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N E W S F R O M M I T ’ S D E P A R T M E N T O F M 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

N A N O - M I C R O - M A C R O - M O L E C U L A R - C R Y S T A L - D E N D R I T E - I N T E R F A C E

L E T T E R F R O M T H ED E P A R T M E N T H E A D

Dear friends,

Greetings from Cambridge—it’s time for another updateon the Department. Many great things are happeningfrom surges in the undergraduate enrollment to a new hirein energy to the near completion of the Laboratory forAdvanced Materials, to name just a few. Let me start withthe facts that US News and World Report ranked bothour undergraduate and graduate programs as #1 and that,after working very hard at recruiting, the new sophomoreclass numbers 51—an all time high! This can be attributedat least in part to the dedicated and creative work of theundergraduate committee previously chaired by Prof.Caroline Ross and presently by Prof. Kim Kimerling, ’65,Ph.D. ’69, our numerous outreach activities, especially theWulff Lectures to the freshman class, the terrific work byAngelita Mireles, Amy Shea, and Meredith Nickerson, ourtalented Academic Administrative staff, and the generalbuzz around the Institute with regards to Course III aris-ing from everything from faculty awards, startups, and theMADMEC competition. Of course, this upswing in en-rollment presents a challenge for our great staff, especiallywith regards to laboratories—it is wonderful to see howwell everyone has responded to the increase in studentsand continued the Course III hands-on lab tradition.

Course III student participation in Institute competitions isgoing strong—due in part to the Rapid Fabrication Laband our senior capstone design course, 3.042. These ac-tivities are helping instill engineering leadership in our stu-dents. For example, the finals of MADMEC III, held inOctober, had five superb teams presenting. The winningteam, “Thermeleon” with their thermally-activated colorchanging polymer gel, picked up the $5,000 first-placeprize and a lot of public attention to their novel approach

New Faculty: 03

Presidential Visit: 05

Events: 06

Honors: 10

The Thomas grandsonsreviewing local examplesof casting technology.

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for roof tiles for energy savings (heat absorbing in winterand highly reflective in summer). Check their technologyout on their website: http://thermeleon.com.

The last time the graduate curriculum was revised was in1992 and we are in the midst of an extensive overhaul—led by Prof. Christine Ortiz. Changes will occur to the coreand restricted electives as well as to the Oral Exam. Wewill update you in the next issue.

The completion of the new Laboratory for Advanced Ma-terials (LAM) will be welcomed by not only Course III butthe entire Institute as the construction required partialblockage of the Infinite Corridor—narrowing the corridoralongside for the past several months! It will be great tohave this new research/teaching space available for thespring semester. See the next issue of Structure for in-depth coverage of the LAM opening.

The Department has added a new associate professor, JeffGrossman, an expert in energy and computational mate-rials science. A search is underway for a tenure-track fac-ulty member to start next fall.

The budget problems at MIT seem to be abating. We aretaking another -5% hit to the general budget but this maybe the last cut. DMSE has been prudent in its expensesand, with the four new faculty hires over the past twoyears and the completion of the LAM, the Department isin relatively good shape as it looks like the economy ismaking a modest recovery. The great support fromalumni/ae continues to help mitigate budget problems,and I thank you all for your gifts, whether of money ortime, during these tough economic times.

It has been an exciting semester with the visit of PresidentObama to give a major address on energy in Kresge. Be-fore his address, President Obama visited with energy re-searchers from across campus and spent time in Building13 seeing firsthand pioneering research in clean energy byMIT faculty and graduate students.

DMSE brings fundamental science, applied science, andengineering to bear on a host of materials issues that arecritical for the challenges facing the country and world.Most recently an effort between our Department and Nu-clear Science and Engineering concerning materials degra-

dation, especially corrosion of materials relevant to oilfields, was launched with British Petroleum. This remindsme of what Thomas Friedman said a year ago in the NewYork Times: “We need to get back to making stuff basedon real engineering and not just financial engineering.”

Please note the old photo ID contest continues on page 4.We are pleased with the good responses and look forwardto hearing from you.

In closing, I want to mention that I am very proud of theinset photo for this issue of Structure – the 3 boys shownare grandsons Samuel (2), Thomas (2), and Adam (5) inthe Boston Public Garden where they are showing earlyinclinations of MSE in their blood as they jointly inspectthe bronze casting by Nancy Schön (she used the lost waxprocess!) of Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings (if youforgot: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack andQuack)! As always we would love to hear from grads andwould be happy to host a visit and show you around ournewly renovated spaces and let you see some of the greatreal stuff that our MSE students are producing!

With warmest wishes,

Ned Thomas77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 6-113Cambridge MA 02139-4307617-253-5931email: elt@mit.edu

N E W F A C U L T YIn fall 2009, we welcomed Jeffrey C. Grossman.

Professor Jeffrey C. Grossman has joined our faculty, fill-ing a position that is the result of an interdepartmentalsearch organized by the School of Engineering for facultypursuing energy research. He comes to us from LawrenceLivermore National Lab where he was Group Leader ofthe Computational Nanoscience Group and Executive Di-rector of the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Sys-tems. He holds the B.A. in Physics from Johns HopkinsUniversity (1991), the M.S. in Physics (1992), and thePh.D. in Physics (1996), both from the University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign.

Professor Grossman’s area of expertise is computationalmaterials science and engineering with a focus on energy.Specifically, he works on energy materials that are directlyrelevant to global challenges, such as understanding andpredicting nano- and micro-scale materials and interfacesin application areas related to energy conversion and stor-age, predicting and tailoring nanomechanical phenomenafor applications in thermal energy storage and transport,and modeling materials synthesis approaches to gain newinsights in atomic-scale growth processes that could leadto new or improved methods for both making and inte-grating materials building blocks. His group develops newcomputational tools aimed at bridging the gap betweenquantum/classical atomistic simulation complexity and theneeds of experimental materials science and engineeringresearchers.

The Grossman group uses theory and simulation to gainfundamental understanding, develop new insights basedon this understanding, and then use these insights to de-velop new materials with improved properties—workingclosely with experimental groups at each step. The re-search program includes a strong emphasis on a multidis-ciplinary approach in order to expand the scientificpossibilities beyond any one discipline or field. ProfessorGrossman’s presence further enhances MIT’s and DMSE’sstrong computational materials group and furthers work inthe energy research that is so critical today.

