Prof. Sheldon and Webster appear in cover story

Brian Sheldon, Thomas Webster, and Lei Yang appeared as the cover story for the American Ceramic Society Bulletin. It is entitled " Nanophase Ceramics for Improved Drug Delivery: Current Opportunities and Challenges."

After more than a decade of research and development, nanotechnology has reshaped the traditional thinking (or lack thereof) of using ceramics for drug delivery. Although drug delivery has been a polymer- dominated field, the blossoming of nanotechnology means that ceramic materials are now showing much promise for numerous drug delivery applications.

Typically, nanotechnology is defined as the use of materials and systems whose structures and components exhibit novel and significantly changed properties when control is gained at the nanoscale (specifically, <100 nm or <10–7 m).1 For ceramics, this means fabricating ceramics whose grain or particle
sizes are within the range of 1 nm to 100 nm).

Nanophase ceramics already have been widely used in a broad spectrum of biomedical applications, and now drug delivery is one of the fastest emerging and developing arenas for nanoceramics, drawing increasing attention over the past few years.

Read more of the story at this link:
http://ceramics.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/03_10_cover-story.pdf

Commencement 2010 Photos

We enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate the Commencement and Reunion 2010 with returning Engineering Alumni at our reception on Friday afternoon.  Rod Clifton shared news that just hours earlier the Corporation had approved the School of Engineering (Effective July 1, 2010).  We also had an opportunity to share a sneak peak of the Glutton for Punishment production of our Edible Car Competition last fall.
More photos available here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/brownengin/sets/72157624065916187/

The 2010 Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship graduates celebrated with the faculty and their families at the Saturday morning brunch.
More photos available here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/brownengin/sets/72157624190276882/

Then we had the opportunity to welcome a new Brown Engineering Alumni Medalist (BEAM), Ares Rosakis, PhD to our distinguished list of graduates.
Pictured above (left to right): Rod Clifton, Ares Rosakis, Ben Freund, and Wei Yang
More photos available here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/brownengin/sets/72157624065910123/

The weekend was capped off as we distributed 87 engineering diplomas at our undergraduate ceremony.
More photos available here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/brownengin/sets/72157624190247360/

Brown University establishes School of Engineering

Brown University has transformed its Division of Engineering into the Brown School of Engineering.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - The Corporation of Brown University has approved transformation of the University's Division of Engineering into the Brown School of Engineering, effective July 1. The Corporation took that action at its spring business meeting Friday, May 28, 2010. The University's faculty had voted its approval of the proposal on April 6.

"Today's monumental scientific and societal challenges depend greatly upon engineering know-how for advances in biology, medicine, clean energy and nanotechnology," Brown President Ruth J. Simmons said. "The Corporation's approval of a School of Engineering underscores our commitment to maintain and enhance the engineering curriculum and research activities that attract the brightest students and the highest caliber faculty."

Many recent studies, including a 2008 report from the National Academy of Sciences, note that a comprehensive and coordinated effort is urgently needed to bolster the nation's competitiveness and pre-eminence in the physical sciences. A school of engineering will support the University's continued recruitment of outstanding faculty and students and its strategy of building on existing strengths in energy and the environment, biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, photonics, solid mechanics, and the mechanical behavior of materials.

Developing engineering as a school has been a work in progress for more than a decade. The idea received strong support from President Simmons, whose Plan for Academic Enrichment has expanded research and faculty across the University. A team of engineering faculty led by Rodney Clifton, the Rush C. Hawkins University Professor of Engineering and interim dean of engineering, presented a School of Engineering proposal to the Provost's office in December 2008. Clifton will continue as interim dean until a founding dean is named.

"We are grateful to the administration, the faculty and the Corporation for supporting our proposal," Clifton said. "By establishing a School, Brown has taken a big step toward raising its historic and renowned engineering program to a new level. This action ensures that Brown engineering will play a significant role in addressing the science and technology challenges that our society faces and will remain competitive nationally and internationally."

"The University community is grateful to Dean Clifton for shepherding the School of Engineering proposal to its successful vote today," Brown Provost David Kertzer said.

The School of Engineering expects to increase its share of external funding for research through faculty growth in areas of national importance and by expanding collaborative efforts with colleagues throughout the University.

"The federal funding agencies are increasingly interested in applied and translational research, the type of scientific investigation that helps solve societal problems," said Clyde Briant, vice president for research and professor of engineering. "Having a strong engineering school at Brown will undoubtedly help our faculty and students compete effectively for federal research dollars and contribute to solving challenging problems."

Engineering is the No. 1 area of academic interest expressed by members of the Class of 2014, who will matriculate this fall. The Division of Engineering currently has 437 undergraduate students and 178 graduate students, taught by 40 full-time, tenure-track faculty. Engineering is one of the most popular concentrations at Brown, with 140 students in the Class of 2013 pursuing it as a concentration.

Established in 1847, the undergraduate engineering program at the University is the oldest in the Ivy League and the third oldest civilian engineering program in the country, preceded only by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1824) and Union College (1845). In 1916, the departments of civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering were merged into one Division of Engineering with a common core of basic engineering courses. This model has been preserved, ensuring that faculty and students engage in an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to engineering.

