news 2009

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