This fall, he taught 3.29, Computational Nanoscience forEnergy, a graduate-level subject that provides studentswith the fundamentals of computational problem-solvingtechniques used to elucidate the atomic-scale behavior ofenergy conversion and storage nanomaterials. In additionto teaching at the undergrad and graduate level, Prof.

Grossman is committed to outreach education, lecturingat venues like Boston’s Museum of Science and San Fran-cisco’s Exploratorium and participating in programs pro-duced by public television.

M I L E S T O N E S

On March 7, 2010, Prof. Donald R. Sadoway will turn60 years of age. To mark the occasion, there will be a sym-posium at MIT in June. The conference will consist of lec-tures and posters. Topics will include those that havepiqued Prof. Sadoway’s interest over the course of his ca-reer. The overarching theme of his work is electrochem-istry in nonaqueous media. Specific topics in appliedresearch are 1) environmentally sound electrochemical ex-traction of metals; 2) lithium solid-polymer-electrolyte bat-teries for portable power; 3) liquid-metal batteries forstationary applications; 4) advanced materials for use aselectrodes in electrolysis cells (inert anode for the Hall-Héroult cell); 5) electrochemical synthesis of functionalmaterials; 6) innovation in education methods and relatedsubjects; and 7) related fundamental research is the phys-ical chemistry and electrochemistry of molten salts (in-cluding molten oxides and ionic liquids), cryogenicelectrolytes, and solid polymer electrolytes and innovativeeducational methods.

The social events will include a cocktail reception Wednes-day evening, June 9, and a banquet on Thursday evening,June 10. See http://mit.edu/sadoway60/ for registrationinformation and deadlines.

Professor Harry Tuller is turning 65 this year, and in Juneof 2010, a symposium in his honor will be held during theEuropean Materials Research Society in Strasbourg,

Jeff Grossman

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France. “Solid State Ionics: Exploring Chemical and Struc-tural Complexity of Novel Ionic Conductors” will focus onnovel ionic and mixed conducting materials from a fun-damental as well as application-oriented view. Increasingchemical or structural materials complexity corresponds toadditional degrees of freedom allowing for further tuningof the properties, e.g. in heterolayer systems. Anisotropicstructures gain increasing attention for cation as well asanion transport, electrolytes and mixed conductors. Manyof these materials present also interesting (electro)catalyticproperties. For more information about the Conference,see http://www.emrs-strasbourg.com/.

Earlier this fall, the Composites At Lake Louise (CALL) con-ference held a birthday symposium to honor Prof. Tuller,hosted by CALL organizer Ena Nicholson. Professor Tullernoted that this was an early birthday celebration, and thathe was still 64 throughout the duration of the symposiumand banquet.

The banquet attendees included Prof. Tuller’s wife Soniaand many alums of the Tuller Group over the years whoshared their memories and appreciation for his years ofexcellent teaching, patience, and mentoring. The after-dinner speaker was a Tuller group graduate, Prof. MichelBarsoum, Ph.D. ’85, who spoke on an unusual applicationof his ceramics research background—understanding themethods of Egyptian pyramid construction. He also spoke

warmly of Prof. Tuller’s clear classroom explanations of keyconcepts such as Kroger-Vink notation, remarking that thiswas the easiest chapter of his textbook to write! More re-cent group members in attendance included Josh Hertz,Ph.D. ’06, now an assistant professor at the University ofDelaware, and George Whitfield, a current graduate stu-dent. Here’s to many more years of thoughtful academicleadership in DMSE!

Leslie Lawrence, a long-time member of the DMSE staff,retired in June. For many years, Leslie worked as an ad-ministrative assistant to Prof. Bob Rose. She has offeredan open smile and helping hand or sympathetic ear to stu-dents, faculty, and staff alike. Professor Rose says, “As Iwrite this, Leslie, now comfortably retired in the warmth ofher farmhouse, is arranging for Thanksgiving dinner forthose MIT freshmen in the Concourse Program who willbe here on campus (due to higher air fares and the stateof our economy) rather than in their family homes. Herkindness has been a blessing to thousands of students andstaff who have passed her way during her long careerhere.” We wish her the very best as she moves into thenext chapter of her life.

CALL 2009, including some former members of theTuller Group. Front row Prof. Dunbar Birnie, ’81,Ph.D. ’86, Rutgers University; George Whitfield, ’03(Course VI), M.Eng. ’04; Prof. Harry Tuller; Prof. KenSandhage, Ph.D. ’87, Georgia Tech. Back row Dr. DanButton, Ph.D. ’87, QD Vision Inc.; Dr. TetsuoUchikoshi, National Institute for Materials Science,Japan; Dr. Nick Long, Industrial Research Ltd, NewZealand; Dr. Phillipe Knauth, University of Provence,France; Dr. Gyeong Man Choi, S.M. ’83, Ph.D. ’87, Po-hang University of Science and Technology, Korea.

Leslie Lawrence, at her desk. Can youidentify the location of her office formany years?

P R E S I D E N T O B A M A ’ S V I S I TKresge Auditorium was crammed with anticipation andcell phone cameras on October 23, 2009, for PresidentBarack Obama’s historic speech on the unprecedentedlevel of U.S. support for clean energy. Attendees were re-quired to be in the auditorium hours before the speechbegan, and there was curiosity within the auditorium bothabout the outside world—were people lining the streetsin support or protest? Which lab was the President in, rightnow?—and about what the President might say duringhis speech. In the meantime, the audience of roughly 1100people, comprised of students, professors, MIT adminis-trators, local employees of energy companies, and staffand supporters of local politicians, mingled and discussedtheir involvement in clean energy and science policy.

Prior to his speech, President Obama spent some time onthe third floor of Building 13, touring labs and talking di-rectly with researchers about their work. Building 13 un-derwent a major makeover in the 72 hours prior to thePresident’s visit: Hallways were painted, windows werecleaned, and floors were polished. The Secret Service in-vestigated potential hazards and the entire building wasshut down for Friday morning to ensure a safe visit. Thesewhirlwind preparations paid off as the President met withProfessors Marc Baldo (concentrated solar cells), PaulaHammond and Angela Belcher (virus-assembled solar cellsand batteries), and Vladimir Bulovich (quantum dot lightbulbs), seeing prototypes first-hand and taking the timeto autograph a piece of Bulovich’s equipment.