[Photos show students working on final semester projects including a solar cell and light powered car]

Chemical Engineering undergraduate student Aminy Ostfeld honored with a Tau Beta Pi Scholarship

The Tau Beta Pi Fellowship Board announced the selection of 102 Scholars from 389 applicants for senior- year study in the 2010-11 academic year. Scholarships were awarded to members on the competitive bases of scholarship, campus leadership, and service, and promise of contributions to the engineering profession, with consideration given to economic need and academic commitment. We are pleased that Brown Chemical Engineering student, Aminy Ostfeld was honored with one of these scholarships.

Here is a biography statement written by Aminy:

Since I was young, I have been passionate about environmental sustainability, and I have hoped to devote my life's work to solving some of the many environmental problems plaguing our world today. After coming to college I realized I wanted to study renewable energy generation, and since knowledge of both chemistry and engineering principles is essential for research in this field, I decided to concentrate in chemical engineering. I have recently begun a research project to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells, a subject I find so fun and important that I plan to continue working on it for the foreseeable future. Through Brown's engineering program, I have already learned skills useful for this area of research. I'm sure these skills, and those I learn in the remainder of my Brown experience, will come in handy for graduate study and my career.

I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to study engineering at Brown and participate in Tau Beta Pi. Membership has helped me share my excitement about engineering and research with others, through outreach presentations at local high schools as well as interaction with other Brown engineering students. I believe the organization's support, including this scholarship, will help me realize my dream of becoming a successful engineer.

FSAE car team places 38th in Michigan

The Formula SAE team recently returned from Michigan where they competed in the annual May race.  FSAE is a student car design competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers.

You are welcome to stop by the Barus and Holley patio to congratulate the team on their hard work on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 from 12 to 2pm.

This year's Formula SAE car team placement was:
Overall 38th
Design: T-15th
Presentation: 46th
Cost: 23rd
Endurance: 35th
Fuel Economy: 2nd
(Note: Did not compete in autocross, accel, and skid pad)
For more info visit:http://www.sae.org/students/fsae2010results.pdf

(Click the photo to the right to see more photos)

Professor Nurmikko collaborates on $14.9 million DARPA grant

Researchers at Brown University and Stanford University have launched a $14.9 million project geared to developing new brain micro-implants that can both sense the brain’s electrical signals and deliver optogenetic lightpulses to neural tissue.

The project, funded by a two-year Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant, is being led by Krishna Shenoy, a Stanford researcher, and Arto Nurmikko, a professor of electrical engineering and physics at Brown.

For more information visit the Providence Business News.

Prof. Webster to participate in U.S. Biomaterials Research Delegation to China

Prof. Webster has been invited to be part of the U.S. Biomaterials Research Delegation to China in Octobet 2010. In conjuction with the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program (established by President Eisenhower in 1956), this U.S. delegation of well-established biomaterial researchers and educators will foster a one-on-one dialogue with China in the area of biomaterials research. China has rapidly increased its research efforts in the field of biomaterials and will continue to rise in importance as the field develops and expertise in China expands. The delegation will learn about academic programs leading biomaterials research efforts in China, meet with academic and intellectual leaders from the field and establish a clear understanding of the focus and trajectory of biomaterials research. Expected outcomes include a stronger collaboration between biomaterials research and education in the U.S. and China.

EWB promotes hunger awareness through OXFAM hourglass project

Engineers Without Borders recently completed the task of creating an hourglass as part of an OXFAM collaboration to promote hunger awareness. The hourglass drops marbles at a 3 second interval - the same rate that a child dies of hunger throughout the world. To learn more about this project, check out the EWB student team in action:

Present and Past: Rhode Island Business Plan Competition winners from Brown

Brown students enrolled in Entrepreneurship & New Ventures ENGN1930x course consistently do well in the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. This year Speramus, which developed its business plan in the course last semester, won the student track. The company is creating an online fundraising platform that uses a proprietary ranking system to match donors with individual support opportunities. In addition, Bakodo which developed its business plan in the course last year was runner up in the entrepreneur track. The company is focused on developing a highly-targeted, contextual barcode ad-serving network that aims to optimize return on investment for advertisers. For more information on this year's winners, visit here.

Last year's winner, Runa, who also developed their business plan in the Entrepreneurship and New Ventures course continues to make excellent progress. They have successfully raised funds from angel investors, successfully built out their vertically integrated supply chain in Ecuador, and begun selling their initial tea products in both loose leaf pouches and single serve bags. If you are interested in trying Runa, feel free to buy a cup at Blue State in Providence which now proudly serves it! You can read more at www.drinkruna.com

In addition the runner-up from last year, Eulie has also grown from the intial business plan they developed in the Entrepreneurship and New Ventures course. Both founders raised capital to work full-time on Eulie, developed and successfully tested a novel patent-pending fabric combination that is leak proof, and designed products that will be used to approach retail buyers later this year. You can read more at www.eulieintimates.com

Richardson elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

Professor Peter Richardson, has been elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, founded in London in 1518 with a Charter from King Henry VIII.

