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The Ohio State Univer sit y

Depar t ment of Mater ials Science and Eng ine er ing

Fall 2010 Watts NewsPatch for a broken heart, p. 5 - Frankel honored for scholarship, p. 11 - Weightless students, p. 17

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Cha ir ’s Let terGreetings MSE Friends. I invite you to spend a few minutes

reading the 2010 edition of Watts News to catch up on all

that is going on in MSE. It has been an eventful year for the

department.

The past year was characterized by two very significant

events that reshaped the identity of MSE and will continue

to do so for years to come. They were the integration

of Welding Engineering and Materials Science and

Engineering and the submission of new curricula proposals

for our undergraduate and graduate programs. Each of

these undertakings unfolded in an orderly and effective

manner due to considerable efforts on the part of our

faculty and staff, and a strong commitment to bring them to successful

outcomes.

The integration of WE and MSE combined with the Selective

Investment hiring over the past 10 years has enabled us to grow in

a way that preserves our traditional research strengths in structural

materials and processing while expanding into newer areas of the

discipline, including computational materials science, biomaterials,

electronic materials, materials for energy applications and, yes, even

nanomaterials. We have allowed ourselves to be typecast as one of

the few remaining bastions for structural materials research, but our

research portfolio and newly revised educational programs show that

while we have retained those core strengths, we have extended beyond

those boundaries significantly.

Our faculty was as busy as ever this past year publishing more than 270

articles and books, along with involvement in numerous patents. Over

180 of those articles have appeared or will appear in peer-reviewed

publications. Our faculty members remain highly sought after as

speakers in colloquia and meetings of all types, and they have rightfully

earned high honors, awards and promotions for their sustained research

and teaching impact. Many of those are described in the following

pages.

We had a number of significant new research programs

begin this year, not the least of which was the Center

for Integrative Materials Joining Science for Energy

Applications, which is a NSF I/UCRC led by the Welding

side of the house (more on page 10). This is already a very

substantial center with four university collaborators and

many industrial partners. Cumulative research expenditures

were $13.6 million in 2009 from both WE and MSE

combined—a productive year indeed.

The integration of WE and MSE combined with enrollment

growth in engineering has brought up our student numbers

significantly. We now count 260 undergrads and 160 grads in our

combined programs. Both numbers are expected to grow in the next

few years. Growth in our undergraduate program could push us over

300 students in total, with MSE core class sizes approaching 60. We are

making investments in computer lab and core lab facilities, but we will

need to continue to monitor the conduct of our educational programs

closely to ensure quality of instruction through this period of growth.

There was much turmoil in university communities across the

country this past year and so far we have been spared the pain that was

experienced elsewhere. Nonetheless, we will have a larger than normal

portion of uncertainty to cope with this year. The economy remains

fragile and budget contractions for higher education are expected in

Ohio’s next biennial budget, which will begin in July 2011. Nonetheless,

the College’s budget is as robust as it has been since the implementation

of RCM budgeting at Ohio State. The Department’s budget and reserves

also are strong. This should allow us to act rationally and with self-

determination if circumstances turn unfavorable.

To learn more about these and many other activities going on in MSE,

I invite you to browse this publication or visit our website at mse.osu.

edu. As always, if your travels bring you to campus, please stop in and

say hello.

Contents:

Research, page 3

Faculty & Staff, page 11

Alumni, page 15

Student News, page 17

Of Interest, page 22

Development, page 23

On the cover...The image shows the magnified surface of a carbon-carbon composite rocket nozzle that has eroded. The “spikes” are bundles containing hundreds of carbon fibers that are held together with a carbon binder. The U.S. Office of Naval Research enlisted the help of MSE to determine why the nozzles were failing during testing. Analysis revealed that the binder between the fiber bundles is less stable and degrades more rapidly than the bundles. Since the binder is the weakest link in the nozzle degradation process, the analysis could be used to better select composite microstructure for rocket nozzles. MSE Prof. John Morral was the principal investigator on the project.

Image by Ryan Paul, MSE graduate studentMag = 50X, 4.5 in. = 2 mm

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Research

Of all bodily injuries, severe burns can be the most

painful and debilitating. They can sear flesh and muscle,

destroy nerves and blood vessels, and lead to severe

infection—often crippling, disfiguring or even killing

burn victims. According to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, each year in the United States

there are 1.1 million burn injuries that require medical

attention, approximately 20,000 are major burns

involving at least 25 percent of the total body surface,

and up to 10,000 people die of burn-related infections.

Bioengineered skin—skin that is grown from skin cells

and biomaterial scaffolds in a laboratory environment—

has played a role in burn victim survival and recovery,

especially in cases where 60 percent or more of a victim’s

body is burned, too much body surface to use skin grafts

as a viable treatment method. Unfortunately, engineered

skin currently is formed under static, non-physiological

conditions and thus fails to match the mechanical

properties of native skin, making it difficult to apply

surgically and reducing its functionality on humans.

The good news is that the addition of mechanical stimuli

to the tissue culture environment has been attributed

to improved function and strength in other engineering

tissues. The challenge is that “very little is known

regarding the effect of mechanical stimuli on complex,

hierarchical tissues with multiple cell lineages and

extracellular environments such as skin,” says Heather Powell, an assistant professor of materials science

and engineering and biomedical engineering, who is

conducting research to develop synthetic skin.

The objective of Powell’s research is to utilize novel

mechanical-bioreactor technology in conjunction with

state of the art biological tools to provide a scientific

basis for understanding and then controlling the effect

of mechanical stimulation on engineered skin. “We’re

trying to learn how to alter a cell’s behaviors in the

laboratory so, in a sense, we are ‘teaching’ cells to build a

stronger tissue,” says Powell, who’s been working on the

research for two and a half years.

Synthetic Skin Shows Promise in Treating Burn Victims

Powell has already witnessed

the progress that’s been made

in treating burn victims

and hopes her research will

contribute to those advances.

She forecasts that the human

bioengineered skin will be a

candidate for the commercial

marketplace in four to five

years “although developing

a method to ship it from the

laboratory to hospitals is a

major challenge because bioengineered skin does not

match the mechanical properties of native skin,” she

says.

Another objective of Powell’s project is to develop

problem-based outreach activities to integrate the

multidisciplinary ideas she’s researching into teaching,

training and learning opportunities.

Heather Powell works with students to grow skin cells on collagen mesh electrospun scaffolding (right). Powell says human bioengineered skin can be used to help burn victims. The patient’s skin cells are grown in a collagen mesh. After application to the damaged area, the mesh would be absorbed by the body, leaving the new skin cells to remain and heal the wound.

Heather Powell, assistant professor of materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering, and Jason Drexler, a master’s degree student in materials science and engineering, examine patterns of texture in a collagen sponge made by freeze drying in lyophilizer. Powell develops materials for tissue engineering; the sponges could be used to grow cells used for tendon repair.

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Researchers Combine Polymer Expertise, Nano-biotechnology to Study Tumor Cell Behavior

Ohio State engineers and medical researchers are developing polymer

nanofibers that replicate characteristics of human brain tissue to

better understand how cancer cells behave.

John Lannutti, professor of materials science and engineering, is

collaborating with Mariano Viapiano, a researcher at Ohio State’s

Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital

and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, and others on the research.

Malignant brain tumors often “shed” cells into surrounding

healthy brain tissue, making it extremely difficult or impossible to

fully prevent tumor recurrence, even after surgery, radiation and

chemotherapy. These highly migratory cells often spread via fibrous

tracks that are a natural part of the brain’s inner topography.

Previously, scientists have used flat, rigid, plastic petri dishes — a

two-dimensional environment — to grow and study cancer cells in

a laboratory setting. However, the spider web-like nanofiber arrays

developed by Lannutti and his colleagues simulate three-dimensional

human tissue using a medically approved polymer.

“In traditional petri dishes, the cell sees an infinite surface in all

directions with nothing on it,” Lannutti explains. “In our three-

dimensional cell cultures, the cancer cells move and climb much as

they do in human tissue.”

Researchers use a scanning electron microscope housed in Ohio

State’s Campus Electron Optics Facility to view the translucent

nanofibers, which are 100 times thinner than a human hair.

Properly fabricated, the nanofibers can have the exact size

and spacing as human brain tissue. “We want to analyze

cells behaving in a manner more representative of how they

behave in patients,” says Viapano, an assistant professor

of neurological surgery in the College of Medicine. “This

is a significant improvement because it gives us a new

environment to culture the cells.”