The President began his speech in Kresge with a comedictone—showing off his new pocket-sized periodic table, agift from Prof. Belcher, and wondering if MIT studenthackers had put his motorcade on top of the dome—andthen moved on to his main point, a call-to-action for re-searchers to address the global energy crisis. He stated un-equivocally that MIT is the leader in this effort, highlightingspecific research efforts in MIT and in DMSE. The Presidentalso confronted the daily challenge of pessimism, and howwe must take on this daunting task head-first and with afighting spirit.

The empowerment was palpable as President Obama’sspeech left everyone on their feet and with eyes wideopen, and especially your authors: We realized that we,

the students, are the leaders that the President is lookingfor and that our field of materials science and engineeringis the necessary nexus for solving the energy problem. Weare in the unique position to investigate the limits of ma-terials, to shift the paradigm into new dimensions and in-novative morphologies, and to question pessimism andpush boundaries every day.

—Megan Brewster and George Whitfield

E D I T O R :

DMSE Communications Coordinator

O R I G I N A L D E S I G N :

Marc Harpin, Rhumba

P R I N T I N G :

Arlington Lithograph

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S :

Many thanks to Angelita Mireles for providing photo-

graphic support. Dr. Dan Button provided the photo of

the Tuller Group. Patrick Gillooly of the News Office pro-

vided the photo of Nick Orf. Thanks to Krystyn Van Vliet,

Megan Brewster, George Whitfield, Geoff Beach, and

Tiffany Ziebell for providing content. Thanks to Katrine

Sivertsen for proofreading.

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Opportunities

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Megan Brewster, Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, KevinMcComber, George Whitfield, Prof. Don Sadoway,Prof. Yang Shao-Horn

M A D M E CNow in its third year, MADMEC, Making and DesigningMaterials Engineering Contest, is a joint venture betweenDMSE, Saint Gobain, and the Dow Chemical Company.MADMEC challenges teams of students to design andbuild prototypes that address a variety of energy issuesthrough the use of materials science. It is our hope thatMADMEC will empower MIT students to shape the fu-ture of energy, while giving them an opportunity to prac-tice and develop their creative design and engineeringskills.

The student scientists and engineers at MIT have the abil-ity to make significant contributions to the developmentand utilization of alternative, non-traditional sources of en-ergy. The three winning teams received the followingprizes: 1st Prize: $5,000, 2nd Prize: $3,000, 3rd Prize:$2,000. At designated intervals over the summer, theteams presented work on their prototype, using equip-ment from the Rapid Fabrication Lab; winners of these“Checkpoints” received $500.

Ten teams submitted plans in April, and five made pre-sentations at the contest finals at the end of September. Allthe projects were very impressive, in their creative ap-proaches to everyday energy challenges and in the waythey used on-campus resources and worked with eachother and their mentors.

Thermeleon, a team of current graduate students and re-cent alums, took first place in this year’s MADMEC finals.The team has developed a color-changing roof tile that iswhite to reflect sunlight when the outside temperature iswarm, and dark to absorb heat when the weather is cold.

The second-place winner was Team Biomethane’s plung-ing-jet biomethane purification system. Their design for a4-foot tall tank, made of standardized parts, has the samecapacity as the 18-foot tall tanks in current use.

Team DMMD took third place. Drawing their inspirationfrom research on the Namib Desert beetle, the team useshydrophilic and hydrophobic materials to create a solar-driven desalination method.

Events

Nick Orf, Ph.D. ’09, demonstrates Thermeleon’s proto-type roof tile, using a heat gun to warm part of it.The heated area turns from black to white.

Richard Bates,Course II ’10,Michael Gerhardt,’12, Ethan Bates,Course II ’10, andJonathan Estrada,’11, of TeamBiomethanedescribe theirprototype tank toNed Thomas.

Team DMMD (Dan Montana, ’10, at left and MishuDuduta, ’10, at right) with Jim Bredt, ’82, Course IIS.M. ’87 and Ph.D. ’95, MADMEC judge.

F P O P : D I S C O V E RM 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 GIn September 2009, DMSE participated for the first time inMIT’s Freshman Pre-Orientation Program (FPOP). Dis-cover Materials Science and Engineering provided aglimpse into the past, present, and future of materials sci-ence and engineering. The program, organized by currentgrad student Siamrut Patanavanich, ’08, allowed eight-een freshmen to spend three days exploring MIT andBoston, as seen through an oftentimes unconventionalperspective of materials science and engineering.

Ten Course III students served as mentors: YasmineDoleyres, ’12, Ted Fernandez, ’09, Kirsten Hessler, ’12,Michele Lee, ’10, Chris Liu, ’10, Ian Matts, ’11, ArpunNagaraja, ’09, Drew Whisenant, ’12, Gordon Wintrob,’12, and Denys Zhou, ’11.

Materials PastProfessor Linn Hobbs lectured on “Ma-terials and the Human Experience,” theworkings of the first materials scientists,like the prehistoric tool makers who utilizedtheir knowledge of flint (a sedimentarycryptocrystalline form of quartz) to pro-duce elaborate arrowheads and spears, orthe blacksmiths who turn ingots into metalitems through plastic deformation. After-wards, students attended a demonstrationin the DMSE forge.

Materials PresentProfessor Yet-Ming Chiang’s lecture,“Materials in the Modern World,” gave an

overview of some of the battery research coming out ofMIT. In a complete change of pace, the next topic was thematerials science behind molecular gastronomy and theeffect of crystal structure on chocolate.

Materials FutureProfessor Ned Thomas lectured on “The Future of Mate-rials Science and Engineering,” before students visitedMIT’s Institute of Soldier Nanotechnology in KendallSquare for a look into the latest materials research and en-gineering focused on making it safer for soldiers who risktheir lives in the battlefield.

Over the course of the program, students had an oppor-tunity to tour labs and to use some of the new equipment

in the Rapid Fabrication Laboratory. They also exploredtheir new neighborhood, traveling to Boston for dinnerand shopping, and even taking a sail on the Charles, afterpassing the swim test!

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FPOP mentors gather with freshman attendees beforethe farewell dinner and sailing.

Ted Fernandez, ’09, (second from left) and YasmineDoleyres, ’12, (second from right) oversee the labdemo on the exciting world of molecular gastronomy.

Denys Zhou, ’11, leads a group for sailing on theCharles River.

FPOP freshmen discover the proper-ties of steel in the DMSE forge.

