Four new faculty members joined the Penn State MatSE family in 2023. Stephanie Law is an associate professor affiliated with the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE), and Nutifafa Doumon is an assistant professor as part of both IEE and the Alliance for Education, Science, Engineering, and Design with Africa (AESEDA). In addition, Lourdes Bobbio and Nathan Smith joined the department as assistant teaching professors. "I am thrilled to welcome our new faculty members to MatSE and Penn State," said Susan Sinnott, the department head of materials science and engineering. "Their expertise, dedication, and passion for research and teaching will undoubtedly contribute to the department's ongoing research excellence and our commitment to making a positive impact on a global scale." Read more
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 NutifafaDoumon
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 Stephanie Law
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 Lourdes Bobbio
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 Nathan Smith
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MatSE is dedicated to building an inclusive culture that warmly welcomes individuals from all backgrounds. As a top-ranked program, we thrive on the partnerships between faculty, staff, students, and researchers that promote a well-rounded academic experience and generate innovative research opportunities. Our goal is to foster a diverse community that encourages collaboration, academic success, and research excellence. We believe that by embracing diversity and inclusion, we can create an environment where everyone can flourish and make significant contributions. Read more
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Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2023 newsletter! In this issue, I am truly delighted to introduce our four new faculty members. Their unique expertise and passion for teaching will ensure that MatSE students receive an excellent education at Penn State. Making sure that everyone in MatSE feels a true sense of inclusion and belonging is one of our core values, and I am happy to report on activities undertaken by our faculty, staff, and students towards this goal. Read more
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Doing our part in America's
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In the effort to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, one strategy involves harvesting the waste heat that is already being produced by our energy systems. Thermoelectric generators can convert waste heat to clean electricity, and a new design breakthrough may make these devices more efficient than previously possible ... Read more
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Advances in computing power over the decades have come thanks in part to our ability to make smaller and smaller transistors, a building block of electronic devices, but we are nearing the limit of the silicon materials typically used. Read more
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In this video, Katy Gerace, MatSE graduate student, shares her research in enabling improved glass recycling technology and modeling tools.
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Bevan Harbinson has been named the college’s engineering honor marshal, the top graduate in an engineering discipline. He is a Schreyer Scholar and graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 grade-point average with a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering. Read more
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As an international perfumer and senior majoring in materials science and engineering at Penn State, Tianyou Lou sees parallels between the two disciplines. After all, the creation of both fragrances and materials are traced back to producing a specific thing with unique and tailored properties using a nearly infinite number of source materials. Read more
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Two MatSE graduate students, Rui Zu and Jingyang He (pictured with their adviser Venkatraman Gopalan), received the Alumni Association Dissertation Award. This honor recognizes outstanding professional accomplishment and achievement in scholarly research and is among the most prestigious available to Penn State graduate students. Read more
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Angela Cleri, MatSE doctoral student, received the Intercollege Graduate Student Outreach Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by a student in Intercollege Graduate Degree Programs who has achieved superior academic records while bringing their scholarship to the community in order to benefit society. Read more
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From fiber optic cables to smartphones, glass is playing a major role in emerging technology. To learn more about how glass will shape future society, we spoke with Katelyn Kirchner, a doctoral candidate at Penn State, who is studying with John Mauro, Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Kirchner is lead author and Mauro corresponding author on a recent review article on the unique properties of glass published in the journal Chemical Reviews. Read more
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The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) celebrated the career of Zi-Kiu Liu, the Dorothy Pate Enright Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State, with an honorary symposium recognizing his impact on the fields of computational materials science and materials design. Read more
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Nominators said Jon-Paul Maria is an internationally recognized leader in advanced inorganic functional materials. They cited his impact in two important breakthroughs: entropy stabilized ceramics and a new class of ferroelectrics, built on shattering a 75-year-old belief on the limits of ferroelectrics. Maria earned the Faculty Scholar Medal for Engineering. Read more
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The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering has inducted Dipanjan Pan, Dorothy Foehr Huck & J. Lloyd Huck Chair Professor in Nanomedicine and professor of nuclear engineering and of materials science and engineering. Read more
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In a nutshell, my job today entails being an educator and helping teach the next generation of glass scientists.
Why I chose Penn State: I chose Penn State because of the people. My first visit to Penn State was during my pre-graduate school visit. At the time, I didn't realize Penn State had football, but what I did know was they had John Mauro. I came to spend time with Mauro, but what I found was a cohort of other students who were like-minded and professors I wanted to learn from. Read more
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The 2023 MatSE Alumna of the Year was awarded to Melissa Hockstad, M.S., president and CEO of the American Cleaning Institute, the leading association representing the $60 billion U.S. cleaning product supply chain. In her role, she is responsible for the overall leadership of the organization, including advocacy, science and research, communications, sustainability, and business growth.
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Theresa Kotanchek, Ph.D., will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, the University's highest honor presented to its alumni. Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are selected y the Penn State Board of Trustees. Read more
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The MatSE Distinguished Lecture Series is held during the spring semester, featuring three esteemed awards and a lecture by each recipient. Among these awards, the Richard E. Tressler Award in Materials stands out as a tribute to the contributions of Professor Richard E. Tressler, who served as the head of Penn State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering from 1991 to 2001.This year's recipients were Walt Moorhead, President, Product Evaluation Systems, Inc., and Titilayo “Titi” Shodiya, Ph.D., Program Manager, National Voluntary Lab Accreditation Program at The National Institute of Standards and Technology for Calibration Laboratories. Additionally, the series includes the David Ford McFarland Award for Achievement in Materials and this year's recipient was David M. Simpson, Ph.D., Polyethylene Products and Applications Development Manager, ExxonMobil Chemical Company. Established in 1948 by the Penn State Chapter of the American Society for Metals (now ASM International), this award recognizes Penn State graduates who have achieved distinction in the field of materials. It is named in honor of Professor Richard E. Tressler who was head of Penn State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering from 1991-2001. Read more
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 What is the most effective tool to recruit new MatSE students?A. Rankings
B. Word of mouth (neighbor, friend, family)
C. Social media
D. Recruitment at high school/college fairs
Sharing your Penn State story and professional experiences is the most effective way to recruit MatSE students—the next generation of materials science engineers and scientists. The answer is B.
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This year marked the 21st annual MatSE Awards Celebration, which recognized the achievements of MatSE students, staff, faculty, and alumni whose contributions continue to make MatSE a top-ranked materials science and engineering program. Read more
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The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) recognized exceptional students and faculty for their academic excellence, service, and leadership during its annual Wilson Awards Celebration. Congratulations to all the MatSE recipients! Read more
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This publication is available in alternative media on request.
Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. U.Ed. EMS 23-80.
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Simpson
Shodiya
