The mission of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering is to
produce B.S./M.S./Ph.D. graduates who can excel in leadership positions
in industry and academia at national and international levels.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Tenure-Track Faculty FTE 11.3
Undergraduate Students 103
Graduate Students 97
Ph.D. Awarded (09-10) 6
M.S. Awarded (09-10) 16
B.S. Awarded (09-10) 21
Teaching Faculty FTE 1
New Research Awards $7.7M
2009-2010 Highlights
7
Honoring Judy Trachtman’s 40 Years
of Service to Drexel University
9
Drexel to participate in Materials for Energy
Storage and Conversion Master’s Program
Research Expenditures $4.6M
Refereed Journal
88
Publications
National and
28
International Awards
12
Long-time staff member Judy Trachtman retired on June 30, 2010 after 40 years of service to Drexel
University and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Judy was honored with a celebration on April 30, 2010 as part of Drexel’s annual Blue and Gold Days events.
Drexel University joins a consortium of seven universities and two research centers worldwide that will
offer a joint masters program in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion (MESC). This program has
been awarded designation as an Erasmus Mundus Master Course by the European Commission.
Micro-Supercapacitors Will Power Electronic Devices
A paper in Science by John Chmiola (MSE Ph.D. 2009), his advisor Professor Yury Gogotsi, and their
collaborators in France describes new research in supercapacitors that will one day greatly improve the
longevity of mobile phones, laptop computers, and other battery-powered devices.
14
Marcolongo Selected to Participate in ELAM Program
15
Drexel Team Wins $75,000 EPA P3 Phase II
Grant for Sustainable Building Material and
iCAST Triple Bottom-Line Impact Award
Professor Michele Marcolongo has been selected to participate in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive
Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM®) Program for Women, the only national program dedicated to
preparing senior women faculty for leadership at academic health centers.
A team of students and alumni led by Professor Michel Barsoum has been honored with two awards for
pushing the envelope to create a sustainable cement that emits 95% less CO2 during the manufacturing
process, but is competitive in performance and cost with ordinary Portland cement.
16
Forging a Path in Nuclear Materials Science Research
The department is expanding its research in the field of nuclear materials science. New projects awarded to Professors Michel Barsoum, Mitra Taheri, and Ulrike Wegst bring a total of approximately $2.0M to
Drexel.
Please read on for a comprehensive look at
the department’s activities over the past year
2
read the complete annual report online at
www.materials.drexel.edu/ar/
3
Faculty News
From the Department Head
The excitement of innovation in research and education is palpable throughout the department. The NRC rankings, which ranked
our Ph.D. program 11 out of 88 materials programs in the nation,
measured our past performance and the strides we have made over
the years. We now look to the future as our department continues
to grow and change in exciting ways.
Our newest faculty member, Professor Steven May, is already
making his mark by receiving the department’s Outstanding Teaching Award and as a co-PI with Professor Mitra Taheri on a new National Science Foundation (NSF) grant within his first year at Drexel.
Steve, together with Mitra and Professor Ulrike Wegst, form an
extraordinary line of new faculty that make all of us proud.
Incoming funding on nuclear materials science was over $2.0M in
2009-10. Professors Taheri and Wegst have received funding from
the Department of Energy Nuclear Energy University Program. Taheri has also received a faculty development grant from the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. In addition, Taheri is PI on an instrumentation grant from the Department of Energy with Professors Michel
Barsoum and Christopher Peters (ECE). Professor Barsoum has himself received a grant to perform experiments with the Advanced
Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility at the U.S. Department
of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory with Savannah River National
Laboratory.
Likewise, materials for energy and sustainability are core to our
research efforts. Professor Yury Gogotsi and alumnus Dr. John
Chmiola (Ph.D.‘09) and collaborators in France published their research about a new method of producing supercapacitors far in the
April 23 issue of Science. In addition, a team of primarily student
researchers led by Michel received a $75,000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) P3 (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) Phase
II design competition for “Alkali-Activated Slag Cement (AASC) as
a Sustainable Building Material.” This is the third year Drexel has
won a Phase II award and the second year in a row a group under
Michel’s advisement has received the award. Together, Professors Gogotsi and Barsoum received $1M from the Department of
Energy’s BATT Program to conduct research to assist in the development of high-performance, rechargeable batteries for electric
vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles. Mitra and Steve’s joint award
comes from NSF and targets next generation materials and processing necessary for future electromagnetic devices, in particular applications for the automotive, wind, and aerospace sectors. In the
area of technology commercialization, Professor Wei-Heng Shih is
part of a team of researchers developing a new portable, low-cost,
radiation-free breast cancer detector. We look forward to seeing
how these technologies contribute to improving environmental,
health, and societal issues.
4
Faculty members from our department (Zavaliangos, Spanier, Kalidindi)
were PIs on three Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of
National Need (GAANN) fellowship
program grants awarded to the College of Engineering this year. GAANN
Fellowships provide need-based financial support to domestic Ph.D. students. Over the last seven years,
our Department has received the largest number of GAANN grants
of any other engineering department in the country. These grants
and the joint Drexel-Penn NSF-IGERT have been responsible for
the atypically large presence of domestic students in our graduate
program.
Particularly pleasing was the quality of the incoming freshman
class. Our 28 declared first year students had an average GPA of 3.2
in the common courses of the first year and 50% of them are part
of the Pennoni Honors College versus a GPA of 2.9 and 18% for the
typical Drexel engineering student.
Our faculty and staff have been recognized for their accomplishments throughout the year. Staff members Dorilona Rose and Holly
Burnside have been honored with the University Myers Award for
Distinguished Service and the President’s Award respectively. Professor Caroline Schauer was promoted to Associate Professor with
tenure and Professor Michele Marcolongo to Full Professor. Michele
is the first female Full Professor in our department ever. Congratulations to both! Professor Surya Kalidindi became a Fellow of the
ΑΣΜ materials honor society. Professor Christopher Li received
the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced
Researchers and is the third recipient of this prestigious award in
our Department together with Professors Barsoum and Gogotsi.
Finally, we bid farewell to our beloved Judy Trachtman, staff
member extraordinaire who served Drexel and the department for
40 years. We wish Judy all the best in retirement and you can read
about what she is up to now in an interview with her on the back
page.
I invite you to further explore our department’s research and
education initiatives in this report and by poking around our website. I encourage you to become our Facebook Fan and join us on
LinkedIn. We look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Antonios Zavaliangos, Ph.D.
Department Head and Professor
visit us online at
Drexel Materials Graduate Program Ranks Among
the Best in National Research Council Rankings
Drexel University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D.
program ranks 11th out of 88 materials programs in the United States according to the National Research Council (NRC) S-rankings released in
September 2010.
These rankings are a data-based analysis of Ph.D. programs throughout
the United States. The criteria analyzed include research productivity and
student outcomes. The previous NRC rankings were published in 1995, at
which time the department ranked 37th.
This is the second recent set of data-based rankings which rates the department within the top 11 departments in the nation. The department’s
doctoral program ranked tenth among materials science and engineering
programs nationwide according to the 2006 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index produced by Academic Analytics.
Marcolongo and Schauer Receive Promotions
Professors Michele Marcolongo and Caroline Schauer received promotions, effective September 1st, 2010.
Marcolongo (left) has received the title of Professor. She is the first female faculty
member in the history of the department to achieve the rank of full professor. She also
serves as Associate Dean for Intellectual Property Development for the College of Engineering. Marcolongo has been with the department since 1997. She received her Ph.D.
in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. She oversees the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Biosurfaces in Tissue Engineering and her
research includes orthopedic biomaterials and biomechanics with
a focus on spine biomaterials. Schauer (right) has received tenure and been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony
Brook in 1997 and joined the MSE department in 2003. She currently runs the Natural
Polymers and Photonics Laboratory. Her research spans biomaterials and natural systems
for applications in sensing, filtration and optics.
www.materials.drexel.edu
5
Our Staff
Our Faculty
M AT E R I ALS FACULTY
AFFILIATED FACULT Y
Michel W. Barsoum (Ph.D., MIT)
Jason Baxter
A.W. Grosvenor Professor
Assistant Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Yury G. Gogotsi (Ph.D., Kiev Polytechnic, UA)
Adam Fontecchio
Surya R. Kalidindi (Ph.D., MIT)
Alexander Fridman
Trustee Chair Professor
Professor
Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
John S. Nyheim Chair Prof. of Mech. Engr. and Mechanics
Yenneeka Long
A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology
Institute (DNI)
Holly Burnside
Support Coordinator
Director, Outreach & Development
Andrew Marx
Danielle Tadros
Systems Administrator
Keiko Nakazawa
Nanotechnology Business Coordinator
Associate Department Head, Teaching Professor, and Under- Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy
graduate Advisor
Dorilona Rose
Centralized Research
Facilities (CRF)
Operations Manager
Christopher Y. Li (Ph.D., University of Akron)
Judy Trachtman
Manager, Scanning Electron Microscopy
Richard Knight (Ph.D., Loughborough, UK)
Associate Professor
Michele Marcolongo (Ph.D., U. of Penn.)