Doctors may soon be able to take a biopsy, place it in the

multi-well versions of these nanofibers, and then test the

effectiveness of a medicine in the lab first rather than on

the patient. Lannutti notes that the research also has the

potential to develop cures for breast and lung cancer as well

as a variety of non-cancer diseases. Recent results show that

both breast and lung cancer cells have been observed to

migrate in a similar manner on these aligned nanofibers.

Lannutti, who has been working on the project for four

years, adds that the collaboration between cancer research

and materials scientists is unique. “It is new to me, and it’s new to the

field,” he says.

Lannutti and one of his former doctoral students, Jed Johnson, co-

founded Nanofiber Solutions, a limited liability company, to produce

and market cell culture products that use the polymer nanofibers. The

research is funded by Ohio Third Frontier Program grants and other

sources. Nanofiber Solutions has a lab in the TechColumbus business

incubator near Ohio State’s West Campus. Lannutti is chief scientist at

Nanofiber Solutions; Johnson, who obtained his bachelor’s, master’s

and doctoral degrees in materials science and engineering from Ohio

State, is chief technology officer. The company CEO is Ross Kayuha.

Dr. Jed Johnson, a materials science and engineering graduate of Ohio State, spins a mat of polymer nanofibers (SEM image below). The technology, used by researchers to study cancer cells, is being commercialized through Nanofiber Solutions, a company Johnson co-founded with John Lannutti, professor of materials science and engineering. (Photo by Jo McCulty)

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The National Science Foundation has awarded MSE assistant

professor Jianjun Guan a grant to determine how hydrogels

can be used to treat heart disease—the leading cause of death

in the United States. A hydrated biomaterial, hydrogels have

mechanical properties ranging from firm to flaccid, making

them a viable candidate to support heart tissue.

Current engineering methods to treat heart disease combines

stem cells and other types of biomaterials. However, these

biomaterials have significant limitations, Guan says. “We want

to generate hydrogels that are thermosensitive with injection

properties suitable for delivery into the heart by a simple

injection,” he says. “They also must provide a biochemical

microenvironment favorable for enhanced stem cell survival

and growth while also possessing heart-specific mechanical

properties.”

A heart attack is caused by a blockage of the blood vessels

that supply blood to the muscles of the heart. With reduced

blood flow comes a reduced supply of oxygen to the muscle

causing the heart tissue to die. This dead tissue loses its ability

to expand and contract with the beating of the heart, leading

to weak areas in the heart wall that thin and distend over time.

The hydrogel forms, in essence, a patch

that sits atop the damaged portion of

the heart muscle. Stem cells are blended

with the gel and the solution is kept in

its liquid form at a temperature of 4oC.

Low temperature, coupled with a mild

pH, allow the gel to stay in its liquid

form. Even after entering the warm

environment of the body, the hydrogel

remains liquid until it comes in contact

with a low pH environment. Low pH,

relative to surrounding living tissue, is

characteristic of damaged heart muscle.

This combination of warm temperatures

and lower pH causes the hydrogel to

firm and adhere to the damaged tissue.

Stem cells, which are embedded in the

hydrogel, are prompted to develop

into new heart muscle. As the cells

are developing, the gel’s mechanical

properties help contain and support the

weakened area of the heart wall. The firm

hydrogel is able to expand and contract

in response to the systolic and diastolic

blood pressures.

Guan’s research is expected to provide

a platform for engineering biomaterials

specific for other tissues.

Engineering Biomaterials to Patch a Broken Heart

Warm temperatures and lower pH [found in damaged heart tissue] cause the hydrogel to firm and adhere to the damaged tissue. Stem cells, which are embedded in the hydrogel, are prompted to develop into new heart muscle. As the cells are developing, the gel’s mechanical properties help contain and support the weakened area of the heart wall.

Dr. Jianjun Guan inspects a sample of the hydrogel developed in his lab. The hydrogel is injectable at 4oC (above, right) and forms a solid gel at body temperature, 37oC, in the presence of lower pH (below, right). The gel is highly flexible at body temperature, showing similar mechanical properties to those of the heart tissue.

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A scanning transmission electron microscope was used to create

these images of a nanowire that had layers of gallium nitride (light layers)

and aluminum nitride (dark layers) placed on top of it. Nanowires have

semiconducting properties and are being studied to determine how they can improve

the performance of computing devices and sensors.

A scanning transmission electron microscope was used to create

these images of a nanowire that had layers of gallium nitride (light layers)

and aluminum nitride (dark layers) placed on top of it. Nanowires have

semiconducting properties and are being studied to determine how they can improve

the performance of computing devices and sensors.

Understanding and Controlling the Growth of Gallium Nitride Nanowires

While great strides have been made in understanding how Gallium Nitride (GaN)

nanowires can be used to improve computing devices and sensors, many questions still

remain. MSE doctoral students Santino Carnevale and Jing Yang hope their research

will provide some of the answers.

GaN nanowires are semiconductor wires that are grown through plasma-assisted

molecular beam epitaxy, a process used to produce high-purity, single crystal

materials. Carnevale and Yang have grown many samples of GaN nanowires

to establish a system-independent growth phase diagram, which helps show

the relationship between nanowire characteristics, such as density, average

height and radius, to the growth conditions of the nanowires. The

research will aid in the design of nanoscale devices.

The twosome, under the guidance of MSE assistant professor

Roberto Myers, also has developed a method that allows for

the independent control of various nanowire characteristics

by manipulating growth conditions. The method involves

separating the nucleation and growth stages of the nanowire’s

evolution by using a specifi cally timed, rapid increase in

growth temperature.

On the device side, Carnevale and Yang have begun

work to establish intersubband transitions in GaN

quantum wells that could be used in many devices,

such as quantum cascade lasers. To do this, GaN

nanowires are grown, and then alternating layers

of aluminum nitride and GaN are deposited on

top of the nanowires.

These more complex nanowire structures

have been characterized using scanning

transmission electron microscope,

or STEM, imaging. MSE doctoral

student Patrick Phillips conducted

the imaging using the Ohio State

Campus Electron Optics Facility’s

Titan transmission electron

microscope. Professor Mike Mills is Phillips’ faculty advisor.

Research Will Aid in Design of Nanoscale Devices

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Computers might one day recycle part of their own

waste heat, using a material being studied by researchers

at Ohio State. Once developed, the effect could enable

more energy effi cient circuits to recover part of the

wasted heat generated by electricity that, in turn, could

be used to perform additional logical operations.

The material is a semiconductor called gallium

manganese arsenide. A recent online edition of Nature

Materials magazine describes the detection of an effect

that converts heat in a semiconductor into a quantum

mechanical phenomenon known as spin.

The research merges two cutting-edge technologies:

thermo-electricity and spintronics, says team

leaders Joseph Heremans, Ohio Eminent Scholar

in Nanotechnology and an Ohio State professor of

mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering,

and Roberto Myers, an assistant professor of materials

science and electrical engineering at Ohio State.

Researchers around the world are working to develop

electronics that utilize the spin of electrons to read and

write data. So-called “spintronics” are desirable because

in principle they could store more data in less space,

process data faster, and consume less power.

Myers and Heremans are trying to combine spintronics

with thermo-electronics—that is, devices that convert

heat to electricity. The hybrid technology, “thermo-

spintronics,” would convert heat to electron spin. In so

doing, thermo-spintronics could solve two problems for

the computing industry: how to remove waste heat, and

how to boost computing power without creating more

heat. In fact, as the electronics industry tries to build

smaller, denser computer circuits, a main limiting factor

is the heat those circuits produce, Myers says. “All of the

computers we have now could actually run much faster

than they do, but they’re not allowed to—because if they

did, they would fail after a short time. So a huge amount

of money in the semiconductor industry is put toward

thermal management.”

The two researchers studied how heat can be converted

to spin polarization—an effect called the spin-Seebeck

effect. It was fi rst identifi ed by researchers at Tohoku

University and reported in a 2008 paper in the journal

Nature. Those researchers detected the effect in a piece of

metal, rather than a semiconductor.

The new measurements, carried out by team member

Christopher Jaworski, a doctoral student of mechanical

engineering at Ohio State, provide the fi rst independent

verifi cation of the effect in gallium manganese arsenide.

While gallium arsenide is a semiconductor used in cell

phones today, the addition of the element manganese

endows the material with magnetic properties.

Samples of this material were carefully prepared into

thin single-crystal fi lms by collaborators Shawn Mack

and Professor David Awschalom at the University of

California at Santa Barbara, who also assisted with

interpretation of the results. Jing Yang, doctoral student

of materials science and engineering at Ohio State, then

processed the samples for the experiment.

“The original spin-Seebeck detection by the Tohoku

group baffl ed all theoreticians,” says Heremans. “In

this study, we’ve independently confi rmed those

measurements on a completely different material. We’ve

proven we can get the same results as the Tohoku group,

even when we take the measurements on a sample that’s

been separated into two pieces, so that electrons couldn’t

possibly pass between them.”