S P I N D Y N A M I C S G R O U PProfessor Geoffrey Beach joined DMSE in Fall 2008. He issetting up a research program that is focused on under-standing and controlling the dynamical behavior of mag-netic materials in nanoscale structures. His researchaddresses enabling new technologies to store and processinformation based on “spintronics,” using the spin of elec-trons to bring new functionalities to materials and devices.His group is involved in several projects including 1) un-derstanding the mechanisms by which the spin of con-duction electrons in materials can be used to propelmagnetic domain walls; 2) studying the dynamics of spinexcitations (magnons) in nanostructured magnetic mate-rials; and 3) developing magnetic domain wall “circuits”that can be used to physically transport functionalizedmagnetic nanoparticles across the surface of a chip forapplications in nanomedicine.

Professor Beach’s Spin Dynamics Group, which currentlyincludes three DMSE graduate students and three UROPstudents, moved into their newly-renovated laboratoryspace in August 2009. They have been actively setting upan array of equipment and instrumentation for preparingmagnetic materials and nanodevices, and characterizingtheir behavior. In order to image changes in the magneti-zation patterns of materials with very high resolution andat very short time scales, they are developing a uniquemagneto-optical scanning probe system. This custom-built

experimental platform allows the application of magneticfields in any direction, and will soon have built-in electri-cal microprobes for GHz electrical interfacing, as well as amicrofluidics dispensing system. The dynamical responseof magnetic materials and devices can be observed in realspace and time by scanning a highly-focused polarizedlaser spot across a magnetic structure and analyzing thereflected light. The magnetization direction can bemapped out with submicron resolution, and changes inthe magnetic configuration can be observed in real timewith nanosecond resolution.

The most recent addition to the laboratory was a gener-ous equipment donation from MTI Corporation by Dr. X.P.Jiang, president of MTI and an alumnus of Prof. MertonFlemings’ group. This equipment includes several vacuumfurnace systems for nanostructure growth. These systemswill be used to prepare semiconductor nanowires basedon ZnO in collaboration with Prof. Silvija Gradecak inDMSE. ZnO is a semiconductor that exhibits unique opti-cal properties and, when doped with certain elements, alsoshows magnetic behavior. Professor Beach is interested inthe possibility of combining semiconducting and magneticproperties in a single material that can be used at roomtemperature.

—Geoff Beach

Research Initiatives

Professor Geoff Beach with DMSE graduate studentsSatoru Emori and Liz Rapoport, configuring thescanning magneto-optical system for a measurement.

Dr. X.P. Jiang from MTI Corporation explaining theoperation of a high-vacuum furnace growth systemdonated by his company.

M P I W I N T E R S C H O O LIn March 2009, the International Max Planck ResearchSchool for Advanced Materials (IMPRS-AM) and the MITDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering organ-ized a Winter School in Stuttgart, Germany. The Schoolwas a four-day conference focused on Nanoscale Materi-als, attended by more than eighty participants includingfaculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchersfrom MIT’s DMSE, Max Planck Institute of Metals Re-search and of Solid State Research, and University ofStuttgart. Travel and accommodations for MIT participantswere generously sponsored by the Max Planck Societythrough the IMPRS-AM, and coordinated by Hans-George Libuda in Stuttgart. Professor Dr. Eric Mittemeijer,director of the IMPRS-AM, initiated this exciting new in-teraction with MIT. Last year, faculty participants includedProfs. Harry Tuller, Carl Thompson, Chris Schuh, FrancescoStellacci, and Krystyn Van Vliet; and student and postdocparticipants represented these groups as well as the groupsof Caroline Ross and Gerd Ceder. The talks given by fac-ulty from the US and Germany were well-received, andthe posters given by the students and postdocs providedample time for interaction and exchange of ideas relatedto the cutting-edge topics, tools, and perspectives onmaterials research at the nanoscale.

This School was intended to foster new collaborations andexchange of research associates with the MPI, focusedaround the Nanoscale Materials research discussed at this

Winter School. It is our intention that new Schools will fol-low, with the next event located at MIT within the nextfew years. Since we want our German colleagues to wantto return to us after the School, it is likely that we’ll invitethem here in months other than December throughMarch! Here, we wish to again thank the MPI and IMPRS-AM for their kind hospitality and hosting of an excellentmeeting, and look forward to returning this hospitality atthe next MIT DMSE/IMPRS-AM School event.

—Krystyn Van Vliet

A R P A - E F U N D I N GThe Department of Energy has announced total awardsof $151 million for developing clean energy technologies.Among the recipients is Prof. Don Sadoway whose grouphas developed an all-liquid metal battery that allows forfaster charging and discharging. This battery uses low cost,domestically available liquid metals that have the potentialto permit large-scale energy storage as part of the nation’senergy grid. The DoE press release says that, if successful,this technology could “revolutionize the way electricity isused and produced on the grid, enabling round-the-clockpower from America’s wind and solar power resources, in-creasing the stability of the grid, and making blackouts athing of the past.”

N S F F U N D I N GProfessor Harry Tuller’s group has received funding for“Materials World Network: In-Situ Investigation of ModelMulti-Component Catalyst Systems,” a joint project be-tween MIT and the University of Bayreuth. Over the pastthirty years, automotive emissions have been reduced bymore than 90%, due to use of catalysts; however, ac-cording to the NSF, progress has slowed. The Tuller groupaims “to obtain an improved understanding of the cata-lyst materials properties and their interactions with sub-strates and gases. Such understanding will advance thescience of catalysts as well as improve the ability to engi-neer catalysts towards improved functionality.”

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about activities taking place in DMSE

please visit http://dmse.mit.edu/news

Professor Krystyn Van Vliet at the Winter School.

F A C U L T Y H O N O R SIn October, Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang received the AmericanCeramic Society (ACerS) 2009 Corporate TechnicalAchievement Award in recognition of his outstandingachievement in field of ceramics, particularly in foundingA123 Systems. A cover story in the ACerS Bulletin de-scribes how Prof. Chiang became a materials scientist andthe history of A123. DMSE alumni/ae and friends will rec-ognize many names of instructors, colleagues, and friends.

On Nov. 17, Prof. Michael Rubner presented the WulffLecture, “Nature Inspired Materials Science,” in 10-250.He spoke about looking to nature for clues on how to cre-

ate highly functional materials with exceptional properties.Specifically, he cited the fog-harvesting capabilities of theNamib Desert beetle, the iridescent colors of the hum-mingbird, and the super water repellant abilities of thelotus leaf. He also explored synthetics that utilize pH-in-duced changes, such as films with pores that can be re-versibly opened and closed, resulting in anti-reflectioncoatings.