Professor and Associate Dean for for Intellectual Property
Development (CoE)
Steven May (Ph.D., Northwestern University)
Assistant Professor
Caroline L. Schauer (Ph.D., SUNY Stony Brook)
Associate Professor
Wei-Heng Shih (Ph.D., Ohio State University)
Professor
Jonathan E. Spanier (Ph.D., Columbia University)
Associate Professor
Mitra Taheri (Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon Univ.)
Hoeganaes Assistant Professor of Metallurgy
Ulrike Wegst (Ph.D., U. of Cambridge)
Haviva Goldman
Kenneth K. S. Lau
Assistant Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Anthony Lowman
Bahram Nabet
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Giuseppe Palmese
Department Head of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Wan Young Shih
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Karl Sohlberg
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Yen Wei
Professor of Chemistry
Margaret Wheatley
John M. Reid Prof. of Biomedical Engineering and Science
Department Head and Professor
E M E R I T US FACULTY
Roger D. Doherty
Ihab Kamel
Jack Keverian
Academic and Financial Coordinator
Alan Lawley
Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering
Samuel K. Nash
Harry C. Rogers
Honoring Judy Trachtman’s 40
Years of Service to Drexel
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering celebrated the service and retirement
of long-time staff member Judy Trachtman, Academic and Financial Coordinator, on Friday, April
30, 2010 as part of Drexel’s annual Blue and Gold
Days alumni/ae weekend celebration.
Judy has been a fixture in the department
since she started at Drexel on June 30, 1970. Since that time,
she has helped to shepherd B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. students from
admission to graduation and has maintained ties with many
alumni/ae who came out to honor her on April 30.
Rose Receives Drexel
University Myers Award for
Distinguished Service
Dorilona Rose, Operations Manager in the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering, is the recipient of the
2009-2010 Harold M. Myers Distinguished Service Award. This
visit us online at
Ed Basgall
Craig Johnson
Manager, Transmission Electron Microscopy
The cocktail reception and dinner included a slide show of
memorable moments at Drexel during Judy’s time, tributes
by current and former faculty and alumni/ae, and a presentation of gifts. To view photos from the event, please visit
www.materials.drexel.edu/farewelljudy/.
Antonios Zavaliangos (Ph.D., MIT)
Roger Corneliussen
Materials Program Manager
Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Anne Stevens Assistant Professor
6
Department of Materials
Science & Engineering
www.materials.drexel.edu
Zhorro Nikolov
Associate Director, CRF
Manager, Materials Characterization, Microfabrication
is the most prestigious service award presented
to a faculty or staff member of the Drexel community who has gone above and beyond their
position in service to the university community.
The award consists of a certificate of recognition
and $2,000.
This marks the third time a faculty or staff
member from the department has received this award. Prior
award recipients include Professor Rick Knight (2008) and Academic and Financial Coordinator Judy Trachtman (2002).
Holly Burnside Honored
with President’s Award
Director of Outreach and Development for the
Drexel Nanotechnology Institute Holly Burnside
was honored with a Drexel University President’s
Award.
The highest staff award at the university, the
award is given to staff exhibiting innovation and
excellence in service to the university. Holly was
one of five individual award recipients of the award. Awardees
receive a trophy and $3,500.
7
Excellence in Scholarship
Doctor of Philosophy
Michael J. Birnkrant
“Combining Holographic Patterning and Block Copolymer SelfAssembly to Fabricate Hierarchical Volume Gratings”
Supervising Professor: Christopher Y. Li
Current Position: NRC Postdoc, Wright
Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Bing Li
Aaron Richard Sakulich
“Characterization of Environmentally-Friendly Alkali Activated
Slag Cements and Ancient Building Materials”
Supervising Professor: Michel W. Barsoum
Current Position: Research Associate at the Building and Fire
Research Laboratory, NIST/NRC, Gaithersburg, MD
Theodore H. Scabarozi, Jr.
“Exploiting Polymer Single Crystals to Assemble
and Functionalize Nanomaterials”
Supervising Professor: Christopher Y. Li
Current Position: Research Scientist; Honeywell
International; Danbury, CT
“Combinatorial Investigation of Nanolaminate
Ternary Carbide Thin Films”
Supervising Professor: Michel W. Barsoum
Current Position: Process Development Scientist;
Y-Carbon, Inc.; Bristol, PA
Stephen Niezgoda
Christopher J. Massey +
“Stochastic Representation of Microstructure via
Higher-Order Statistics: Theory and Application”
Supervising Professor: Surya Kalidindi
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Los
Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico
Stephen Sommers Nonnenmann
“Integrated Non-Planar Ferroelectric Nanostructures”
Supervising Professor: Jonathan Spanier
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
“Finite Element Analysis and Materials
Characterization of Changes Due to Aging and
Degeneration of the Human Intervetebral Disc”
Supervising Professor: Michele Marcolongo
Current Position: Visiting Professor;
Widener University; Chester, PA
Elina Alexandrovna Vitol +
“Nanopipettes for Intracellular
Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
Supervising Professors: Gary Friedman and Yury Gogotsi
Current Position: Research Scientist;
Molecular Biometrics, Inc.; New Haven, CT
Master of Science
John Vickery Lloyd *
Russell Wade Marron *
Valarie J. Pelletier *
Patricia D. Reddington
Benjamin Wilson Riblett *
William Louis Serencsits
Michael John Sexton *
Charles Bruce Spencer, Jr. *
* Graduated in Combined B.S./M.S. Program (for more
information, visit www.materials.drexel.edu/bsms)
8
Dominic G. Bruzzese III *
Zakiya Carter
Kristin Lee Coyle
Aldo Di Prato **
Eric Eisele
Sean M. Garner
Matthew I. Hartshorne *
Matthew M. Herbert
Thao Vi Le
Andrew William Leithead *
John Vickery Lloyd **
visit us online at
Russell Wade Marron
Ronald R. Martin
Caroline Constance McCormick *
Valarie J. Pelletier *
Benjamin Wilson Riblett
Daniel Scotto D’Antuono
Michael John Sexton *
Akhilesh Ashwini Singhal
Charles Bruce Spencer, Jr.
Michael Lizeng Wang
*** suma cum laude
Drexel to participate in
Materials for Energy Storage and
Conversion Master’s Program
Drexel University joins a consortium of seven universities
and two research centers worldwide that will offer a joint
master’s program in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion (MESC). This program has been awarded designation
as an Erasmus Mundus Master Course by the European Commission. Trustee Chair Professor Yury Gogotsi played a major
role in bringing this program to Drexel.
“Funding is estimated to be several million Euros over the
five-year life of this project,” Gogotsi said. Most of the funding will go towards student support.
+ Received Ph.D. in external department while supervised by Materials faculty
Ismail Can Albayrak
Hamad Fahad Alharbi
Carlos Octavio Aspetti
Dominic G. Bruzzese III *
Taha M. Demirkan
Aldo Di Prato *
Robert Charles Ferrier, Jr. *
Thao Vi Le *
Bachelor of Science
“This will be an excellent opportunity for Drexel students
to get true international experience,” Gogotsi continued.
“Moreover, by hosting foreign students for masters’ level research, we will have the opportunity to attract some of the
world’s best students to our Ph.D. programs. We hope this
will be a mutually beneficial and sustainable partnership.”