Myers and Heremans’ research was supported by the

National Science

Foundation,

the Offi ce of

Naval Research,

and the Ohio

Eminent Scholar

Discretionary

Fund. Partial

support was

provided by

The Ohio State

University

Institute for

Materials

Research.

Semiconductor Could Turn Heat into Computing Power

Ohio State faculty members Roberto Myers and Joseph Heremans are studying how heat can be converted to spin polarization—an effect called the spin-Seebeck effect. The research could lead to the development of batteries that generate magnetic currents, rather than electrical ones. Unlike electrical currents, magnetic ones don’t produce heat—a key characteristic in the development of improved computer chips.

From left, Joseph Heremans, Roberto Myers and Christopher Jaworski are studying a material that could eventually be used to convert heat to electricity. (Photo by Kevin Fitzsimons)

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A major speed bump that hydrogen-powered fuel

cell vehicles must navigate before becoming a viable

transportation option is the development of a compact,

lightweight on-board hydrogen storage system. As Dr.

Robert F. Service, a writer for Science magazine, put it, “If

producing hydrogen cheaply has researchers scratching

their heads, storing enough of it on board a car has them

positively stymied.”

Despite this challenge and a research focus that has

shifted toward battery-powered and hybrid vehicles,

automakers still view hydrogen-powered fuel cells as

a long-term solution to replace gasoline as the power

source for automobiles. In fact, nine major automakers

issued a joint statement last year agreeing to support

further development and the launch of fuel-cell vehicles

into the marketplace by as early as 2015. They are

Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia,

Renault, Nissan and Toyota.

J.-C. Zhao, Ohio State professor of materials science

and engineering, also is one the supporters of hydrogen-

powered fuel cell vehicles. He began his hydrogen storage

materials research in 2003 while working at GE, where

he became GE’s project leader for hydrogen storage

research and the principal investigator of a $3.5 million

Department of Energy-funded program on lightweight

intermetallics for hydrogen storage—part of DOE’s

Metal Hydride Center of Excellence. “Hydrogen storage is

a real grand challenge that will require sustained research

for years to come,” Zhao says.

Hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles require about five

kilograms of hydrogen to travel 300 miles. A tank storing

this quantity of liquefied hydrogen (at minus 252 °C!) or

compressed hydrogen at 700 atmospheric pressure would

be at least two and a half times the size of a conventional

gas tank. That translates into losing most of the trunk

space in a light-duty automobile.

Storing the hydrogen in traditional metal hydrides,

transition metal or rare earth-based metal alloys that act

like a sponge can reduce the required storage space to

about one and half times the size of a gas tank. However,

the challenge with metal hydrides is their weight. “About

350 pounds of metals is needed to store five kilograms

of hydrogen using these transition metal alloys,” Zhao

says. “That’s not a viable solution because the metals are

expensive and their weight will be a significant drag on

vehicle efficiency.”

Since joining Ohio State in January 2008, Zhao has

been collaborating on boron hydride research with Prof.

Sheldon Shore in the Department of Chemistry. Shore

is a renowned boron chemist and their collaboration

has yielded a highly productive team that synthesizes, on

average, a new compound or develops a new synthesis

method every three months.

In addition to the successful syntheses and

characterization of new compounds, the Ohio State

team also has gained a substantially better understanding

of the effect of dihydrogen bonds on the synthesis and

hydrogen storage properties of boron hydrides. “This

understanding will be very important for the future

advances in lightweight hydride research,” says Zhao,

who, since May 2008, has brought $2.2 million in DOE

funding to the university to pursue two projects on

hydrogen storage.

MSE, Chemistry Team Committed to Improving Hydrogen Storage in Fuel Cell Vehicles

The Ohio State hydrogen storage team identified the crystal structure of NaB

3H

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for the first time. This compound has attractive properties as a chemical hydride for hydrogen storage. (Image courtesy Dr. Zhenguo Huang)

Organic chain compounds are abundant and they are the bases of polymers. In contrast, inorganic chain compounds are exceedingly rare. The OSU hydrogen storage team synthesized a pure inorganic chain compound NH

3BH

2NH

2BH

3 which is a butane analogue.

(Image courtesy Dr. Xuenian Chen)Dr. Ji-Cheng Zhao

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Ceramic coatings research conducted in a modest lab

on the fifth floor of Ohio State’s MacQuigg Laboratory

may someday extend the life of gas turbine engines

used to generate electricity. The research is the work of

MSE doctoral candidate Andy Gledhill and his advisor,

Professor Nitin Padture.

Manufacturers of electricity producing turbines,

including industry giants GE Power, Siemens-

Westinghouse and Mitsubishi, are eager to make the

leap from natural gas as the fuel source for their engines

to much more affordable alternatives, such as synthetic

gas (or syngas), which is derived from coal and biomass.

However, there’s a downside to using these alternatives

because they can contain ashy impurities that generate

glassy deposits, thereby compromising the zirconia

thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) currently used to

protect the engine’s hot-section metal components

New Ceramic Coatings to Improve Durability of Turbine Engines

from the intense heat. “There is growing evidence that

the use of syngas in turbine engines results in different

types of degradation to TBCs compared to engines using

conventional fuels,” Gledhill says.

Gledhill thinks new ceramic TBCs may be the solution,

and he’s fashioned a computer-controlled “blowtorch”

in his lab to test them. “I’m trying to simulate the

environment in which turbine engines operate—where

temperatures can fluctuate between 25 and 1,200

degrees centigrade. It can be tricky to replicate that

environment,” says Gledhill, who’s been working on the

Department of Energy-funded project for the past two

years.

He says the primary goals of his research are to provide

a comprehensive understanding of the degradation of

TBCs from ash deposits and to find a way to mitigate the

impact of those deposits.

“I’m trying to simulate the environment in which turbine engines operate—where temperatures can fluctuate between 25 and 1,200 degrees centigrade. It can be tricky to replicate that environment.”

- Andy Gledhill

Below, graduate student Andy Gledhill shows off his thermal gradient burner rig, which was constructed to simulate the thermal environment in gas turbine engines. With this equipment, rapid thermal cycling of ceramic coatings used in turbines can be tested to predict lifetimes as well as understand the effects of impurities ingested in the engines such as sand, coal ash/dust, and volcanic ash.

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The National Science Foundation (Industry & University

Cooperative Research Program, or I/UCRC) has awarded

MSE’s Materials Joining Program a grant to establish

the Center for Integrative Materials Joining Science for

Energy Applications (CIMJSEA). Leading the effort are

Suresh Babu, John Lippold, Dave Farson, Glenn Daehn,

Avi Benetar, Boian Alexandrov and David Phillips and

their partners at the University of Wisconsin, Lehigh

University and Colorado School of Mines.

The center will bring together a significant number of

industrial, laboratory and academic partners to address

critical issues in materials joining science. Materials play

a critical role in energy applications, including batteries,

bio-fuels, building, catalysts, coal, energy transfer,

Welding Engineering Team Earns NSF Energy Grant

hydrogen, industry, lighting, nuclear, oil and gas, solar,

transportation, water, and wind.

Beginning in 2007, extensive feedback from industry was

gathered to determine how universities can address the

disconnect between advanced materials development

and welding or joining capabilities. “For example,

advanced lightweight, high-strength steels are candidates

for energy efficiency applications in the auto industry,

but a lack of cost-effective joining technology has limited

the applications. This challenge is also pervasive across

other industries too,” says Babu, associate professor of

welding and joining metallurgy.

The new center will focus on closing the gap between

material development and weldability and joinability,

extending the life of material joints within the aging

infrastructure, reducing the time and cost involved

in deploying advanced materials for the new energy

infrastructure, and fostering the development of the next

generation of materials joining engineers and scientists.

“We need to design and fabricate hybrid materials and

that will require the development of innovative processes

to join component materials without deteriorating the

designed function,” Babu says.

The center will be funded primarily by industry

members and will be housed across the four universities

with Ohio State serving as the lead with about ten MSE

graduate students conducting research.

Dr. Sudarsanam Babu

Materials scientists are no stranger to dislocations. These crystallographic irregularities or defects can

strongly influence the properties of materials, including those used in everything from jet engines to

heat exchangers.

At medium to high homologous temperatures, dislocation involves coupled diffusive (climb) and

displacive (glide) atomic movements. Climb is a much slower process compared to glide. While glide

can take place in hundreds of picoseconds, climb may take anywhere between microseconds to minutes

to occur. Therefore, a molecular dynamics simulation of this process with a typical time step of one

femtosecond is not feasible, even using today’s most sophisticated computers.

