Professor Webster's new patents and keynote addresses

Professor Thomas Webster will present at Family Weekend 2009 Faculty Forums, Saturday, October 17, 2009 9:30 A.M.-NOON

Implants Are Everywhere: Using Biotechnology to Improve Health - Thomas Webster - Times and locations will be listed in your registration packet. Seating is limited. Registration badge or Brown ID is required. To register and for more information, visit Family Weekend 2009.

NEWS: Two new patents issued for the Brown start-up company Nanovis, Inc. (http://www.nanovisinc.com/):

1. US Patent Application Serial No. 10/793,721 PLGA Substrate With Aligned and Nano-Sized Surface Structures And Associated Method
2. US Patent Application Serial No. 10/634,292 Nano-Structured Polymers For Use As Implants
Professor Webster will give two keynote addressess on Monday, October 19, 2009. One to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Wake Forest Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University (https://email.brown.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://pdc.wfu.edu/class/1120) and the other at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's NanobioTech 2009 (https://email.brown.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.alumni.rpi.edu/nanobio2009.html).

Addition to post:

One new patent will be issued on November 24, 2009:
US Patent Application Serial No. 7,622,129 Nano-structured Polymers for Use as Implants

The patent describes the fabrication process and benefits for using nanostructured polymers to increase tissue growth for a wide range of regenerative medicine applications.

Edible Car Challenge wtih Food Network coming soon...

Brown Engineering and Society of Women Engineers will again present the Edible Car Competition on October 30, 2009 at 3:00pm at Barus and Holley. Join us by creating your own team to compete or come cheer on the teams as they compete against the Food Network's Glutton for Punishment Bob Blumer.

The Glutton for Punishment show will highlight how Brown's green community participates in compost and usage of all food waste. We are looking forward to highlighting the strengths of our community!

To come test your creative skills and compete, email Holly_Lauridsen@brown.edu with your team of 3-5 people. You will then receive a list of complete rules.

Details from last year's Edible Car Competition:
http://today.brown.edu/articles/2008/04/food-car-race

Alumni Dr. George Thurston '73 will present on Asthma and Diesel Air Pollution

Diesel Air Pollution and
Asthma in New York City

Presented by
Dr. George D. Thurston '73
Dept. of Environmental Medicine
NYU School of Medicine
Nelson Institute of
Environmental Medicine

Friday, October 2, 2009
12:00 PM
Barus & Holley
Room 190
Brown University
182 Hope Street
Providence, RI

Presented by the Superfund Research Program - www.brown.edu/sbrp

Childhood asthma is at near epidemic proportions in parts of New York City, affecting as many as one quarter of all elementary aged children in certain under-served minority neighborhoods of the city. There is also an increasing body of evidence indicating that living near to traffic is associated with increased respiratory problems in children. Exposure to fine particles from diesel vehicles is suspected as a likely causal agent in these associations between traffic and asthma, but there is only limited information relating personal exposures to diesel particles and health for individual children. This seminar introduces both the asthma problem in New York City and the recent evidence regarding asthma and diesel air pollution, and then presents recent in-press results of a study conducted by NYU in the South Bronx that has directly tested the relationship between childhood asthma symptoms and personal exposures to diesel particles. Options available to control diesel emissions in New York City and elsewhere are also discussed.

Professor Allan Bower publishes new book, Applied Mechanics of Solids

Professor Allan Bowers new book, Applied Mechanics of Solids, comes out today, October 1, 2009.

Applied Mechanics of Solids summarizes the physical laws, mathematical methods, and computer algorithms that are used to predict the response of materials and structures to mechanical or thermal loading.

Topics include: the mathematical descriptions of deformation and forces in solids; constitutive laws; analytical techniques and solutions to linear elastic and elastic-plastic boundary value problems; the use and theory of finite element analysis; fracture mechanics; and the theory of deformable rods, plates and shells.

Over 400 practice problems are provided on a companion web site, as well as demonstration finite element codes in MAPLE and MATLAB. The text is intended for advanced undergraduate or graduate students, as well as practicing engineers and scientists. It will be particularly useful to readers who wish to learn enough about solid mechanics to impress their teachers, colleagues, research advisors, or managers, but who would prefer not to study the subject in depth.

An electronic version of the text can be accessed at http://solidmechanics.org and its also available from Amazon.