** magna cum laude
* cum laude
France; Université de Provence, Marseille, France; Warsaw
University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland; Xiamen University, Xiamen, China; ALISTORE European Research Institute,
Amiens, France; and CIC Energigune, Minano, Álava, Spain.
Graduating Ph.D. Students
Receive Prestigious
Doctoral Awards
Graduating Ph.D. students Stephen Niezgoda (top, advisor:
Surya Kalidindi) and Stephen Nonnenmann
(bottom, advisor: Jonathan Spanier) are the
recipients of Drexel’s most prestigious doctoral student awards, presented by the Office
of Graduate Studies.
The MESC program will be open to students from all over
the world, and courses will be taught in English. The consortium expects to select approximately 30 students for each
cohort. The program will take four semesters or two years to
complete.
Niezgoda is the recipient of the graduating
doctoral student deemed to have the “Most
Promise to Enhance Drexel’s Reputation” in
the Mathematical Sciences and Engineering
category. Nonnenmann has received the
“Best Doctoral Dissertation” award in the
category of Mathematical Sciences and Engineering. Both students are former recipients
of the National Science Foundation (NSF)IGERT Fellowship and Niezgoda was an NSF
Graduate Research Fellow as well.
The other participating institutions are Université de
Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France; Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain; Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse,
Up to two students are selected to receive each of these
awards per category per year. This is the fifth year in a row
a graduating Ph.D. student from the Department of Materi-
www.materials.drexel.edu
9
als Science and Engineering has been selected to receive the
“Most Promise” award. Previous award winners from MSE
include Jessica Schiffman (2009—advisor: Caroline Schauer),
and Davide Matthia (2008), María Pía Rossi (2007), and Ranjan
Dash (2006), all advised by Professor Yury Gogotsi. Previous
winners of the Best Dissertation Award include Aiguo Zhou in
2008 (advisor: Michel Barsoum) and Thomas Juliano in 2005
(advisor: Yury Gogotsi). The award consists of a $1,000 check
and certificate.
Likewise, Niezgoda received the 2010 Graduate Research
Award, consisting of $500 and an award plaque. Nonnenmann
and Ph.D. student Riju Singhal (advisor: Yury Gogotsi) were
acknowledged with “Highly Commended” Citations.
ALUMNI MPACT
Alumnus David Laughlin
Receives 2009 TMS Distinguished
Scientist/Engineer Award
MSE alumnus Professor David E.
Laughlin (B.S. 1969) has been awarded
the 2009 Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award from the Electronic, Magnetic, and Photonic Materials Division
of The Minerals, Metals & Materials
Society (TMS). Laughlin was honored
at the Materials Science and Technology conference in Pittsburgh, PA held
October 25-29, 2009 for his “overall contributions to the field
of magnetic materials.”
trolled by the behaviour of thermodynamic small systems. It provides comprehensive discussions on fullerenes as
building blocks, Raman spectroscopy as
a powerful diagnostic tool, and nanotechnology as the technology bridging
the gap between human-made and biological materials systems.” Professor
Amer is Professor of Materials Science
and Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Wright State University.
Alumnus Dr. Anthony Rollett
Elected TMS Fellow
MSE alumnus Professor Anthony
(Tony) Rollett (Ph.D. 1987; advisor:
Roger Doherty) has been selected to
receive a TMS Fellows Award Class of
2011. He is one of five recipients who
will receive the award in March 2011
in San Diego, California as part of the
140th TMS Annual Meeting.
Rollett is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at
Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Fellow of ASM International and the Institute of Physics (UK).
Alumnus Dr. Siddhartha
Pathak Receives Keck
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Alumnus Maher Amer’s
Book Chosen as “Book of
Choice” by Analyst Journal
MSE alumnus Dr. Siddhartha Pathak
(Ph.D. 2009, advisor: Surya Kalidindi)
has been selected as one of three
recipients of the 2010 W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies Postdoctoral
Scholarship in Materials Science at the
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. Young researchers whose research is deemed most relevant to the
development of new planetary, earth, and astrophysics space
mission concepts and technology are chosen for this prestigious program via an international level selection process.
Raman Spectroscopy, Fullerenes and Nanotechnology, a
book by alumnus Maher Amer (Ph.D. 1995), has been selected
as a “Book of Choice” by the journal Analyst. Amer’s book
provides an overview “of nanotechnology as the science con-
Pathak is employed at the Keck Institute for Space Studies at
the California Institute of Technology and previously worked
at EMPA, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science
and Technology.
Professor Laughlin is the ALCOA Professor of Physical Metallurgy in the Materials Science and Engineering Department
at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a recipient of Drexel’s
2008 Department of Materials Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award.
10
for more alumni news, please visit
Alumnus Michael Marucci
Appointed Head of R&D at
Hoeganaes Corporation
MSE alumnus Michael Marucci (B.S.
2001) has been appointed head of
Research and Development at Hoeganaes Corporation.
Marucci has been at the company
for eight years, most recently serving
as global manager of Quality Assurance. He began his career at Hoeganaes as a development engineer. In addition to his B.S. in MSE,
Marucci holds an M.S. in Engineering Management from Drexel
University.
Alumnus Dr. Anthony J. DeArdo
Receives 2010 AIST Award
Drexel MSE alumnus Dr. Anthony
J. DeArdo (B.S. 1965), William Kepler
Whiteford Professor in the University
of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Materials Science, and
Director of the Basic Metals Processing
Research Institute (BAMPRI), is the recipient of the 2010 Benjamin F. Fairless
Award from the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST).
The award is presented to individuals who have made distinguished contributions to iron and steel production and ferrous
metallurgy.
Achieving Balance:Work,
Leadership, Service, and Yoga
with Dr. Elizabeth Hoffman
Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Hoffman is not your typical yoga instructor. Certified last fall as a RYT-200 (registered yoga teacher),
the MSE alumna spends most days as a senior engineer at the
Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). In addition to being able to do sun salutes, Liz researches materials that are
exposed to extreme environments, whether that is radiation,
temperature, or a combination of both. Her projects, all dealing
with materials performance, range from two projects related
to her thesis work at Drexel, including one collaborative project
www.materials.drexel.edu/alumni/
with her former Ph.D. advisor, Professor Michel Barsoum on
evaluating MAX phase carbides in nuclear applications as well
as exploring the mechanism behind metallic whisker growth
to corrosion evaluation for storage of radioactive liquid waste
and lifetime evaluation of elastomers for sealing applications.
“I enjoy the wide range of research topics my position at SRNL
provides,” says Liz.
Liz received her Ph.D.
in 2006 under the auspices of Barsoum and
co-advisor Professor
Yury Gogotsi. She
decided to pursue her
Ph.D. in Drexel’s materials program based on
her co-op experiences as an undergraduate student at Drexel.
“I felt there was more for me to learn at Drexel,” she says.
In her current research, Liz finds that she draws on skills she
developed as a Ph.D. student in Drexel’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. These are, not only the technical
skills, but “the ‘soft’ skills such as networking and communication that I developed while at Drexel,” says Liz.
Liz’s active schedule includes service to materials professional societies. She has been Vice Chair, Chair, and Past-Chair
of the Savannah River Chapter of ASM International. Being
involved in ASM at a local level has further helped to develop
her organizational and leadership skills. Through ASM’s local
chapter, Liz has participated in local science and engineering
outreach activities for middle school aged students. “I find it
rewarding to introduce the concept of materials science to students,” says Liz. “Most kids have never heard of the discipline,
but by using hands-on demonstrations, they comprehend the
general concept with ease.”
At the national level, Liz has served on ASM International’s
Emerging Professionals Committee, the Nominating Committee, and the New Products and Services Committee. Liz is also
involved in the American Ceramic Society Nuclear and Environmental Technology Division, which has led to the organizing of several symposia for various MS&T conferences, as well
as networking in the ceramics field. She is also involved with
NACE and will be organizing a nuclear related session in the
near future.
When asked if Liz finds a connection between research and
yoga, she points out that both are more about the process than
the end result. “Of course the end result matters,” she says,
“but the real fun is the journey.”