However, MSE professor Yunzhi Wang may be on the verge of providing a solution to the problem.

Wang, MSE doctoral student Sanket Sarkar and former student Bill Cox are collaborating with

professor Ju Li at the University of Pennsylvania to develop a novel method called diffusive molecular

dynamics (DMD). DMD can capture diffusional time scale while maintaining atomic resolution by

coarse-graining over atomic vibrations. This is achieved through statistical ensembling, so DMD doesn’t

need to resolve atomic vibrations. This provides a unique advantage over other atomistic approaches in

dealing with nanoscale mechanisms that involve diffusional motions.

With the help of DMD, Wang’s team now has uncovered the mystery of how an extended edge

dislocation in face-centered cubic metals climbs, an age-old problem that has interested the metallurgy

community for more than half a century.

New Atomistic Theory Reveals Mechanism of Dislocation Climb

Doctoral student Sanket Sarkar is helping MSE professor Yunzhi Wang develop a novel method, called diffusive molecular dynamics, to capture dislocation climb in nanomaterials.

Throughout the history of materials innovation, there are instances where the application of new, high-performance materials has been limited, or even precluded, by the inability to join them. CIMJSEA has positioned itself to meet the complex materials joining needs of the energy industry.

11

One of the world’s most innovative scholars in corrosion

science first learned he had earned one of the university’s most

prestigious honors when Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee

made a surprise visit to an MSE faculty meeting in April.

Jerry Frankel, professor of Materials Science and Engineering,

director of Ohio State’s Fontana Corrosion Center, and

the DNV Chair in Corrosion, was named a University

Distinguished Scholar after being nominated by the MSE

department then selected by a committee of senior faculty,

including several past recipients of the award. A formal

ceremony for Frankel and the other Distinguished Scholar

recipients was held in May.

Since joining the Ohio State faculty in 1995, Frankel has

developed experimental approaches leading to a better

understanding of mechanisms in several major areas of

corrosion science. His research on such high-profile topics as

safety on aging aircraft, the storage of spent nuclear fuel, and

the reduction of carcinogenic chromate ions in manufacturing

has brought more than $16 million into the Fontana Corrosion

Center.

Frankel, who earned his bachelor’s degree at Brown University

and his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, has published more than 120

publications in peer-reviewed journals,

winning multiple awards and receiving

invitations to give plenary and keynote

addresses at international meetings.

Several of his publications are considered

seminal papers in the field.

Frankel is a past recipient of the prestigious Alexander von

Humboldt Foundation Research Award for U.S. senior

scientists. He served the nation in assessing the effects of

corrosion on engineered waste barriers in connection with

both the Federal Waste Repository at Yucca Mountain and the

interim waste storage site at Hanford, Wash.

Established in 1978 and supported by the Office of Research,

the Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes exceptional

scholarly accomplishments by senior professors who have

compiled a substantial body of research. Winners receive a

$3,000 honorarium and a research grant of $20,000 to be used

over the next three years.

Frankel plans to use the grant to probe the fundamental

interactions between polymer layers and oxide-covered metal

surfaces in the presence of corrosive environments. This will

help researchers better understand the degradation mechanisms

with the goal of supporting the development of more-protective

coatings, such as those for steel and galvanized steel for cars, all

kinds of manufactured goods, and aluminum alloys in different

applications, including airplanes.

In July, Frankel also was named the 2010 recipient of the

H. H. Uhlig Award from the Corrosion Division of The

Electrochemical Society. The award recognizes excellence

in corrosion research and outstanding contributions to the

field. The award was formally presented to Frankel at the

Electrochemical Society meeting in Las Vegas in October.

Faculty & StaffFrankel Named a University Distinguished Scholar15-year faculty member also wins Electrochemical Society Award

President of The Ohio State University, Dr. E. Gordon Gee (right), congratulates MSE’s Jerry Frankel on his receipt of the University Distinguished Scholar award. Winners receive a $3,000 honorarium and a research grant of $20,000.

12

Daehn Selected by ASM for Fellow Status, Interviewed on ONNMSE Professor Glenn Daehn was elected as an ASM

Fellow in the Class of 2010. Daehn was recognized

for pioneering research in high-velocity metal

forming, the implementation of unique processing

technologies, and effective leadership in the work of

the ASM Educational Foundation.

Daehn, who also is director of the Ohio

Manufacturing Institute, was presented in October

at the Convocation of Fellows during the ASM

Awards Dinner in Houston, Texas. Daehn’s father,

Ralph Daehn, also an ASM Fellow, received the

2010 Allan Ray Putnam Service Award during the

ceremony.

Additionally, Daehn was interviewed in September on the Ohio News

Network (ONN) by Mike Kallmeyer, host of Ohio Means Business.

MSE Prof. Glenn Daehn (r) and his father, Ralph Daehn, were recognized in October at the annual ASM Awards Dinner in Houston. Glenn was elected an ASM Fellow and Ralph received the Allan Ray Putnam Service Award.

MSE/WE Merger Strengthens DepartmentOhio State’s Welding Engineering program officially merged with the

MSE department in April, completing a smooth transition that included

getting all administrative and student advising activities in place. “The

merger makes MSE one of the largest materials science and engineering

departments in the United States and arguably the foremost in the area

of physical metallurgy of structural materials,” says John Lippold,

Director of the Welding and Joining Metallurgy Group.

WE faculty members are Suresh Babu (Metallurgy and Computational

Modeling), Avi Benatar (Polymers and Polymeric Composites),

Dave Farson (Welding Processes and Process Modeling), Lippold

(Metallurgy and Material Weldability), and Stan Rokhlin

(Nondestructive Evaluation). The program also is supported by Boian Alexandrov, a Research Scientist specializing in Metallurgy and Phase

Transformations, and David Phillips, an Associate Professor of Practice,

who has been hired to assist with undergraduate and graduate courses.

Manufacturing, which accounts for twenty percent

of Ohio’s GDP, is crucial to Ohio, says Daehn. “It’s

our lifeblood,” he said during the program. “Some

people talk about a ‘post-manufacturing economy,’

but it’s very hard to figure out how you can fill such

a void.” He notes that manufacturing businesses

are closely interconnected. “As work is ‘offshored,’

remaining firms become less competitive.”

Ohio, however, maintains two key strengths upon

which to draw. The state is in one of the most

lucrative markets in the world with inexpensive

access to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Midwest

region. Ohio also has an extensive infrastructure

with a world-class work force. “We’ve got

manufacturing in our blood. People know manufacturing,” said Daehn.

Mary Juhas, Associate Dean for Diversity and Outreach

for Ohio State’s College of Engineering, earned her

bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Seton Hill University,

her master’s in materials science and engineering from

Carnegie Mellon University, and her doctorate in MSE

from Ohio State. She is a co-principal investigator for

Project CEOS (Comprehensive Equity at Ohio State), an

NSF ADVANCE program.

She has held engineering research positions at Lawrence Livermore

National Laboratory, Edison Welding Institute, and the MSE

department. Juhas, whose research interests focus on the area of

microstructure/property relationships in structural materials, was

among the first researchers in the United States to study microstructural

evolution in friction stir processed material, including aluminum and

titanium alloys.

New Clinical Faculty Bring Wealth of Experience to MSE

John says the highlight of the merger was the establishment of an NSF

Industry/University Collaborative Research Center (I/UCRC), which

focuses on materials joining for energy applications. “The Center has

already attracted multiple sponsors and it is anticipated that it will

support 10 to 15 graduate students,” John says. (more on page 10.)

Other active research areas include friction stir welding and processing

(Lippold and Babu), additive manufacturing (Babu), nanofabrication

(Farson), weldability and phase transformations (Babu, Lippold and

Alexandrov), and nondestructive evaluation (Rokhlin).

In addition, the Welding Engineering Distance Education program now

offers over 20 online courses and has expanded its portfolio to include

a number of MSE courses. Currently, there are over 25 students in the

program, which offers an MSWE degree or a Certificate of Welding

Engineering.

David Phillips earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees

in welding engineering from Ohio State before spending the

next 20 years in the aerospace and automotive industries

as a practicing welding engineer and in contract research

sales. He then returned to Ohio State, earning his doctorate

degree in welding engineering in 2008. He spent the

following two years teaching at the university before being

hired as an Associate Professor of Practice this fall. Phillips’

areas of expertise include resistance and solid state welding processes,

dissimilar metal welding, and the weldability of advanced alloys.

“I feel that one of my biggest roles as a Clinical Faculty member is

to bring as much ‘real world’ engineering experience to the students

as possible in order to best prepare them for their new career in

engineering,” says Phillips, who is a PE and certified welding inspector.