Professor Subra Suresh was selected by the American So-ciety for Materials International as the 2009 recipient ofthe Campbell Award. Professor Suresh delivered the Ed-ward DeMille Campbell Memorial Lecture at the joint

Awards and Honors

Professor Gerd Ceder received the MRS Medal during theFall Meeting in Boston.

It takes, on average, eighteen years from the discovery ofa new material to its commercialization, therefore, time isof the essence for materials innovation aimed at solvingthe world’s current energy problem. During his MRSMedal talk, Prof. Ceder urged a packed audience to in-crease the role of first principles computational design—which relies on quantum mechanics to determine materialproperties—to accelerate this innovation process. The keyissue, he stressed, is not accuracy but translating desirableengineering properties (such as high voltage, high capac-ity, and safety in the case of Li ion batteries) into com-putable quantities (such as Li chemical potential,thermodynamic phase stability upon Li removal, andmaterial stability against reduction).

First-principle computations have resulted in technologicalimprovements of rechargeable Li ion battery cathodes: Forexample, phase diagrams computed from first-principlesled to the design of a cathode material coated by a glassysecond phase with high Li+ conductivity, resulting in acathode that could be charged and discharged within min-utes. A second example focused on safety; since chargedcathodes tend to be highly oxidized, they are oftenmetastable with respect to oxygen release, which is whatleads to combustion of the electrolyte. The oxidizing na-ture of a charged cathode can be determined by lookingat the oxygen chemical potential and examining phase di-agrams under increasingly reducing conditions. Such cal-culations explain why LiMnPO4, a cathode materialcurrently under study, may be inherently less safe thanother known materials. LiFePO4, on the other hand, wascalculated to be one of the safest materials. Lastly, forLi(Ni0.5Mn0.5)O2, the Li+ diffusivity was controlled largely

by the spacing between layers of Li ions and oxygenatoms. Engineering came into play in determining howthat layer spacing could be controlled; as the Na versionwas perfectly layered, the technique employed in this casewas ion exchange of Na for Li.

An advantage of computation that Ceder focused on wasits inherent scalability; if it can be done once, it can bedone a thousand times. His ultimate goal is to create aMaterials Genome, a library of the computed properties ofall reported inorganic compounds (estimated to numberbetween 104 and 105), using high-throughput comput-ing. His group has already automated first-principles com-putations and has performed tens of thousands ofcalculations in an attempt to find new, promising cathodematerials. Ceder briefly highlighted two results in whichsuch rapid computational screening has led to new cath-ode materials that were subsequently synthesized in thelab and show promising electrochemical characteristics.He also demonstrated that the large amounts of compu-tational data generated by the project could be used tolearn the trade-offs in cathode design. For example, in-creasing voltage, which leads to better energy density,generally results in a lack of safety. However, Ceder wascareful to emphasize the opportunity represented by theoutliers that do not obey these trends. In the case of ther-mal stability, for instance, switching from plain oxide ma-terials to various types of polyanions (phosphates, silicates,borates, or sulfates) may mitigate some safety concerns.

Ceder believes that these examples demonstrate the meritof first-principles computation as a means to make ex-perimental studies more efficient by offering a “virtualplayground” in which to investigate material properties.

—Tiffany Ziebell

ASM/TMS/ACerS meeting in Pittsburgh. Recipients of theCampbell Award are selected for their outstanding pro-fessional achievements in materials science and engineer-ing as well as their excellence as lecturers.

Professor Suresh also presented the inaugural Morris E.Fine Lecture in the Department of Materials Science andEngineering at Northwestern University. The lecture was ti-tled, “Materials Science at the Intersections of Nano-technology, Life Sciences and Human Health.”

Professor Ned Thomas presented the Lawrence H. VanVlack Lecture at the University of Michigan. The Van VlackLectureship series was established in honor of LawrenceH. Van Vlack, whose seminal introductory textbooks de-fined the field of materials science and engineering. It isawarded annually to a materials scientist or engineer ofdistinguished accomplishment. Previous lecturers with atie to MIT include Prof. Millie Dresselhaus, Prof. Ali Argon,and Dr. John Cahn.

Professor Harry Tuller presented the John F. McMahonMemorial Lecture at Alfred University in October. His talkwas entitled “Electroceramics: Technology for the Future”.

Professor Krystyn Van Vliet is one of 88 of the nation’sbrightest young engineers selected to take part in the Na-tional Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 15th annual U.S.Frontiers of Engineering symposium. Engineers ages 30 to45 who are performing exceptional engineering researchand technical work in a variety of disciplines came togetherfor the 2-1/2-day event in September. The participants—from industry, academia, and government— were nomi-nated by fellow engineers or organizations and chosenfrom approximately 240 applicants.

S T U D E N T A W A R D SDian Ariesta received the Horace A. Lubin Award forOutstanding Service to the DMSE Community. Dianserved as president of SUMS and was a dedicated advo-cate for her fellow students.

The two recipients of the Outstanding Senior ThesisAward were Johann Komander for “An Approach toModeling the Cost-Strength-Weight Tradeoff in Alu-minum and Magnesium Extrusions for Automotive Appli-cations,” supervised by Prof. Randy Kirchain and to JoyPerkinson for “The Effects of Polydispersity on the Mor-phology of Polystyrene-Polyferrocenyldimethylsilane BlockCopolymer Thin Films,” supervised by Prof. Caroline Ross.

The Best Internship Report Award was given to ElizavetaY. Plotnikov for “Crystallization Kinetics of Bulk MetallicGlasses,” based on her work at the GE Global ResearchCenter’s High Temperature Alloy and Processing Labora-tory. She was supervised by Dr. Bob O’Handley.

1110

National Academy of Enginering induction, NedThomas, Chuck Vest (president of NAE), and YetChiang. Professors Thomas and Chiang were electedto the NAE in February of this year.

Professor Harry Tuller received an Honorary Doctor-ate from the University of Oulu, Finland, in May. Alldoctors are required to wear the Doctor’s Hat andSword during conferment. The hat is a symbol of lib-erty, scholarship, and freedom of research. It is round,because its wearer is supposed to answer questionsclearly and naturally and not to split hairs. Thesword is a symbol for the scientist's fight for what heor she, in rigorous research, has found to be good,right, and true.