11
Materials In Action
Micro-Supercapacitors Will
Power Electronic Devices
Energy storage devices developed by Drexel University researchers may one day greatly improve the longevity of mobile phones,
laptop computers, and other battery-powered devices.
A paper in the April 23, 2010 issue of Science magazine by John
Chmiola (left, MSE Ph.D. 2009), his French collaborators C. Largeot,
P.-L. Taberna, and P. Simon, and Professor Yury Gogotsi (right),
Chmiola’s Ph.D. advisor, “Monolithic carbide-derived carbon films
for micro-supercapacitors,” describes a new method of producing
supercapacitors that doubles their performance over similar devices
reported so far.
(A to D) Schematic of the fabrication of a micro-supercapacitor
integrated onto a silicon chip based on the bulk CDC film process.
Standard photolithography techniques can be used for fabricating
CDC capacitor electrodes (oxidative etching in oxygen plasma) and
deposition of gold current collectors.
(E) CDC synthesis and electrochemical test cell preparation
schematic. Ti is extracted from TiC as TiCl4, forming a porous
carbon film. Two TiC plates with the same CDC coating thickness
ranging from 1 to 200 µm are placed face to face and separated by
a polymer fabric soaked with the electrolyte.
Supercapacitors, also called electric double layer capacitors or
ultracapacitors, store energy through reversible ion adsorption at
high surface area electrodes usually made of carbon, in contrast
with batteries, which store electrical energy in chemical bonds in
a bulk material. This difference allows supercapacitors to charge
and discharge faster, recharge a near infinite number of times, and
operate at a wider temperature range with high efficiency. Supercapacitors are built of environmentally friendly materials, such as
carbon, aluminum and polymers.
Chmiola and his co-authors use an electrode material called carbide-derived carbon (CDC), in which metal atoms are etched from
a metal carbide, such as titanium carbide (TiC), to form a porous carbon with very high surface area. Previous studies by this group
used CDC in powdered form [J. Chmiola, G. Yushin, Y. Gogotsi, C. Portet, P. Simon, P.L. Taberna. Science (2006)]. The innovation
reported here is the use of “bulk” thin films. The team took some cues from the microelectronics industry, starting with conductive
TiC substrates, then etching a very thin electroactive layer (Ti-CDC) to store charge.
“In the traditional sandwiched construction, the electroactive materials that store the charge are loosely held together
particles pressed onto some metal that transports electrons
to and away from these materials and separated by some other material that keeps the individual electrodes from shorting
to one another,” Chmiola said. “The whole sandwich is then
rolled up and put in a little soda can or plastic bag.”
The ability to engineer the atomic
structure of materials in order to
achieve a desired macroscopic property is a grand challenge of materials
research. This challenge to control
materials synthesis at the atomic level
is made more urgent given the prominent role that new materials will play
in the technologies set to shape the
21st century, such as energy conversion
and storage, information processing, and medical treatments and
procedures. Assistant Professor Steven May and students in his
Oxide Films and Interfaces Group (OFIG) are taking on this challenge by applying state-of-the-art synthesis techniques to the
study of complex oxides. In doing so, the group creates new,
sustainable materials for energy conversion and electronics.
The group focuses on transition metal oxide compounds known
as complex oxides, which are used in fuel cells, batteries and electronics due to their multifunctional electronic, magnetic, catalytic
and structural properties. Using a synthesis technique known
as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), OFIG aims to further expand
the functionality of these materials by depositing oxide films one
atomic layer at a time. The precision of this deposition technique allows for the creation of material structures that cannot
be realized with conventional synthesis techniques. Examples of
such structures include the formation of two dissimilar materials
joined by an atomically sharp interface (heterojunctions), superlattices comprised of alternating layers of different materials,
and the ordering of different atomic layers to realize new crystal
structures. By forcing oxides into these new atomic structures,
OFIG aims to enhance their optical, electronic, and magnetic
properties for applications such as solar energy conversion, novel
electronic devices, and electrochemical energy conversion and
storage.
Semiconducting complex oxides exhibit many of the characteristics found in promising candidates for photovoltaic applications.
In particular, they are made from earth abundant, non-toxic elements, can exhibit band gaps in the optical spectrum, and their
electronic properties can be tuned through doping. However, two
obstacles remain in the development of complex oxide photovoltaics: specific material compositions with band gaps optimized
for solar energy conversion must be identified and the electrical
conduction across oxide heterojunctions must be engineered to
maximize the cell efficiency. OFIG is working to overcome these
two hurdles by developing oxides based on iron, manganese,
and chromium with optical and electronic properties tailored for
photovoltaic applications. This research may also lead to new
optoelectronic devices based on complex oxides.
By using microfabrication-type techniques, Chmiola and
his colleagues avoided many of the pitfalls of the “sandwich”
method, such as poor contact between electroactive particles
in the electrode, large void space between the particles, and
poor contact with the materials that carry electrons out of
the electroactive materials and to the external circuitry.
12
Professor Steven May’s Oxide Films and Interfaces Group Creates
Sustainable Materials for Energy Conversion and Electronics
visit us online at
www.materials.drexel.edu
The group is also
working to develop
new mechanisms for
switchable electrical
conduction in oxide
heterojunctions for
use in next generation,
low power electronics. New strategies for
information processing
and storage are needed
as power consumption
and scalability remain
fundamental obstacles
to the long term success of silicon based
electronics.
Motivated by the need for
fundamentally new
Using state-of-the-art deposition techdevice designs, the
niques, heterostructures can be formed
group is investigatwith minimal interfacial intermixing,
ing how changes to
as shown by the TEM image in A. One
project that the group is working on is
atomic structure can
the study of model cathode/electrolyte
induce large changes
interfaces for fuel cells (B). The x-ray difto electronic structure
fraction results confirm the growth of a
in oxides, ideally induchigh quality perovskite film on a zirconia
ing metal to insulator
substrate, materials that are commonly
used as cathodes and electrolytes. TEM
transitions. As part of
image by Shah and Zuo (UIUC).
this effort, the group is
studying how atomic
and electronic structures in oxides can be altered through strain
and external electric fields.
The ability to form abrupt oxide-oxide interfaces provides OFIG
with the unique opportunity to investigate model interfaces for
electrochemical energy conversion and storage. Solid oxide fuel
cells (SOFC) are able to convert a range of fuels into electric
power with high conversion efficiency. Y2O3-stablized ZrO2 (YSZ)
is widely used as the electrolyte material in these devices. In
an effort to develop new materials for SOFC electrodes and to
better understand the interfacial reactions that occur in SOFCs,
the group is utilizing the versatility of MBE to deposit a range
of oxides on YSZ substrates. Particular emphasis is placed on
manganites, ferrites, and chromates as these materials have
been identified as promising candidates for SOFC cathodes. As
the electrolye/cathode interface is crucial to device performance,
the group is examining the structural and electronic properties of
these model interfaces. Future efforts are planned to investigate
transition metal oxides for electrodes in lithium-based batteries.
13
&
AWARDS ACHIEVEMENTS
Li Receives Humboldt Fellowship
Professor Christopher Li has received the Alexander von Humboldt
Research Fellowship for Experienced
Researchers.
Li spent six months in Germany at
the Max Planck Institute for Polymer
Research to collaborate with Professor Hans-Jürgen Butt on the topic of
“Tailored Molecular Structure and
Morphology of Conjugated Polymers for bulk hetero-junction
hybrid solar cells.” Previous recipients of the Humboldt Fellowship from the department include Professor Yury Gogotsi
(1990) and Professor Michel Barsoum (2000).
Doherty Selected to Receive
Cyril Stanley Smith Award
Emeritus Professor Roger D.
Doherty was selected to receive the
Cyril Stanley (C.S.) Smith Award by
the International Committee of the
international conference on Recrystallization and Grain Growth held
July 4-9, 2010 in Sheffield, UK, the
4th conference in a series.
The award recognizes Doherty’s
contributions to the field of recrystallization and grain growth.
Previous awardees include Professor Mats Hillert, Professor
Emeritus of Metallurgy of the Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm and Professor John Humphreys, Professor of Materials Science at the University of Manchester, UK.