13

Colijn Takes IMS/AMS Metallography Honors

MSE research specialist Hendrik Colijn (right) and

Christopher Roberts of Carpenter Technology, Inc.,

are co-recipients of the 2010 Jacquet-Lucas Award

for Excellence in Metallography. Their entry is titled

“Identification of Secondary Phases in a Ti-Mo Alloy.”

The International Metallographic Society and AMS co-

sponsor the annual award. Colijn works in Ohio State’s

Campus Electron Optics Facility. MSE graduate student

Kinga Unocic earned the Jacquet-Lucas Award in 2007

and Ray Unocic, also an MSE graduate student, won the

TEM division award in 2009.

Rudy BuchheitBuchheit, Chair of the

MSE Department, earned

the MacQuigg Award for

demonstrating in a superior

manner his interest and

willingness to help students,

his interest in improving the

high reputation of the College

of Engineering, and his

outstanding teaching ability.

Gerald Frankel and John LippoldProfessors Frankel and Lippold each earned a Lumley Research

Award for their respective outstanding research contributions.

Foursome Earns Faculty AwardsThe College of Engineering held its 13th annual Faculty Awards

banquet in May at the new Ohio State Student Union. MSE

recipients were:

Yunzhi Wang Wins Prestigious Harrison Faculty AwardProfessor Wang earned the

Harrison Faculty Award for his

pioneering and seminal work in

the area of phase field modeling

of materials systems, which

resulted in him being recognized

as the world’s pre-eminent

phase field modeler. Wang

also was honored for making

Ohio State an international

leader in the area of integrated

computational materials science

and engineering.

Established by Doris A. and Stanley E. Harrison, who earned a

bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Ohio State in 1958, the

award is presented to a faculty member in engineering or architecture

who is in the early or mid-part of his or her career and who has

distinguished himself or herself through their contributions to the

College or to society.

The award is based on excellence in teaching and the qualitative

aspects of teaching; exceptional fundamental or applied research

(either in scope or originality) in one or more areas of endeavor

ordinarily carried out in the College; or a single or unique

contribution to engineering or architectural concepts, which is

responsive to or has an impact on society as a whole.

Past MSE and WE winners of the Harrison Faculty Award, established

in 1994, are Gary Maul (1985), Robert Wagoner (1988), Kosuke

Ishii (1994), Rajiv Shivpuri (1997), Gerald Frankel (2000), and Rudy

Buchheit (2004). Recipients of the award receive $10,000.

Rudy Buchheit (left) receives the 2010 MacQuigg Award for outstanding teaching from Engineer’s Council Vice President Anchie Huang.

Gerald Frankel (left) receives a 2010 Lumley Research Award for outstanding research contributions from Randy Moses, interim Associate Dean for Research in Ohio State’s College of Engineering.

John Lippold (left) receives a 2010 Lumley Research Award for outstanding research contributions from Randy Moses, interim Associate Dean for Research in Ohio State’s College of Engineering.

Yunzhi Wang receives the 2010 Harrison Faculty Award from Greg Washington, interim Dean of Ohio State’s College of Engineering.

14

Drummond Leaves His Mark on Ceramic Engineering Education and ResearchNearly 40 years of outstanding teaching

coupled with innovative research concluded

in October for Charles Drummond when

the MSE Associate Professor and Fellow of

the American Ceramic Society announced

his retirement.

Drummond joined Ohio State’s Ceramic

Engineering department in 1974 after

earning his doctorate degree in applied

physics from Harvard University. Previously,

he received three degrees from Ohio State

in ceramic engineering and engineering

physics. Over the next three and a half

decades, he carried a significant teaching load and earned the respect

and admiration of his students. In 2007, students in the College of

Engineering selected Drummond as a recipient of the MacQuigg Award,

presented annually to faculty members who have demonstrated, in a

superior manner, their interest and willingness to help students, their

Dr. Charles Drummond III

interest in improving the high reputation of the College of Engineering,

and their outstanding teaching ability.

Drummond’s research focused primarily on the structure and

properties of amorphous solids and glass, including bulk glasses of

scientific and commercial interest and glasses present in crystalline

materials. Applications involved the vitrification of industrial and

governmental wastes to produce commercially salable products.

Professor Drummond also was working on producing a series of low

infra-red transmitting, soda-lime-silica glasses with unique properties

for various commercial and residential applications.

In addition, as a dedicated steward to the glass manufacturing

community, he has been the long-time organizer of the Annual

Conference on Glass Problems and earned the American Ceramic

Society’s Cramer Award for his outstanding contributions in advancing

ceramic engineering. Drummond’s retirement plans include teaching in

2011, continuing to direct the Conference on Glass Problems, travel and

relocating to Florida.

MSE Professor Jim Williams recently retired from Ohio State,

concluding a prestigious career in which he focused on microstructure-

property relations, materials processing, materials characterization,

technology policy, and the management of technology intensive

organizations.

Williams, who holds a doctorate degree from the University of

Washington, served as Dean of Ohio State’s College of Engineering

from 2001 to 2004. Before joining Ohio State, Williams held research

and leadership positions at Boeing and Rockwell as well as GE, where

he was instrumental in introducing several new materials and processes

into the jet engine business. Williams also served as the General Chair

for the National Research Council Committee evaluating the National

Technology initiative and its progress in overseeing the government’s

role in developing nanotechnologies.

In addition, Williams spent 13 years at Carnegie Mellon University

where he was a professor, President of the Mellon Institute, and Dean

of Engineering. A world renowned authority on titanium alloys, he

Williams Retires After Long, Impressive Career

Dr. James Williams

has published more than 200 papers based on

his research and is a member of the National

Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of both

ASM International and TMS-AIME. In addition,

the Japan Institute of Metals (JIM) will bestow

an Honorary Membership in March 2011 at the

Institute’s annual meeting at Tokyo City University.

In November, Williams will also receive the 2010

ASTM International’s Russ Ogden Award for

outstanding accomplishments in the science and

technology of reactive and refractory metals and

alloys.

Williams, who has been an advisor or co-advisor to 23 Ph.D. and 26

master’s students during his career, plans to teach the MSE Senior

Capstone course at Ohio State in the spring quarters of 2011 and

2012. Other retirement plans include consulting, model airplanes, and

spending time with his grandchildren in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He

and his wife also will spend late autumns and winters in Florida.

MSE faculty members John Lannutti,

Wolfgang Windl and J.-C. Zhao were each

promoted to Full Professor during the past

year.

John Lannutti, who holds a doctorate degree

from the University Washington, specializes

in fuel cells, biomaterials, electrospinning,

tissue engineering, disease models,

MSE Faculty Earn Full Professor Statusbiomimetic materials, scaffold design, and

cell-based biodevices.

Wolfgang Windl earned a doctorate

degree from the University of Regensburg,

Germany. His areas of expertise include

computational materials science,

nanomaterials modeling, multiscale

modeling and semiconductor process

simulation.

J.-C. Zhao holds a doctorate from Lehigh

University and is an expert in high-

throughput materials research, materials

property microscopy tools, hydrogen

storage materials and materials for energy,

thermodynamics and phase diagrams, and

advanced alloys and coatings.

15

Alumni

Vinarcik Returns to Ohio State for MSE Distinguished Alumni HonorsEd Vinarcik visited Ohio State last October to receive the MSE

Distinguished Alumni Award for 2009. Vinarcik received his

bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering in 1993 and

currently is the Global Quality Manager for the Measuring

Tools Division of Robert Bosch. Since graduating from Ohio

State, he has earned master’s degrees in quality control and

business administration, written a book titled High Integrity

Die Casting Processes, chaired the Materials Activity for the

Society of Automotive Engineers, and taught at the University

of Wisconsin and Tri-State University. Vinarcik was named a

fellow of ASM International in 2006.

Ed Vinarcik, his wife Carrie, and their children (from left) Colin, Amelia and Abigail standing above the Foundry in MacQuigg Lab.

The College of Engineering honored three MSE and WE

alumni during its annual Excellence in Engineering &

Architecture Alumni Awards Sept. 10 at Ohio State.

Earning Distinguished Alumni Awards were Harry Ebert

and Guy-Michel Raynaud.

Raynaud received a Ph.D. in

metallurgical engineering in 1982. He

is director of technology networks

at Alcan Engineered Products and

manages the Voreppe Research Center,

the largest European research center

dedicated to aluminum transformation.

Ebert received a bachelor’s degree in

welding engineering in 1948, Ohio

State’s first graduating

class of welding engineers. He has been

a practicing engineer for more than

50 years, including more than 30 at

Exxon. Ebert has consulted and taught

in 22 countries while continuing his

work on various research subjects and

engineering projects involving pressure

vessels for the oil and chemistry industry

and for super tankers, cranes, power

shovels and piping systems.