Megan Brewster and Tiffany Ziebell were co-recipientsof the Graduate Student Community Service Award. Theywere recognized for their roles in creating a stronger grad-uate student community, through activities sponsored bythe DMSE Alumni Club, the MRS Student Chapter, theWomen of Materials Science and Engineering, and GMC.

The John Wulff Award for Excellence in Teaching wasgiven to Yoda Patta for the second year in a row. She wasrecognized for her role in 3.022 Microstructural Evolutionof Materials.

Jeremy Mason received the Graduate Student TeachingAward for his role in 3.22 Mechanical Behavior of Mate-rials. He also received the Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Re-search Award for “Analysis of Crystallographic TextureInformation by the Hyperspherical Harmonic Expansion,”supervised by Prof. Chris Schuh. His paper “Hyperspheri-cal Harmonics for the Representation of CrystallographicTexture,” published in Acta Materialia received the ACTAaward.

Marco Bernardi was recognized with the First-Year Grad-uate Student Exceptional Performance Award.

The Award for an Outstanding Paper by a First- or Sec-ond-Year Graduate Student was given to Hyunjung Yi , amember of Prof. Angela Belcher’s group, for “FabricatingGenetically Engineered High-Power Lithium Ion BatteriesUsing Multiple virus Genes,” published in Science. Thevirus battery went to the White House this spring, dis-played in a Press Conference with President Obama andPresident Hockfield.

Alfonso Reina received a Silver Medal for his talk “Single-and Few-layer Graphene Grown and Isolated from Ni Sub-strates” at the Boston Fall Meeting of MRS.

Our students star not only in the research arena, but alsoin sports. Timothy Chin traveled to Las Vegas to competein the Ultimate Pool Trick Shot Challenge, placing third.

Undergraduates involved in varsity sports include VarsityCrew, Heavyweight: Ryan Breneman and Theodore Eby;Women’s Varsity Crew, Openweight: Adriana Chehrazi;Women’s Cross Country: Janice O’Brien; Football:Cameron Brown, Josh Steimel, and Michael Yurker-wich; and Women’s Tennis: Melissa Diskin.

A L U M N I H O N O R S

Cody Friesen, Ph.D. ’04, was named to Technology Re-view’s TR 35, the top innovators under 35 years of age.Now an associate professor of materials science at ArizonaState University, he was recognized for his work on mak-ing cheaper, higher-energy batteries to store renewableenergy.

In March, George Krauss, Sc.D. ’61, was awarded Hon-orary Membership in the Japan Institute of Metals (JIM).The award was given for outstanding contributions in thefield of metallurgy and materials science and was pre-sented at the Annual Spring Meeting of JIM in Tokyo.While in Japan, he presented lectures at Tohoku Universityin Sendai, the Nippon Steel Research Laboratories inFuttsu-City, Chiba, and Kyoto University, Kyoto. He is cur-rently University Emeritus Professor at the Colorado Schoolof Mines.

Nonglak Meethong, Ph.D. ’09, won this year’s StudentResearch Award of the Battery Division of The Electro-chemical Society, presented at the Fall ECS Meeting inVienna in October.

Tiffany Santos, ’02, Ph.D. ’07, was awarded a L’OrealUSA Fellowship for Women in Science for her work in ma-terials science at the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Ar-gonne National Laboratory. Dr. Santos investigates a classof materials called transition metal oxides, which display awide array of properties that have great application po-tential, such as magnetism, ferroelectricity, andsuperconductivity.

President Susan Hockfield and current Rose FellowReid Van Lehn, ’09, at the Presidential FellowsReception this fall.

In 2009, DMSE lost three alumni who were long-timefriends and supporters of the department.

Richard J. CharlesRichard J. (Dick) Charles, 84, of Waddington,NY, formerly of Schenectady, NY, passed awaypeacefully of natural causes on October 26 inBurlington, VT, surrounded by his loved ones.

His interest in materials science may havebegun when he worked welding Liberty Shipsfor the Canadian war effort. He later receivedthe master’s in mining and metallurgy from theUniversity of British Columbia and then wasemployed in the outback of British Columbia atthe El Alamein Gold Mine.

Professor Antoine Marc Gaudin of MIT sawDick’s master’s thesis and invited Dick to join

his group. After receiving his doctorate in 1954, Dr.Charles taught in MIT’s Dept. of Metallurgy until 1957when he found a position at the General Electric CorporateResearch & Development Center in Schenectady, NY,where he stayed until his retirement in 1990.

He had a prolific and illustrious career at GE, working fromthe lab bench up to Branch Manager and then returningto what he loved most, “the bench.” At last count he heldover 25 patents. He co-invented the rare earth Cobalt-Samarium magnet, which made the Sony Walkman, andall of today’s micro sound devices, a reality. He holds thepatent on the seal for the Lucalox tube developed by hiscolleague Robert L. Coble. Lucalox lighting, the sunsetstreetlights found worldwide, produce three times the lightat one-third the energy of their predecessors.

His work was recognized with many awards throughouthis career, including the Coolidge Fellowship, one of GE’shighest awards. This award allowed him to return to MITand teach in DMSE for the year 1974.

A gathering honoring his life and accomplishment to beheld in Waddington is planned. For information pleasecontact his son Jon at jetcone@yahoo.com. Donations inhis name may be made to the Waddington Rescue Squador the Waddington Hepburn Library or Indian Creek Na-ture Center, PO Box 286, Canton, NY13617.

John S. HaggertyJohn S. Haggerty, of Lincoln, died June 25, 2009 at Life

Care Center of Acton from complications of his twentyyear battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

He received the S.B. (Course II 1961), S.M. (Course III1963), and Sc.D. (Course III 1965) from MIT.

For many years prior to his retirement/disability in 1998,he was employed at MIT as a Senior Research Scientistwith joint appointments in the Energy Lab, MPC, andDMSE. Prior to coming to MIT, Dr. Haggerty was a seniorstaff member in the Materials section of R&D at Arthur D.Little in Cambridge, MA.

In addition to his wife, Mary Jo, he is survived by twodaughters, Alice Haggerty Cotter and her husband Tim ofVirginia, and Caitlin Haggerty Unwin and her husbandBrian of Wayland, a son, Jonathan Burns Haggerty of Lin-coln, three grandchildren, Benjamin and Emma Cotter andCharlie Unwin, a brother, Edward Denis Haggerty and hiswife Linda of CT.

Contributions in his memory may be made to MIT c/oBonny Kellermann, Dir. of Memorial Gifts, 600 MemorialDr., W98-500, Cambridge MA 02139 (checks payable toMIT under John’s name) or the Parkinson’s Disease Foun-dation, 72 East Concord Street, C3, Boston, MA 02118.