Marcolongo
Selected to
Participate in
ELAM Program
Professor Michele Marcolongo
has been selected to participate in
14
the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic
Medicine® (ELAM®) Program for Women. ELAM is a core program of the Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership® at
Drexel University College of Medicine and the only national
program dedicated to preparing senior women faculty for leadership at academic health centers.
Marcolongo is one of 54 senior women faculty selected from
elite institutions from around the country and is part of the
16th class of fellows. As a part of the program, Marcolongo
will participate in three week-long in-residence sessions and
will learn skills in executive management and institutional leadership. The program’s mission is to increase the number of
women in senior academic leadership positions.
Spanier Selected as 2010
ONR Summer Faculty
Research Program Fellow
Associate professor Jonathan Spanier was selected as a senior fellow
for the 2010 Office of Naval Research
(ONR) Summer Faculty Research Program (SFRP).
A 10-week program, the
program pays a stipend of $1,400 to
$1,900 per week for a faculty member to participate in research at a U.S.
Navy Laboratory. Spanier worked
with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI.
Drexel Team Wins $75,000 EPA
P3 Phase II Grant for Sustainable
Building Material and iCAST
Triple Bottom-Line Impact Award
A team of Drexel and Villanova University researchers have
won a $75,000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) P3
(People, Prosperity, and the Planet) Phase II design competition for “Alkali-Activated Slag Cement (AASC) as a Sustainable
Building Material.” The goal of this research is to create a
sustainable cement that emits 95% less CO2 during the manufacturing process, but is competitive in performance and cost
with ordinary portland cement.
The team is led by Department of Materials Science and
Engineering (MSE) Professor Michel Barsoum and includes
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics (MEM)
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and
Ph.D. student Alex Moseson (B.S. MEM/M.S. MSE 2007; advisor: Michel Barsoum) and freshman Abraham Crook (MSE);
Joseph Shook, Jamie Mucha, Aleksandra Terpeluk, and Professor Aleksandra Radlinska of Villanova University; and NIST/NRC
research associate Dr. Aaron Sakulich (MSE B.S. 2005, Ph.D.
2009; advisor: Michel Barsoum).
This is the third year Drexel has won a Phase II award and
the second year in a row a group under Professor Barsoum’s
advisement has received the award. Last year’s winner was
the Senior Design team of Eric Eisele, Courtney Reid, Dan
Pugh, Sarah Byrnes, and Charlie Woods for “Cool Roof Coatings Utilizing Glass Hollow Microspheres for Improved Solar
Reflectance.”
for a complete list of awards, visit
Additionally, the team of researchers won the only second
annual iCAST (International Center for Appropriate & Sustainable Technology) Triple Bottom-Line Impact Award. iCAST‘s
mission is “to provide economic, environmental, and social
benefits to economically disadvantaged individuals and communities; and to provide education and training that builds local capacity.” The award consists of a cash award of $1,000 and
$10,000 in consulting services (business incubation/development, marketing, grant writing, etc.) from iCAST Marketplace.
Eric Eisele Receives Grand Prize in
ET Foundation’s 2010 Aluminum
Extrusion Design Competition
M.S. student Eric Eisele (MSE B.S. 2009; advisor: Michel
Barsoum) has received the Grand Prize, a $3,500 scholarship,
in the ET Foundation’s 2010 Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition. This is only the second time in the competition’s nine
year history
that a student
has received
the
G ra n d
Prize.
Eric received
the prize for
the design of
an extruded
hanging LED
light fixture. Outlining the benefits of using extruded aluminum for his LED lighting application, Eric noted that “integrated designs can include heatsink fins, slots, optical cavities,
mounting rails, [screw] bosses—all necessary for LED fixtures.
Increased design integration reduces part count and cost.” In
addition, he pointed out that heat is dissipated throughout the
entire light fixture.
Kalidindi Elected Alpha
Sigma Mu Fellow
Professor Surya Kalidindi has been
elected a Fellow of Alpha Sigma Mu.
Kalidindi is the second Drexel MSE
faculty member to be elected as a
Fellow to Alpha Sigma Mu. Professor
Rick Knight was one of two inaugural Fellows inducted in 2009. Alpha
Sigma Mu is the international professional honor society for materials
science and engineering.
The EPA P3 competition is highly competitive, with approximately 50 teams winning $10,000 Phase I awards and, this year,
14 teams funded through the Phase II competition. Benefits of
winning also include the opportunity to present and network
annually at the Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall
in Washington, DC. As part of the National Sustainable Design
Expo, Alex Moseson gave a talk entitled, “Cement from Trash:
Alkali-Activated Cements that Cut CO2 by 95%.”
Joseph Shook (Villanova), Abraham Crook (Drexel), and Alex Moseson
(Drexel) receive the P3 Award from Dr. Paul Anastas, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development, US EPA
www.materials.drexel.edu/ar/awards
The ET Foundation was established by the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) to develop, promote, provide, and fund
education and research related to aluminum extrusion process
and technology.
15
MAJOR RESEARCH
INITIATIVES
& ACTIVITIES
Materials Faculty Receive Over $2.0M in Funding
for Nuclear Materials Science Research
An emerging leader in nuclear materials science research,
Drexel’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering
has received over $2.0M in funding this year alone from the
Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) to further efforts in this field. Professors
Michel Barsoum, Mitra Taheri, and Ulrike Wegst are leading
the research in this area.
Taheri has received a three-year
$448,811 grant
from NRC.
“Drexel
University Faculty Development Program in Nuclear Materials Science: Design and Characterization of Radiation-Tolerant
Alloys Using Multiscale Grain Boundary Engineering and Advanced Microscopy Methods” will seek to improve and design
new metal alloys for use in current and future nuclear reactors.
Drexel support in the amount of $150,000 will supplement
the NRC funding. As part of this initiative, Taheri will develop
Drexel WINS (Women in Nuclear Science) to provide funding
for incoming freshman female students pursuing degrees in
materials science and engineering with a minor in nuclear engineering.
Additionally, the grant stipulates the organization
of an external advisory board to oversee the project, comprised of representation from Argonne National Laboratory,
University of Michigan, Idaho National Laboratory, University
of Wisconsin, Ames National Laboratory/Iowa State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Westinghouse Electric
Company.
In conjunction with external university partners, both Taheri and
Wegst have received funding from
the Nuclear Engineering University
Program (NEUP) of DOE. Taheri is working with lead institution
the University of Michigan and researchers Drs. Anton Van der
Ven (PI), Gary Was, and Lumin Wang on “Fission Product Transport in TRISO Particle Layers under Operating and Off-Normal
Conditions.” The researchers hope to determine the diffusivity
and other behaviors of key fission products (Ag, Cs, I, Te, Eu and
Sr) through PyC and SiC both thermally, under irradiation and
under stress using fission products introduction techniques
16
that avoid the pitfalls of past experiments. The total amount
for the award is $996K with $200K coming to Drexel University.
The focus of Wegst’s project, “Freeze-Casting as a Novel
Manufacturing Process for Fast Reactor Fuels,” a collaborative
research effort between Drexel University and the University
of Wisconsin, is focused on developing novel materials and
technologies that will improve used fuel storage, recycling and
disposal options, with performance in cost and environmental
consequences significantly improved from current technology
performance. The total award is for $1.14M for the three-year
project and Drexel’s portion is $910K.
Along with co-PIs Barsoum and adjunct professor Christopher Peters of the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Taheri is also the PI on a $299,486 grant from
the Department of Energy, “Instrumentation for Research and
Education in Nuclear Engineering and Nuclear Materials Science: Quantifying Radiation Damage and Detection in Reactor
Materials.” A major portion of the proposed work is to use
the requested in situ microscopy tools to study microstructural
stability of various nuclear reactor materials, such as stainless
steels for current Light Water Reactors, and new high temperature metal alloys and MAX-phase ceramics for Generation IV
nuclear reactors. Additionally the grant will provide funds to
purchase high resolution gamma spectroscopy equipment to
support research and educational functions.