2010 Alumni Awards Recognizes Threesome from Materials Science, Welding Engineering

Also recognized at the awards

ceremony was Elliot Ross, who

received the Meritorious Service

Citation for his support of the

college as a member of its Strategy

Council, advising Interim Dean Greg

Washington on college matters. Ross,

a Cleveland resident, is co-founder

of The MFL Group, a consulting

firm that for the past 10 years has

assisted clients in developing and

implementing profitable growth strategies. Selected

by Inc. magazine as a “Regional Manufacturing

Entrepreneur of the Year,” Ross has been a partner and

head of McKinsey & Co., president and director of

State Industrial Products; director and COO of Essef

Corp., and founder of Inverness Partners. He earned his

bachelor’s and master’s degrees in welding engineering

from Ohio State in 1969.

Harry Ebert

Elliot Ross

Guy-Michel Raynaud

16

Steve Gedeon earns Ryerson University’s Teaching Excellence AwardRyerson University selected Welding Engineering alum Dr. Steve Gedeon as

the recipient of its 2010 President’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Gedeon

earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and welding engineering from Ohio

State and also holds a PhD in materials science and engineering from MIT

and an MBA from the University of Toronto.

Located in Toronto, Canada, Ryerson offers nearly 100 graduate and

undergraduate programs, with a total enrollment of nearly 28,000, including

close to 2,000 graduate students. Gedeon is a professor at Ryerson’s School of

Management, faculty advisor of SIFE Ryerson (Students in Free Enterprise)

and the Director of Ryerson’s Entrepreneur Institute. He also is a past winner

of Ryerson University’s Provost’s Experiential Teaching Award.

Steve Gedeon (far left) celebrates with some of his students after being named the recipient of the 2010 President’s Award for Teaching Excellence at Ryerson University. Steve’s students describe him as a “mentor, coach, role model and, most importantly, an inspiration.”

MSE Alum Lee Ann Schwope Helping R&D Leader Grow Armor Business

MSE graduate Lee Ann Schwope

joined technology development and

commercialization leader Battelle in

March to help expand its armor and

related defense and homeland security

business. Schwope grew up in Orange

County, N.Y., north of New York City,

and earned a bachelor’s degree in

materials science and engineering from

Ohio State in 2003.

As a business development manager

for Battelle’s Industrial & International

Market Sector in Columbus, Schwope is

working with the U.S. Department of Defense as well as companies

that develop and manufacture vehicles and components.

Battelle has developed armor technology for tanks, personnel

carriers and other vehicles since World War II. Today, Battelle has

one of the few private research facilities that operate under a Tier 1

rating at its High Energy Research Laboratory. That accreditation

allows it to conduct Explosive Formed Projectile (EFP) testing using

the government provided surrogate EFP devices for third-party

armor developers.

Schwope joined Battelle from Solidica of Ann Arbor, Mich., an

inventor and manufacturer of wireless network sensors, composite

armor, advanced materials and other products. At Solidica, Schwope

led the Advanced Materials Group focusing on titanium aluminde

for blast armor. She has a background in technology transition

from research to production and ISO 9001:2000 implementation

and certifi cation, as well as extensive Department of Defense

contract management experience. Prior to joining the Solidica team,

Schwope was one of the developers for a Small Arms Protective

Insert armor technology program with Excera Materials Group in

Columbus.

Lee Ann Schwope

1980Diane Albert, PhD (BS ’82) opened

a solo law practice, The Law

Offi ce of Diane Albert, in

Albuquerque, NM in March

2010 (www.dianealbertlaw.

com). Diane’s practice focuses on

patent prosecution, copyrights,

state and federal trademark

registration and prosecution, and

development and protection of

water technologies.

Terry Klinker (MS ‘85) works as a

Senior Lecturer in the Fisher

College of Business at The Ohio

State University.

John Pirman (BS ‘82) has worked for

fi ve steel companies--including

US Steel, Armco, Crucible, and

AK Steel. He’s currently a Quality

Systems Manager with AK Steel.

1990Mark Harper (PhD ‘92) earned his law

degree in 2005 and now works as

a patent and intellectual property

attorney.

2000Santi Chrisanti (PhD ‘08) is an

associate with W.L. Gore &

Associates studying corrosion,

electrochemistry, and materials

characterization.

Brian Guhde (MS ‘09) Brian works

with Americhem managing R

& D programs. He and wife

Monique welcomed son Evan

to the family last year. Evan was

born in November 2009.

Megan Harper (MS ‘04) is a Research

Engineer with TIMET working

on titanium airframe application

R & D.

John Howater (BS ‘03) works as an

NRC Postdoc at the National

Institute of Standards &

Technology studying adhesion

and mechanics of soft materials.

Biraja Kanungo (MS ‘04) earned

his PhD from MIT and is now

a Postdoctoral Fellow at the

University of California, Santa

Barbara.

Ally Stahl (BS ‘08) works as a Senior

Associate Engineer with

Caterpillar, Inc.

Zack Warchol (BS ‘08) works as a

Program Engineer for Materials

Reliability with FirstEnergy.

2010Thomas Broderick (PhD ‘10) works as

a Principal Investigator with UTC

defi ning the behavior of titanium

materials.

Louis Flocken (BS ‘10) Louis works

as a Metals Coating Process

Engineer with Trutec Industries.

John Foltz (PhD ‘10) works as a

Research Metallurgist with ATI

Wah Chang.

Christopher Kovacs (BS ‘10) Chris

is pursuing his PhD in the MSE

graduate program studying MgB2

and Nb3Sn wire research and

development.

Yuan Zhang (PhD ‘10) works as a

Process TD Engineer with Intel

Corp.

Updates:

17

Student News

The team’s experiment, “Correlation of 1-g Aerospace Materials

Flammability Data with Data in Reduced and Microgravity

Environments,” took place April 13-14. Their experiment successfully

recorded material flammability propagation rates as they relate to

oxygen content and level of gravity. The data will enable the team to

characterize the materials flammability susceptibility on the lunar

surface.

“Experiencing weightlessness is something that very few people get to

experience in their lifetime, and having this opportunity to do this and

work with NASA to do our part in helping the space program, as well

as furthering scientific interests in young students is something unique

and something that all of us will remember,” says Bajek, Team Lead and

a fourth-year Welding Engineer.

A NASA aircraft making steep climbs followed by free falls over the Gulf

of Mexico this spring served as a weightless laboratory for a handful of

Ohio State College of Engineering students conducting an experiment

on materials flammability.

David Bajek (WE), Alex Stilwell (ME), Stuart Benton (AE), Ben Grimm (ME), and Caitlin Benton (ISE) participated in NASA’s

Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program, which provides teams of

undergraduate students from across the nation with the opportunity to

propose, design, build, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment.

The team was selected from over 70 proposals based on scientific merit

and education outreach potential.

The team conducted their experiment aboard NASA’s “Weightless

Wonder,” a microgravity aircraft that can produce periods of

weightlessness lasting 18 to 25 seconds at a time by flying a series of

about 30 parabolas—a steep climb followed by a free fall. The aircraft

took off from NASA Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston.

Weightless Students Return to Earth after Conducting Microgravity Experiment

Ohio State engineering students David Bajek (middle) and Alex Stilwell (right) work on their materials flammability experiment with help from a student from the University of Toledo (left). The students conducted the reduced gravity experiment aboard the “Weightless Wonder,” NASA’s microgravity aircraft. Photo by NASA

18

A team comprised of MSE students Kelvin Hux and Aakrit Prasad

took first place in the materials category of the first Honda iDream

Student Challenge at the 2010 Honda Initiation Grant Technical

Horizon Symposium in Columbus in

July. Prasad and Hux were honored

with a cash award of $8,000 shared

between them. The Challenge is a

scholarship program sponsored by

Honda “to inspire new thinking to

everyday challenges and foster a spirit

of innovation among the leaders of

tomorrow.”

Nitin Padture served as the faculty

mentor for the winning project,

titled “Oxide Nanowires for Next-

Generation Solid State Memory

Devices.”

Craig Leslie was a member of the

second-place team in the materials

category, contributing to “Clear

Vision System,” a project that

developed an alternative, affordable

eye correction system that provides the benefits of wearing contacts

while minimizing the irritation.

MSE Students Win Awards in Inaugural Honda iDream Student Challenge

A team made up of Tim Lach and Evan Uchaker took third place in the

materials category with a project titled “Ceramic Energy Harvesting for

Electric Vehicles.” Heather Powell served as the team’s faculty mentor.