Joseph R. LaneJoseph R. Lane, Ph.D. ’50, died in May. He was a loyalalumnus of both the University of Illinois and MIT. He wasa contributor to the Morris Cohen Professorship and es-tablished the Joseph R. Lane Award for Teaching Excel-lence in DMSE.

At UI, he established a scholarship in honor of his formerprofessor, Earl Eckel, and a lectureship to foster increasedcollaboration between the MatSE and Chemistry depart-ments. Most recently, he set up a fund to assist UI MatSEstudents with their travel expenses when they attend con-ferences.

After receiving his Ph.D., he spent the next five years asthe branch head for the Naval Research Laboratory. Themajority of his career, 34 years, was spent as a Senior StaffMetallurgist at the National Materials Advisory Board, Na-tional Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. At the timeof his retirement in 1989, he was conducting research onsuperalloys, refractory metals and aerospace structural ma-terials.

He was a fellow of ASM International.1312

Richard J. Charles

In Memoriam

Benjamin C. Allen SM 1954,ScD 1957

Samuel M. Allen SM 1971PhD 1975

Steven Allen SM 1951, ScD1959

Ronald E. Allred ScD 1983Tryggve G. Angel 1951Arthur H. Aronson 1958Charles P. Ashdown PhD

1984George A. Basta, Jr. 1950Mark G. Benz SM 1959, ScD

1961John B. Blum SM 1977, PhD

1979H. Kent Bowen PhD 1971William E. Brower, Jr. PhD

1969Caryl B. Brown SM 1995Paul E. Brown 1956, SM

1957, ScD 1961Robert L. Brown SM 1961,

ScD 1964T. David Burleigh SM 1980,

PhD 1985Pavel Bystricky PhD 1997Julius Chang 1982, SM 1982,

PhD 1989Anil R. Chaudhry SM 1983Andrew Chen SM 1991, PhD

1995Katherine C. Chen PhD 1996David R. Chipman 1949, ScD

1955Roland Tuck-Chow Choo ScD

1991Uma Chowdhry PhD 1976William S. Coblenz SM 1977,

PhD 1981Richard E. Cole SM 1952

Aliki K. Collins PhD 1987Leslie W. Coughanour* ScD

1947David C. Cranmer PhD 1981David S. Crimmins ScD 1964Mark M. D’Andrea, Jr. 1958,

SM 1962Daniel B. Dawson SM 1967,

ScD 1973Mark R. De Guire PhD 1987Chrysanthe Demetry PhD

1993Joseph M. Dhosi SM 1959Chun Christine Dong PhD

1990Alfred L. Donlevy SM 1963Joseph M. Driear ScD 1980James L. Drummond SM

1970David C. Dunand PhD 1991Julia C. Duncan SM 1994,

ScD 1998Lawrence E. Eaton SM 1960George Economos SM 1951,

ScD 1954John W. Elmer ScD 1988Jim Eng 1935Robert S. Feigelson SM 1961Howard C. Fiedler SM 1950,

ScD 1953Bertram Fleischer SM 1958Paul M. Fleishman SM 1982Robert A. Frank 1983, SM

1985, ScD 1989Gerald S. Frankel ScD 1985Robert L. Freed PhD 1978Douglas W. Fuerstenau ScD

1953Robert J. Furlong, Jr. SM 1977Amitava Gangulee ScD 1967Frank W. Gayle ScD 1985

Ralph G. Gilliland PhD 1968Emilio Giraldez Paredes PhD

1986Daniel S. Gnanamuthu MTE

1972Joseph I. Goldstein 1960, MS

1962, ScD 1964Robert S. Goodof 1973, SM

1973Martin L. Green PhD 1978Vernon Griffiths ScD 1955Honglin Guo PhD 1998Steven S. Hansen 1971, SM

1975, ScD 1978Yaowu Hao PhD 2003Robert A. Hard SM 1949, ScD

1957Adam S. Helfant 1985Michael V. Herasimchuk 1939Gregory J. Hildeman ScD

1978David C. Hill 1959, SM 1969,

PhD 1970Christian C. Honeker PhD

1997Peter Yaw-Ming Hsieh SM

1999Terry N. Huang 2003Gordon Hunter 1981, SM

1981, PhD 1984Bor Z. Jang SM 1979, PhD

1982Mark H. Jhon 2001Debra L. Kaiser ScD 1985Junichi Kaneko SM 1965, ScD

1967Theodoulos Z. Kattamis SM

1963, ScD 1965Robert Nathan Katz 1961,

PhD 1969George A. Keig ScD 1966

Jack Keverian 1950, SM1951, ScD 1954

Heinz Killias PhD 1964Christopher G. King 1982Peter F. King ScD 1957Gerald A. Knorovsky ScD

1977George Krauss SM 1958, ScD

1961Melody M.H. Kuroda 1998,

SM 2001Joseph R. Lane* ScD 1950Thomas A. Langdo PhD 2001Harold R. Larson ScD 1967Felix Lau SM 2001David E. Laughlin PhD 1973Jae Gab Lee PhD 1991Laura H. Lewis SM 1988Qiong Li SM 1988Ching-Te Lin SM 1996, PhD

1998Minfa Lin ScD 1990Ulf H. Lindborg ScD 1965Bruce A. MacDonald SM

1961, PhD 1964Thomas O. Mason PhD 1977Lawrence J. Masur SM 1982,

PhD 1988Hideaki Matsueda PhD 1976Satoru Matsuo PhD 1993Joanna M. McKittrick PhD

1988Gerald S. Meiling SM 1959,

ScD 1966Jonas D. Mendelsohn PhD

2002Hiroshi Menjo SM 1985Stephen A. Metz 1967, PhD

1970Arthur B. Michael ScD 1952Reid A. Mickelsen ScD 1963

! MIT and DMSE thank our generous alumni/ae for their support of

Course III during the fiscal year ending in June 2009. Gifts can be

made by visiting http://giving.mit.edu.Donors

W A L T E R S . O W E NThe Walter S. Owen Fund for Student Initiatives in DMSEwas launched this year.

Professor Owen served as Department Head from 1972to 1983, but his commitment to MIT and its studentsbegan long before that and continued up to his death in2007. His family has generously pledged support for afund that will benefit students through such varied en-richment opportunities as providing funding for confer-ence fees, supporting one-day workshops, and promotingnew student groups. Traditionally, discretionary fundshave been used for such special requests, but the OwenFund will ensure the availability of such resources forDMSE students now and in the future.