In addition to new instrumentation for nuclear materials science study, Barsoum and his collaborators at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) have had a proposal accepted to
perform experiments with the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) National Scientific User Facility at the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Idaho National Laboratory. Dr. Elizabeth Hoffman (B.S. 2002,
Ph.D. 2007; advisor: Michel Barsoum) of SRNL is a co-PI on the
grant. The proposal, “Advanced Damage Tolerant Ceramics:
Candidates for Nuclear Structural Applications,” will investigate
how a new class of materials holds up under extremely high
temperatures and radiation loads. The researchers will employ
the ATR to evaluate the suitability of these compounds—ternary carbides and nitrides—as building materials for structures
deep within nuclear power reactors.
for a complete list of grants visit
Gogotsi Receives DOE
Grant for Carbide-Derived
Carbons Research
tional Laboratory, with component groups at UC Berkeley; UC
San Francisco; Drexel University; and Imperial College, London.
Trustee Chair Professor Yury Gogotsi is the recipient of a
three-year, $450,000 grant from the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
The goal of the project is to develop biomaterials for tissue
engineering that will eliminate surgical risks and allow immediate return of function. The overall project was funded at $6M
for five years and Drexel’s portion of the budget is $310,000 for
two years, with the possibility for extension.
“Low Temperature Synthesis of Carbide-Derived Carbons
from Binary and Ternary Carbides in the Si-Ti-C System: Experiments and Modeling” is a renewal of a current project, “Silicon
Carbide Derived Carbons: Experiments and Modeling,” which
concludes in August 2010.
Department and College
Receive Department of
Education GAANN Awards
Gogotsi and Barsoum Receive
$1M DOE BATT Program Grant
Trustee Chair Professor Yury Gogotsi (PI), and A. W. Grosvenor Professor Michel Barsoum (Co-PI) have been awarded
a grant from the US Department of Energy’s Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Program for “New
Layered Nanolaminates for use in Lithium
Battery Anodes.” The budget for the
four-year project is $1,000,000.
Their research will focus on the
development of laminate MAXphase based anode materials that
combine the laminate structure of
graphite with silicon, tin, and other
elements that can provide a higher
lithium uptake per atom and lead to improved capacity, less expansion, longer cycle
life, and lower cost compared to current Li-ion battery anodes.
The BATT Program was created to develop high-performance,
rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and hybrid-electric
vehicles and is funded by the US Department of Energy Office
of Vehicle Technologies and administered by the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory.
Wegst Receives
NIH Funding
Professor Ulrike Wegst has been
awarded funding from the National
Institute of Health (NIH) as part of a
Bioengineering Research Partnership
(BRP) led by Lawrence Berkeley Na-
www.materials.drexel.edu/ar/grants
The Department of Education has awarded
three Graduate Assistance in Areas of
National Need (GAANN) grants to
the College of Engineering with
the PIs on all three grants hailing
from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
(MSE). GAANN Fellowships provide need-based financial support
to Ph.D. students pursuing a degree
in a field of study identified as an area
of national need. The receipt of GAANN
grants over the past several years has resulted in an increase
of Ph.D. students pursuing materials. The department currently ranks sixth in the nation among other materials departments for the number of Ph.D. students graduating per faculty
member per year according to data amassed by the University
Materials Council.
Professor Antonios Zavaliangos is the PI on GAANN-DREAM
(Drexel Research and Education in Advanced Materials). This
three-year grant in the amount of $394,000 will provide support to Ph.D. students pursuing degrees in materials science
and engineering with an emphasis on nanomaterials, biomaterials, and materials for nuclear applications. This is the fourth
GAANN award with Antonios as PI or co-PI since 2006.
GAANN: Renewable Energy Technologies and Infrastructure Networks (RETAIN) has been awarded to the College of
Engineering. PI Dr. Jonathan Spanier, associate professor in
the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, will be
joined by Associate Dean and MSE affiliated faculty member
Dr. Anthony Lowman in administering the grant. The project
will support Ph.D. fellows at Drexel in interdisciplinary research
and education in the applied science and technology of renewable energy sources and infrastructure required for power
distribution and its environmental impact. The project will
17
also further Drexel collaborations with energy, environment
and sustainability researchers at Ben Gurion University in the
Negev, Israel facilitated by Rector and Professor J. Weinblatt.
The award is for three years, with a total budget of $525,030.
Dr. Surya Kalidindi, Professor of MSE and Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics (MEM) and Department Head of MEM
is PI on GAANN in Mechanical Engineering and Sciences, and
will run the program along with Co-PI Dr. Alisa Morss Clyne, P.C.
Chou Assistant Professor of MEM.
Special Highlights
International Research Team
Develops Ultrahigh-power
Energy Storage Devices
A team of researchers from the U.S. and France report the
development of a mirco-supercapacitor with remarkable properties. The paper appeared in the premier scientific journal
Nature Nanotechnology online in August 2010.
These microsupercapacitors have the potential to power nomad electronics,
wireless sensor networks,
biomedical implants, active
radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags, and embedded microsensors, among
other devices.
Supercapacitors, also
called electric double layer
capacitors (EDLCs) or ultracapacitors, bridge the
gap between batteries,
which offer high energy
densities but are slow, and
Drs. Vadym Mochalin and Yury
“conventional” electrolytic
Gogotsi in front of a vacuum
capacitors, which are fast
furnace that was donated by Solar
but have low energy densiAtmospheres for the synthesis of
onion-like carbon.
ties. The newly developed
devices described in Nature
Nanotechnology have powers per volume that are comparable
to electrolytic capacitors, capacitances that are four orders of
magnitude higher, and energies per volume that are an order of
magnitude higher. They were also found to be three orders of
magnitude faster than conventional supercapacitors, which are
used in backup power supplies, wind power generators and other
machinery. These new devices have been dubbed “micro-supercapacitors” because they are only a few micrometers (10-6 me-
18
ters) thick.
What makes
this possible? “Supercapacitors store energy in layers of ions
at high surface area
electrodes,” said Professor Yury Gogotsi,
In
co-author of the pathe
per. “The higher the
heart of a
surface area per volnovel ultrahighpower micrometer-thick
ume of the electrode
supercapacitor are carbon onions surmaterial, the better
rounded by charged ions. The carbon onthe performance of
ion is composed of concentric spherical
layers of graphitic carbon shown in blue
the supercapacitor.”
on a cross-sectional view, similar to the
layered structure of a common red onion,
Vadym Mochalin,
but 10 million times smaller.
research assistant
professor of materials science and engineering at Drexel and co-author, said, “We
use electrodes made of onion-like carbon, a material in which
each individual particle is made up of concentric spheres of
carbon atoms, similar to the layers of an onion. Each particle
is 6-7 nanometers in diameter.”
This is the first time a material
with very small spherical particles has been studied for this purpose. Previously investigated materials include activated carbon,
nanotubes, and carbide-derived carbon (CDC).
“The surface of
the onion-like carbons is fully accessible to ions, whereas with
some other materials, the size or shape of the pores or of the
particles themselves would slow down the charging or discharging process,” Mochalin said. “Furthermore, we used a process to
assemble the devices that did not require a polymer binder material to hold the electrodes together, which further improved the
electrode conductivity and the charge/discharge rate. Therefore,
our supercapacitors can deliver power in milliseconds, much
faster than any battery or supercapacitor used today.”
The Drexel
team of Gogotsi and Mochalin collaborated with Dr. David Pech,
visit us online at
Dr. Magali Brunet, Hugo Durou, Peihua Huang, Dr. Pierre-Louis
Taberna, and Prof. Patrice Simon, all working in Toulouse, France,
on the Nature Nanotechnology paper. A grant from the Partner
University Fund of the French-American Cultural Exchange allowed two of the Toulouse-based researchers, Pech and Huang,
to spend a month each visiting Professor Gogotsi’s laboratory at
Drexel University in Philadelphia. Additional exchange visits are
planned for the 2010-2011 academic year. The effort at Drexel
University is based upon work supported as part of the Fluid
Interface Reactions, Structures, and Transport (FIRST) Center, an
Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under
award no. ERKCC61.
Drexel University Researchers Are
Developing Breast Cancer Detector
Based on Piezoelectric Fingers
A team of researchers at Drexel University is developing a new
portable, low-cost, radiation-free breast cancer detector that can
be used in a doctor’s office as a first-line to detect breast cancer
in younger women as well as in women over 40 with mammographically dense-tissue breasts. The detector is based on piezoelectric fingers (an elastic and shear modulus sensor) developed
at Drexel. In evaluations on tumor specimens, it has positively
identified a 3mm tumor previously missed by mammography,
ultrasound and the physician’s palpation.