This year’s competition included

19 teams of Ohio State science

and engineering students whose

projects offered creative engineering

solutions and innovative

technologies in one of three

categories: electronics, mobility and

materials. Other MSE students who

competed in the competition were

Andrew Britton, Carter East, Bryan Essar, Eric Fusner, Keith Johnson,

Steve Jones, Boris Shneyder, Steve Swartzell, Nicholas Ullum, Logan Ward, Aaron Washburn, and Adam Young.

A total of $60,000 was awarded to

the top three teams in each category

as well as to the viewer’s choice

winner, a team chosen through

online voting. Honda selected Ohio State to pilot the iDream program

this year; next year it will be a national contest.

MSE students Aakrit Prasad (left) and Kelvin Hux celebrate their first place finish with faculty mentor Nitin Padture during the Honda iDream Student Challenge at the 2010 Honda Initiation Grant Technical Horizon Symposium in Columbus in July.

Senior class picture

Congratulations 2010 MSE Seniors!Back Row: Mark Miller, Nicholas Bantz, David Gross, Justin Bennett, Chris Kovacs, Greg Hinson, Elizabeth Martin, Keith Singer.

Middle: Jon Pham, Ajit Kunnathur, Chris Eastman, Jacob Dorton, Stacey Vansickle, Aakrit Prasad, Tim Lach, Carter East, Joel Wotowiec.Front: Dan Campbell, Evan Uchaker, Kate Bacas, Alex Neeley, Jack Kuper, Meredith Davies, Asad Ahmed, Bobby Gyesi. Photo by Geoff Hulse.

19

Even a winter navigating the potholes of Columbus’ streets couldn’t

prepare a team of Ohio State student engineers for the obstacles

they faced during NASA’s 17th annual Great Moonbuggy Race last

April.

Held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., the

race forces competitors to maneuver their human-powered

moonbuggies over a half-mile, simulated lunar terrain course

peppered with craters, rocks, lava ridges and lunar-like soil. This

year’s race attracted more than 70 teams from universities and

high schools in 18 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, India and

Romania.

Ohio State’s team of engineering students made an impressive

showing in the college division, capturing fourth place with a

time of 5:03 (fi ve minutes, three seconds), fi nishing just behind

the University of Puerto Rico Humacao (4:18), University of Utah

(4:39) and Rhode Island School of Design (4:48). A team representing the International

Space Education Institute of Leipzig, Germany, won the high school division, clocking a

blistering 3:37.

The competition charges students with designing, building and racing lightweight

moonbuggies, presenting them with many of the same engineering challenges that Apollo-

era lunar rover developers faced at the Marshall Center in the late 1960s. Each team must

have one female and one male driver, and the buggy has to be light enough to be carried 20

feet by the two riders.

The Ohio State team pictured above included (back row, l-r) Brian Hanhold, Daniel Saltzmann, Adam Truog, Brian Love, Rex Alexandre, Sujin Kim, (front row, l-r) Kyle Fitch

and Kristen Hammer. WE associate professor Suresh Babu served as the team’s advisor.

Ohio companies Miller Electric, Hobart Brothers Co., and Smith Equipment

donated a combined $10,000 to this year’s Ohio State moonbuggy project.

Moonbuggy Race Obstacles Similar to Those Apollo Astronauts Faced in 1960s

Top, members of Ohio State’s moonbuggy race team show their school spirit at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., site of the annual event. Below, a sample of the rough terrain buggies and riders must traverse.

The MSE Club is led by 2010-2011 offi cers (from left) Secretary Meg Noble, Vice President Adam Young, Treasurer Kit James, Engineers’

Council representative Elisa Duesing, and President Holly Oliver.

Thank you for your service!

MSE Club Leadership

During spring break, MSE students Joel Wotowiec and Holly Oliver (front row, second and third from right) and other Ohio State engineering students “shadowed” materials engineers and toured labs for a day at GE Aviation in Cincinnati.

Spring Break at GE Aviation

20

The Denman Undergraduate

Research Forum was created

in 1996 by Richard J. and

Martha D. Denman and

is a cooperative effort of

The Ohio State University’s

Honors & Scholars Center,

The Undergraduate Research

Office, and The Office of

Research. 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.

This year’s Denman Forum

was the largest ever, with 540

participating students and 498

projects presented. To learn

more, visit denman.osu.edu.

Justin Bennett (MSE)

and Adam Hope (WE) took first place, Daniel Saltzmann (WE) and Benjamin Sutton (WE) second,

and Aakrit Prasad (MSE) third in the engineering category of the 15th annual Richard J. and Martha D.

Denman Undergraduate Research Forum held at Ohio State in May.

Justin Bennett’s research examined improvements in materials for sensors that could help detect noxious

gases in homes and could even be used for homeland security. His project, “Nanofiber Growth on

Metal Oxide Particles for Applications in Gas Sensing,” focused on growing nanofibers on individual

nanoparticles of tin dioxide. Justin’s ultimate goal is to create a new type of tin dioxide sensor that could

detect toxic gases like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide faster and more efficiently. MSE professor

Sheikh Akbar and associate professor Patricia Morris served as Bennett’s advisors.

Adam Hope’s project, “High Temperature Carbon Behavior in Dissimilar Metal Welds,” examined the

way carbon behaves in certain welding applications. With help from advisors Research Scientist Boian Alexandrov and Professor John Lippold, both of Welding Engineering, Hope examined how carbon, in

dissimilar materials under elevated temperatures, diffuses from steel to the nickel alloy, which could lead to

a brittle zone and thus a weld failure. Through software modeling and eventual experimenting, Hope was

able to show the carbon diffusion; he aspires to apply this knowledge to other dissimilar materials.

Other projects earning awards were: Daniel Saltzmann whose project was titled “Phase Transformations

in the Intercritcal Region of the Fine Grain Heat Affected Zone.” His advisors were Boian Alexandrov and

John Lippold. Ben Sutton’s project was titled “Determination of SCTR in Stainless Steel and Ni-Base Alloy

Welds.” His advisors were also Boian Alexandrov and John Lippold. Aakrit Prasad’s project was titled

“Resistive Switching Response of TiO2 Nanowires for Memory Devices.” His advisor was MSE professor

Nitin Padture.

Bennett, Hope Earn Top Honors at Prestigious Denman Research Forum

Winners of Engineering Awards at the 15th Annual Denman Research Forum. Award winners from the MSE and WE programs were: Adam Hope, WE (back row, far left); Justin Bennett, MSE (back row with dashing white tie); Daniel Saltzmann, WE (middle row, in front of Adam); Aakrit Prasad, MSE (middle row next to Daniel); Ben Sutton, WE (front row, far right). In the front row are Richard J. and Martha D. Denman along with OSU President E. Gordon Gee. Photo by Jo McCulty.

Just a few of our participants, top to bottom: Justin Bennett, Adam Hope, Kathryn Rock, Kelvin Hux, Dr. Mary Juhas with Aakrit Prasad, Daniel Saltzmann, Ben Sutton with Dr. Sheikh Akbar, and Dan Campbell with Dr. Charles Drummond.

21

Myers presented “Wide Bandgap

Nanostructures for Magneto-Electronics.”

Restrepo, a postdoctoral researcher, presented

“Spin Relaxation Time in Group-IV Materials

from First-Principles.”

Nitin Padture, a professor in materials

science and engineering and director of the

Center for Emergent Materials, served as this

year’s Materials Week co-chair. MSE faculty

who served on the Materials Week planning

committee were Michael Mills, Heather Powell and Wolfgang Windl.

The three-day conference featured cutting-

edge research from the full range of materials

research topics, including:

• Materials Science of Energy Storage

• Spintronics and Graphene

• Next Generation Photovoltaics, Advanced

Characterization and Ultra-Fast

Phenomena

• Materials, Entrepreneurship, and the

Innovation Cycle

• Computational Materials Design

• Epitaxial Control of Novel Materials

• Biomaterials and Bio-Based Products

• Benchtop Innovation to Product Pipeline

MSE graduate students Josh Askin, Andy Gledhill and Rohan Mishra were among

the ten poster presentation winners at the 3rd

annual OSU Materials Week held at the Ohio

Union in September. Nearly 90 posters were

presented.

Materials Week is sponsored by the Institute

for Materials Research, the Center of

Emergent Materials, and Ohio State’s NSF

Materials Research Science and Engineering

Center.

MSE’s John Lannutti, Roberto Myers and

Oscar Restrepo gave presentations at the

conference. Lannutti presented “Topographic

Materials Enabling In Vitro Studies of Cancel

Cell Migration: Nanofiber Solutions.”