During the process of setting up the Owen Fund, ProfOwen’s former students, friends, and colleagues have

been sharing some oftheir memories of him.We’d like to collectthese stories and passthem on to his family;please send anythoughts to RachelKemper, DMSE Com-munications Coordina-tor, Room 6-102, orrkemper@mit.edu.

To learn more about theOwen fund (2732230)or supporting DMSE,please contact Dr. Dedric Carter, Assistant Dean of Engi-neering for Development and Strategic Initiatives atdedric@mit.edu or by phone at 617-324-8500.

Gary A. Miller 1960, SM1961, ScD 1965

Francois R. Mollard 1960, ScD1967

Jorge Monreal MEng 2007Edmund H. Moore SM 1987John E. Morral PhD 1969Uchu Mukai SM 1992, ScD

1995Samuel K. Nash SM 198, ScD

1951George E. Nereo SM 1963,

ScD 1966Trinh Tran Nguyen PhD 2006Barbara M. Nichols 1994Carlos A. Nocetti MTE 1974,

SM 1974Henry J. Nusbaum MD PhD

PhD 1977William R. Opie ScD 1949James Pappis ScD 1959Robert I. Park 1988Tae-Soon Park PhD 2002Jeffrey C. Payne SM 2006Richard W. Pekala SM 1983,

ScD 1984Regis M.N. Pelloux SM 1956,

ScD 1958Richard P. Phillips 1963Alfonso Pinella SM 1966Alan W. Postlethwaite SM

1949Paul K. Predecki SM 1961,

PhD 1964William R. Prindle ScD 1955Svante Prochazka SM 1968John W. Putman SM 1950,

ScD 1953Daniel T. Quillin 1989Richard A. Rawe SM 1958Ranjan Ray ScD 1969Christine M. Reif 1986Aldo M. Reti 1965, SM 1967,

ScD 1970Richard E. Riman PhD 1987Jae-Sang Ro PhD 1991Martin D. Robbins SM 1956Neil E. Rogen SM 1956, MTE

1957Alan R. Rosenfield 1953, SM

1955, ScD 1959Thomas A. Rowe 1966, SM

1967Robert C. Ruhl PhD 1967Anil K. Sachdev ScD 1977K.K. Sankaran PhD 1978Howard T. Sawhill 1981, PhD

1985Thomas F. Schaub SM 1995Erika K. Schutte 1995George K. Schwenke SM

1996Huankiat Seh PhD 2005Maurice E. Shank ScD 1949Andrew M. Sherman 1967,

PhD 1972William M. Sherry PhD 1978Akihiko Shibutani SM 1977Bruce M. Shields SM 1952Jared L. Sommer PhD 1992

Edward S. Sproles, Jr. ScD1976

Charles Stein SM 1954, MTE1960, ScD 1962

Edward T. Stephenson, Jr. SM1956

Lincoln D. Stroh SM 1988Alan W. Swanson PhD 1972Andrew R. Takahashi 1999,

SM 2007Peter Tarassoff ScD 1962Min-Hsiung Tsai ME 1972John C. Turn, Jr. PhD 1979Augustine M. Urbas PhD

2003Ryan M. Wagar 2003Robert H. Walat 1993John H. Walsh ScD 1955Panitarn Wanakamol PhD

2006Michael J. Wargo ScD 1982Michael J. Warwick SM 1988,

ScD 1991George Wei PhD 1976Janine J. Weins PhD 1970David O. Welch SM 1962Eric Werwa PhD 1997Jack H. Westbrook ScD 1949Denis W.G. White SM 1955,

ScD 1957Yuhong Wu PhD 2003Dongsik Yoo PhD 1997James Andrew Yurko PhD

2001Timothy W. Zens GQi Zhao ScD 1992Bizhong Zhu PhD 1997Emmanuel N. Zulueta SM

1980* Deceased

L A B O R A T O R YF O R A D V A N C E D

M A T E R I A L SConstruction on the Laboratory for Advanced Materials(LAM) will be completed as the fall semester ends. Thecabinetry and fixtures are installed, painting is underway,and lab equipment has been ordered and will be installedas it arrives. This lab will provide a shared facility for newcharacterization and processing equipment, enablingDMSE researchers to pursue joint projects in interdiscipli-nary areas. The LAM is funded by a generous contribu-tion from Vasilis, S.M. ’61 (Course X), Ph.D. ’66 (CourseIII), and Danae Salapatas.

The LAM will be up and running sometime this spring:Watch our websites for further updates!

1514

Jon Keller, architect, Ned Thomas, and VasilisSalapatas in the LAM. At lower left are samples ofthe floor tile sections, featuring each of the 17 plane-group symmetry patterns.

From the Infinite Corridor, looking in.

DMSE is very proud that its alumni have established theirown Alumni Club, the only such organization at the de-partmental level at MIT.

Still in the beginning phases of its existence, the Club holdsregular activities, such as the Materials Matters Seminarsand Alumni Happy Hours. The Materials Matters eventsallow recent alumni to advise small groups of interestedgraduate students for professional success over snacks andbeverages. Alumni Happy Hours provide casual environ-ments for networking between local alumni and currentgraduate students.

The opportunity to establish a professional network is oneof the most important, but often forgotten, elements ofgraduate school. Unfortunately, a majority of graduatestudents do not begin networking until near the end oftheir degree, which causes them to miss many of the valu-able opportunities offered by MIT. The DMSE Alumni Clubhas a mission to foster networking between alumni andcurrent graduate students. Both parties benefit: Alumni

provide practical guidance for the graduate students toachieve their professional and education goals, while thealumni have an opportunity to evaluate potential em-ployees and hear about new developments at MIT.

We are very grateful to the Alumni Club for their assis-tance in organizing and publicizing the DMSE receptionheld during MRS, and especially grateful to Rob Walat ’93for his financial support of the event. More than 150alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends came to the re-ception this year to enjoy good food and conversationwith old friends. We were thrilled by the turnout and hopeto see you all again next year.

The Alumni Club is eager to see their community growand have developed several avenues to help this happen.If you are interested in participating in their activities,please get in touch through the DMSE Alumni Club web-site http://dmse.mit.edu/alumni/, their Facebook page,or via email gjlao@alum.mit.edu.

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