The researchers, Dr. Wan Y. Shih, a breast cancer survivor and
associate professor in Drexel’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems and affiliated faculty member
in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Dr.
Wei-Heng Shih, professor in Drexel’s Department of Materials
Science and Engineering and Dr. Ari D. Brooks, associate professor of surgery at the Drexel University College of Medicine,
expect to develop
a portable, radiation-free, breastscanning device
that is not only capable of locating
small tumors of
any type, but also
able to predict tumor malignancy.
The proposed
screening tool will
be positioned as
an early breast
www.materials.drexel.edu
cancer screening tool to be used by physicians and gynecologists in the clinical setting in conjunction with the physical examination. It supplements mammography to screen early for
breast cancer in women with dense-tissue breasts. In countries
such as China and India, where mammography is not readily
available due to cost, the PEF device can be used as a primary
screening tool.
The PEF device consists of a hand-held probe and small
electrical measurement units that can be operated by a laptop
computer and eventually will be a standalone device. The PEF
probe measures tissue elasticity and mobility—breast cancers
are both stiffer and less mobile than surrounding tissue—and
uses elasticity and mobility contrast to detect breast cancer.
Y-Carbon Receives 2009
“Company to Watch”
Enterprise Award
Y-Carbon, the start-up company
founded at Drexel by Trustee Chair
Professor Yury Gogotsi, former Ph.D.
student Ranjan Dash (MBA/Ph.D. ‘06),
and former Drexel post-doc Gleb Yushin
(now assistant professor of materials
science and engineering at Georgia
Institute of Technology) has received
a 2009 “Company to Watch” award at
the Enterprise Awards presented by
Eastern Technology Council.
Gogotsi at the 2009
Y-Carbon is pioneering a family of
Enterprise Awards
novel high-performance porous carbon
materials to meet the needs of a variety of markets that are
looking for new, advanced high-quality materials.
Professor Spanier Receives
Phase II STTR Grants
Associate Professor Jonathan Spanier and his industrial colleagues at Structured Materials Industries, Inc. (SMI) of NJ
received two awards on projects that will expand the College
of Engineering’s growing activities in oxide-based electronic
and photonic materials. The first, from the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research (AFOSR), is entitled “Fabrication technology
for oxide film heterostructure devices.” The second award is
from NAVAIR and is entitled “Full spectrum nanowire sensors.”
The total funding for these two projects is $1.5M for two years,
and the Drexel portion is $475,000.
19
New Instruments Installed in the Centralized Research Facilities
The University-wide Centralized Research Facilities are heavily used by faculty and students in the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering. Two recent acquisitions are expanding the scope of research in the department and beyond.
NSF MRI-R2: Acquisition of an X-ray
Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
Surface Analysis Instrumentation
for Enabling Research and Education
in Greater Philadelphia
Newly Retired Staff Member Judy Trachtman
Judy Shares Her Secrets for a Happy Retirement
No one here in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering could imagine life without
Academic and Financial Coordinator Judy Trachtman.
But could Judy imagine life without the Department
of Materials Science and Engineering? Judy shares
some insights into what it’s like to be away from
Drexel after 40 years.
A National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation
(NSF-MRI) Award of $1,125,000 for the acquisition of a state-ofthe-art x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) surface analysis
instrumentation system was recently received by affiliated faculty
members Professors Ken Lau (PI), Alex Fridman (co-PI), and Giuseppe Palmese (co-PI), and MSE Research Assistant Professor Dr.
Vadym Mochalin (co-PI).
The multi-capability Physical Electronics PHI 5000 VersaProbe enables quantitative surface-specific chemical analysis of materials
including metals, inorganics, ceramics, polymers, and composites; macro- and micro-area elemental and chemical state spectroscopy
and mapping; angle resolved depth analysis; depth profiling by conventional argon sputtering, as well as a unique capability to
perform C60 sputter depth profiling of soft materials; in situ variable temperature measurements; and Auger electron spectroscopy
(AES) for probing down to a spatial resolution below 100 nm.
The instrumentation system is expected to positively enhance a wide array of research and education programs, including sustainable energy, biomedical technology, nanotechnology, and advanced materials. The instrumentation system will establish Drexel
University as a premier multi-user surface analysis center that serves the research community at Drexel University, including the
Drexel Plasma Institute and Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, as well as in the Greater Philadelphia area.
Ultrafast Laser System is First BenchScale THz User Facility in US
Terahertz radiation (1011–1013 Hz) bridges the gap between electronics and visible/infrared optics and is a frontier region of scientific inquiry in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, materials science, and engineering. Electrons in semiconductors, collective vibrations in proteins and DNA, and rotations in gas phase
molecules all have signature responses in the THz region. THz science is therefore
critical to such diverse applications as alternative energy, high-speed electronics,
pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostics, and homeland security.
A group of Drexel investigators led by Professor Jason Baxter (CBE, affiliated MSE)
and including Professors Jonathan Spanier and Christopher Li (both MSE) recently
received an NSF-MRI Award (DMR-0922929, $332,291) to acquire an ultrafast laser
system, including an amplified Ti:sapphire laser, optical parametric amplifier, visible transient absorption spectrometer, and home-built terahertz spectrometer for
research and education in terahertz spectroscopy and sub-picosecond dynamics.
The laser system will be operated as the first bench-scale THz user facility in the
nation. This laser system provides a combination of (1) access to THz radiation, (2) spectroscopy with sub-picosecond time resolution, and (3) a continuously tunable pulsed light source from UV to mid-IR. With this equipment, Drexel researchers will integrate
new scientific discovery with education and training of the next generation of scientists in state-of-the-art experimental methods.
20
An Interview With
visit us online at
What was your first act upon your retirement?
I started packing for a two-week cruise and land
adventure in Alaska. We left two weeks after my official retirement date and had a really wonderful time.
How do you fill your days now that you are not assisting students, faculty, and staff on a daily basis?
I’ve been really busy for the
most part. After
the trip to Alaska,
we had our place
painted and I had
a few stints of
babysitting for my
girls. My building is having a craft fair, so I have been
crocheting up a storm. I served 10 days as an alternate on jury duty, a capital case…glad I didn’t have to
make the decision on that one. I’m still in the habit
of getting up early, but now I can watch the Today
Show all the way through instead of just the first half
hour…and I get to see The View too. After Thanksgiving, I will be getting new carpeting and signing up to
volunteer at the new National Museum of American
Jewish History and MANNA.
www.materials.drexel.edu
Do you ever wake
up and think,
‘It’s time to go to
work’?
Frequently, especially while I
was on jury duty
and had to be
there by 8:00 am.
It was surprisingly
easy to get back
into the habit of getting up and out early in the day.
What do you miss most about the
department and Drexel?
Mostly the students and co-workers. My replacement was so adept that I got used to phasing out the
work, but working with the students was always the
best part of the job and I do miss them.
What do you like best about retirement?
Waking up to a rain storm and knowing that I can
turn over and go back to sleep. It will be even better
when the snows come. Having more time to spend
with my granddaughters. Actually to be able to go
shopping in town during the day on a weekday or
to book theater tickets for a mid-week matinee. It
really does take so little to make me happy!
What is your advice to others when
preparing for retirement?
First and foremost, get your finances and health
coverage in order. Then relax and enjoy…do whatever makes you happy!
21
Supporting MSE
Professor Emeritus Alan Lawley shares his
reasons for giving back to the department
“For over four decades, Drexel has engendered a professionally rewarding
environment in which to pursue a career in engineering education and
research. I have a kinship to Materials Science and Engineering and giving
to Drexel on a regular basis is a source of satisfaction to me.”
Why do you support the Department of Materials Science and Engineering?
Please contact drose@coe.drexel.edu to share your story.