Materials Week Conference Displays Breadth of Materials Research

2010 OSU Materials Week Student Poster Session Award Winners(left to right) Mike Mills (MSE), Stevel Ringel(ECE/IMR), Young Woo Jung’s stand-in (physics), Jay Gupta (Physics), Taeyoung Choi (Physics), Rohan Mishra (MSE), Joshua Askin (MSE), Wolfgang Windl (MSE, stading in for advisee Timothy Garcia, ME-NE), Andrew Gledhill (MSE), OSU President E.Gordon Gee, Qilin Gu (ECE), Digbijoy Nath (ECE), Shreyas Rao (CBE), Malcolm Chisholm (Chemistry), Nitin Padture (MSE/CEM)

Materials Week participants discuss the research described by nearly 90 posters during the conference poster sessions.

22

Of Interest . . .

MSE Professor Glenn Daehn delivered the opening

remarks at the fourth

International Conference on

High Speed Forming held at

Ohio State in March. Daehn

also is Director of the Ohio

Manufacturing Institute.

The Institute of Forming

Technology and Lightweight Construction (Dortmund,

Germany) teamed with Ohio State as hosts of the

conference, which included more than 30 presentations

by materials experts from 11 countries.

The Technical University in Dortmund was the site of

the previous conferences held in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

The audience for this year’s conference was a diverse one,

with representatives from academia (28), industry (25)

and research organizations (9) in attendance.

The 2012 conference will be held in Dortmund. Visit

www.omi.osu.edu/ichsf for this year’s proceedings.

Glenn Daehn Kicks Off International Conference on High Speed Forming

MSE Students, Staff and Faculty Support Pelotonia Cancer Reseach

Science of the Winter Olympics

An NBC film crew traveled to Columbus last December to interview Ohio State’s

Kathy Flores about the high-velocity physics involved in the sport of ice hockey.

Kathy is an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering.

The segment, called “Slapshot Physics: Hockey,” was part of NBC’s “Science of the

Olympic Winter Games” video series. The segment was featured Dec. 9 on NBC’s

Today Show as a “warm-up” to the Olympics, which were held in Vancouver

in February. Flores is also featured in the segment “Safety Gear” in which she

discusses the important protective role of helmets during high-impact sporting

accidents.

Fifteen other segments, from ski jumping to figure skating, were broadcast during

the Winter Games. Flores was also interviewed for the safety equipment and

science of skis segments.

The complete “Science of the

Olympic Winter Games” video

library is available online at

www.nbclearn.com/olympics.

Nearly 50 high school teachers from across the United

States converged on Ohio State’s Watts Hall labs this

summer for hands-on learning in materials science that

they will, in turn, incorporate into their school’s science

curriculum. Called Materials Camp, the ASM-sponsored

program is in its 15th year and provides the teachers

with training comparable to an advanced engineering

course designed for college juniors and seniors.

MSE professor Glenn Daehn organizes the camp, which

owes much of its success to grants from ASM, R&D

leader Battelle, and others as well as a dedicated team of

volunteers, including Ohio State professors. “There’s an

interesting grassroots system that has developed among

the people who deliver the content, quite a few Ph.D.s,

some NASA retirees,” Daehn says.

The camps are offered in two one-week segments. The

first camp is conducted at an introductory level with this

year’s attendees coming mostly from central Ohio school

districts. The second camp is performed at an advanced

Materials Camp

In August, MSE freshman Collin Whitt trained for and

completed Pelotonia 2010 with Jim Daniels, husband

of MSE undergraduate academic advisor Megan Daniels. Pelotonia is an annual bike tour in which

riders raise cancer research money for Ohio State’s

Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital

and Solove Research Institute. A graduate of Grove

City (Ohio) High School, Whitt received the Harley

Family academic scholarship for MSE students from

Grove City. He and Jim

Daniels completed the 100-

mile trip from Columbus to

Athens, Ohio—one of five

routes Pelotonia offers.

Other MSE folks who participated in Pelotonia 2010

included graduate student Dan Campbell and Megan

Daniels (as volunteers) as well as riders Jerry Frankel, professor and director of Ohio State’s Fontana Corrosion

Center, and Andy Bruening, an MSE instructor and science

teacher at Metro College Early High School.

MSE instructor Andy Bruening and OSU Pres. E. Gordon Gee.

Jim Daniels and MSE undergrad Collin Whitt.

23

Deve lopment

IndividualsMillicent Adams

Sheikh Akbar

Lisa Allen

Peter Anderson

Joseph Bailey

Peggy Barron-Antolin

Marjorie Bennett

Burton Brubaker

James Clum

Hendrik Colijn

Connie Cron

Thomas & Leslie Croyle

Chandrashekhar Damle

Donald Drake

Carl Gartner

Stephen Gilby

Carrie & Le Roy Gordon

David & Patricia Gram

Richard Hannon Jr

Horace Hawkes Jr

Larry Hench

James & Beverlee Houseman

Ronald Hughes

Ann & Ronald Kegarise

Constance & Joseph Kenty

Peter Lake

Trent Latimer

Gregory Maciver

John Marra

Charles Mayer

Dennis McGarry

Steven McGinnis

William McKinnell Jr

Elizabeth Morin

John Morral

The MSE department would like to thank each of its supporters for their generosity. Your donations enable

the department to provide its students with the high quality education that serves them so well. The donors

listed below contributed over $100 between September 2009 and August 2010.

Joe Payer

Roberta Powell

Hal Rice

Frederick Roehrig

Jay Scharenberg

Charles & Sue Seastrom

J Christian Stallsmith

Doru Stefanescu

Katherine Stevens

John Varhola

Robert & Robyn Wagoner

Yunzhi Wang

W Timothy Weisert

S J Whalen

James Woolley

CompaniesAlcoa Foundation

Altstetter Family Trust UAD

ArcelorMittal USA

ASM International

Daido Steel Co, Ltd

DNV Columbus

Ecolab Foundation

Edward Orton Jr Ceramic Foundation

Exxon Mobil Foundation

GE Aviation

GE Foundation

General Motors-North American

Operations

John Deere Foundation

ITW Food Equipment Group

State Farm Companies Fdn

The Dow Chemical Foundation

Each quarter, dozens of students enrolled in

Ohio State’s welding and materials science

engineering programs benefit from the

generous financial gifts provided by MSE

supporters. In fact, more than 40 scholarships

have been established, with eligibility based

on a variety of criteria, such as academic

merit, financial need or diversity. Here’s a brief

description of two of those scholarships.

The Carrie Maykuth Gordon Scholarship Fund. Established in 2006 with gifts from

Carrie Maykuth Gordon (B.S., 1974; M.S.,

1979), colleagues and family. The scholarship

supports educational diversity and will be

awarded with particular attention to, but not

limited to, female students studying in the

area of materials science and engineering who

demonstrate academic ability and financial

need, and who have been accepted for

admissions at the University.

Help Make a College Education a Reality for the Next Generation of Engineers!Frederick A. Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund. Established in 2002 by Smith’s wife,

parents, family and friends. The fund supports

renewable scholarships for deserving welding

engineering students including middle

income and working students from Ohio with

preference to those with previous education in a

technical school. Smith earned a B.S. in welding

engineering from Ohio State in 1981.

To learn how you can support the

MSE scholarships, contact us by

email at mse@osu.edu, by phone at

(614) 688-3050, or visit us on line at

mse.osu.edu/alumni.

“masters’ level,” believed to be the only materials

camp of its kind in the United States. Attendees

came from school districts in Ohio, Michigan,

Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, New York,

Nebraska, Georgia and Ontario, Canada.

The teachers perform six to 10 experiments a

day and learn the science behind them, using

materials that are inexpensive and accessible,

so they can weave them into their school’s

curriculum. The experiments selected have high

school students in mind, with an emphasis on

visually engaging them while demonstrating

how materials science provides innovative

solutions to real-world problems.Photo by Tim Norman/This Week

24

Editor: Scott Campbell Design: Mark Cooper Photos: Geoff Hulse, Megan Daniels, University Communications

This is a high-resolution SEM image of

a deeply etched sample of Haynes 282,

a newly developed Ni-base super alloy

designed to maintain mechanical integrity

for temperatures in excess of 900 degrees

centigrade. Applications for the alloy include

aerospace and land-based gas turbine

engines. Like most engineering alloys,

welding is required for joining. This 3-D

image was taken by MSE researchers to

better understand the behavior of welded

Haynes 282. Visible are the grain boundary

precipitates and secondary and tertiary

gamma-prime structures.

Image by Boian Alexandrov & Jeffrey Rodelas

Scale: 1.5 in. = 1 micrometer

Materials Science and Engineering

177 Watts Hall

2041 College Rd.

Columbus, OH 43210-1179

14680.017000.61804.NWSLTR

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