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering gratefully acknowledges its donors. Your
generosity will benefit both current and future MSE students and faculty, reaching well beyond the
classroom and lab. If you are interested in making a financial or non-financial contribution to the
department, please visit:
www.materials.drexel.edu/support
When you send a financial contribution to Drexel, please be sure to designate your contribution to
“Materials Science and Engineering.” Possible avenues for contribution include:
• The Department of Materials Science
and Engineering Endowment Fund
(supporting undergraduate and graduate student fellowships and faculty
development). This past year, $2,000
in funds were awarded to Tianjiao Cai,
Jahnavi Deshmukh, Carly Snyder, and
Jing Zhang.
• The A. W. Grosvenor Scholarship
Fund for undergraduate student support. $7,504 from the A. W. Grosvenor
Scholarship Fund was awarded to Lucas
Amspacher, Christopher Barr, Zakiya
Carter, Matthew Hartshorne, Amanda
Pentecost, Benjamin Riblett, and Christopher Stanislawczyk.
• The Koczak Scholarship Fund for undergraduate student support. $1,059 was awarded to Travis Longenbach from the Koczak Scholarship Fund.
Another scholarship available to our students is the
Anne L. Stevens Endowed Scholarship Fund, which
provides financial support to female students in the
Department of Materials Science and Engineering who
demonstrate academic merit and financial need. The
scholarship was established in 2007 with a generous
gift from Stevens (’80) and the Lockheed Martin Corporation Directors Charitable Award Fund. $21,638.00
from the Anne L. Stevens Endowed Scholarship Fund
was awarded to Joan Burger, Zakiya Carter, Thao Vi
Le, Caroline McCormick, Farrah Moldover, Valarie
Pelletier, Amanda Pentecost, Ebony Thompson, and
Elizabeth Toby.
A Special Thanks to All MSE Donors!
Ms. Janette Amadio
Mr. Michael Andrulis
Ms. Patricia Austin
Ms. Jill Sklar Axel
Jonathan E. Ayutsede, Ph.D.
Dr. Michel W. Barsoum
Mr. Eli Bockol
Ms. Lisa Bogan
Mr. Dmitri A. Bohn
Ms. Andrea Bricklin
Mr. Christopher N. Brittin
Ms. Cassandra L. Brown
Mrs. Anita Barbara Butt
Mr. Francis M. Cagliari
Ms. Ronica Ashley Cleary
Ms. Patricia M. Comey
Ms. Mary Ann Conway
Mr. John F. Copeland
Dr. Roger D. Corneliussen
Mr. Ronald Costello
Ms. Lara E. Cressman
Mrs. Steffen W. Crowther
Dr. Ranjan Kumar Dash
Mr. Philip DeHennis
Mr. Joseph A. Delgado
Mr. Luciano DelGaone
Ms. Kristen DeVries
Mr. Kerry N. DiBlasio
Dr. George E. Dieter, Jr.
& Mrs. Nancy Russell Dieter
Dr. Svetlana Dimovski
Mr. William H. Dixon, Jr.
Dr. Roger D. Doherty
Ms. Kay A. Draper
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas P. Feist
Dr. and Mrs. Blake L. Ferguson
Mr. Daniel Fernandez
Dr. Peter Finkel
Ms. Eileen T. Fitzgerald
Dr. John P. Foster
Dr. William E. Frazier, Sr.
Mr. Peter J. Frisko
Mr. Benjamin Frost, Jr.
Dr. Edward R. Garrity, Jr.
& Ms. Ilona Dawson Garrity
Ms. Cristina Geso
Ms. Dyanne Glass
Dr. Yury Gogotsi
Mr. Kenneth H. Goldman
Dr. Huiming Gu
Ms. Janet E. Guthart
Ms. Joyce Haas
Ms. Michelle Hahn
Ms. Babette Henry-Taylor
Mr. Warren Hilton
Ms. Joanne Hirsh
Dr. Elizabeth N. Hoffman
Dr. Richard V. Homan
Mr. & Mrs. Paul R. Howard
Ms. Tatum Isenberger
Dr. Milan Ivosevic
Dr. Natraj C. Iyer
Ms. Anne Jensen
Ms. Barbara Johnson
Dr. Jovan M. Jovicic
Mr. Daniel J. Kahan
Mrs. Kimberly Bernard Karol
John M. Keleher, Ed.D. ChFC, CAP, CLU
Dr. Jack Keverian
Dr. Subhash Chandra Khatri
Mr. George Klingos
& Mrs. Helen Klingos
Dr. Richard Knight
Mr. Stephen Lawrence Kodjie
Mrs. Louisa C. Kopp
& Mr. Richard F. Kopp
Dr. K. Sharvan Kumar
Dr. Hoa L. Lam
Dr. David E. Laughlin
& Mrs. Diane S. Laughlin
Dr. Alan Lawley
Ms. Michele Marie Marcolongo
Mr. Andrew T. Marx
Dr. Pravin Chandra Mathur
Dr. Steven May
Dr. William L. McCauley
Mr. Michael J. McDermott
Ms. Bernadette McNulty
Mr. Michael J. Micklus
Ms. Kara Mitzel
Dr. Anand Murugaiah
Dr. and Mrs. Samuel K. Nash
Mr. Michael W. Nichols
Dr. Frank L. Nowicke, Jr.
Mr. Richard Ochab
Mrs. Christina M. O’Rourke
Dr. Muktesh Paliwal
Ms. Maria A. Papa
Dr. Siddhartha Pathak
Dr. Amitav Pattnaik
Mr. Michael J. Pechulis
Ms. Cindy Pery
Dr. Miladin Radovic
Mr. Timothy D. Reeves
Mr. Joshua Roberts
Dr. Mark L. Robinson
Ms. Laura S. Rogovin
Dr. Anthony D. Rollett
Dianne M. Rothstein
Dr. Ayman A Hussien Salem
Dr. Caroline L. Schauer
Dr. Frederick E. Schmidt, Jr.
Dr. Eugene Shapiro
& Mrs. Janice Marquart Shapiro
Dr. Brenda A. Sheridan
Dr. Wan Y. Shih
Mr. Robert Sieczkiewicsz
Dr. Eva Jud Sierra
Mr. Daniel E. Simmons
Ms. Alison Skinner
& Mr. David Skinner
Ms. Ellen L. Sklar & Mr. Jay Sklar
Ms. Cynthia Herholz Slater
& Mr. Raymond H. Slater
Dr. and Mrs. Ronald W. Smith
Mr. Jeffrey B. Spence
Ms. Anoo D. Sukhia
Dr. Mitra L. Taheri
David J. Toll, Esq.
Mrs. Judith L. Trachtman
Mr. Joseph J. Tribendis
Mr. Nick Trivic
Mr. Gavin Viano
Mrs. Lauren Michele Villanueva
Mr. Michael Visnov
Mr. John R. Walker
Ms. Eugenia M. Warnock
Dr. Ulrike Wegst
Mr. Steven C. Wernick
Ms. Geraldine Young
Mr. John J. Zabinski
Dr. Athina P. Petropulu
& Dr. Antonios Zavaliangos
Dr. Jing Zhang
Dr. Qing Zhu
Dr. and Mrs. Eric A. Zillmer
Mr. Frank T. Zimone
Corporate Donors
Boeing Philadelphia
Carpenter Technology Corp.
Center for Powder
Metallurgy Technology, Inc.
Central Machine Products Co.
GKN Foundation
Hoeganaes Corporation
Thixomat, Inc.
If you have donated to MSE in FY 2010 and are not listed here, we apologize for the oversight.
Please contact us if you wish to be recognized in future publications.
22
to support MSE visit
www.materials.drexel.edu/support/
23
Drexel University
Department of
Materials Science and Engineering
2009-2010 Annual Report
News Editor
Dorilona Rose
Contributing Writer
Holly Burnside
Layout and Design
Andrew Marx
Cover Image Credits
1
2
4
3
5
7
6
8
9
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6 & 7:
8:
9:
P. Hunger (BDG)
J. Atchison (NPP)
K. Fahnestock (NPP)
M. Austero (NPP)
G. Vetterick (DCG)
M. Lukataskay &
P. Gogotsi (NMG)
I. Neitzel (NMG)
B. Anasori (MAX)
3141 Chestnut Street
LeBow 344
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone 215.895.2323
Fax 215.895.6760
Web www.materials.drexel.edu
Email materials@coe.drexel.edu