“I am deeply honored,” he said, “William Harvey was not even born when the College was founded, but he was a leading light of the Royal College of Physicians and a devoted supporter of it, as have been many other famous contributors to the science and practice of medicine before and since. It is known I have been interested in some aspects of the circulation of blood in the conduct of research for four decades, and the College is very generous in inviting me into its ranks, a very rare honor indeed.”

Peter Richardson has been Professor of Engineering and Physiology at Brown University since 1983. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute, as well as Life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Founding Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, an Inaugural Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, and a Laureate in Medicine of the Ernst Jung Foundation (Germany).

With one of his doctoral students, Leigh Abts, and some colleagues Richardson helped found MicroPure, a Rhode Island company which started from technology developed for operating room use during cardiac surgery and spun it off into uses for microprocessor manufacture and secondary oil recovery; the company was sold later to a large process-industries company. “Technology transfer can work both ways between medicine and engineering,” Richardson notes.

Nurmikko elected to Finnish Academy of Science and Letters

Professor Arto Nurmikko was recently elected to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters is the largest general scientific and academic society in Finland. It is a learned society covering the full range of academic disciplines which is devoted to the promotion of scientific and scholarly research and serves as a bond uniting researchers engaged in these activities at the highest level. It functions as a traditional learned society in the sense that its membership is limited and it selects its new members on their academic and scientific merits. For more information on the Academy: http://www.acadsci.fi/frontpage.htm

Science News highlights aerial gymnastics of fruit flies

Science News 12 April 2010
Fruit flies make abrupt turns

Postdoctoral research associate in engineering Attila Bergou is part of a research team that discovered that fruit flies’ aerial gymnastics are driven by wing joints that act like wind-up toys, letting the bugs whirl around almost automatically.
Learn more here:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/58108/title/Fruit_flies_turn_on_autopilot

Flies "swim" when they're flying from Science News on Vimeo.

Science Nation profiles NSF collaborative project on bat flight mechanics

Brown University engineer Kenny Breuer and biologist Sharon Swartz are profiled in this week's Science Nation, a science video series commissioned by the NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs.
Since 2001, Swartz and Breuer have teamed up to study the mechanics of bat flight. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the two scientists from very different disciplines set up a special facility, including a wind tunnel, to study bats in flight.

Learn more about the project here:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/index.jsp

Gao and his research team discovers new principle in Material Science

A research team led by Brown University engineers has discovered a new mechanism that governs the peak strength of nanostructured metals. The team found that the deformation of nanotwinned metals is characterized by the motion of highly ordered, necklace-like patterns of crystal defects called dislocations. The finding, published in Nature, could lead to stronger and more ductile metals.

Full press release here:
http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2010/04/nanotwins

Hurt and Webster publish "Business and Safety Issues in the Commercialization of Nanotechnology"

Professors Bob Hurt and Tom Webster just published the book "Business and Safety Issues in the Commercialization of Nanotechnology," Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, Volume 1209, 2010. Editors are: L. Tsakalakos, L. Merhari, S. Mao, J. van Schijndel, T. J. Webster, H. Liu, and R. Hurt. (H. Liu is a recent Ph.D. graduate from Brown engineering).

More information on the book can be found at: http://www.mrs.org/s_mrs/sec_subscribe.asp?CID=24653&DID=271618

Yang and Taylor earn STAR awards from the Society for Biomaterials

Lei Yang (co-advised by Professors Tom Webster and Brian Sheldon) and Erik Taylor (advised by Professor Tom Webster) were just selected for STAR awards from the Society for Biomaterials. They will give their award winning talks during the Society for Biomaterials' Annual Meeting April 21st - 24th in Seattle, WA. This is one of the highest honors for graduate students presenting at the Society for Biomaterials. Erik was chosen based on his abstract and research "Decreasing Biofilm Formation Through the Use of Magnetic Nanoparticles". Lei was chosen based on his abstract and research "Osteoblast Responses on Nanocrystalline Diamond Modified by Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Ammonium Plasmas".

Collaborative project highlighted in premier neuroscience journal

The February issue of the journal Neuron features a cover story highlighting the joint work between Professors Arto Nurmikko and Barry Connors. Neuron is a premier journal in Neuroscience.

This is another illustration of the collaboration between Engineering and Biology and Medicine here at Brown. Arto Nurmikko's group has successfully led the initiative to bring the ‘optogenetics’ methodology to Brown.

Prof. Webster and Erik Taylor's implant research highlighted

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Almost 1 million people go under the knife every year for a knee, hip or shoulder replacement. Surgeons say those metal implants can become playgrounds for bacteria, leading to potentially deadly infections like MRSA. It happens to nearly 20,000 people every year. One scientist has developed a tiny solution that could kill the infection without removing the implant.

Dr. Webster is creating a nano-sized solution to fight implant infections. He manufactured iron-oxide nanoparticles -- tiny warriors that zero in on the implant, penetrate the bacterial shield, and kill the bacteria. In lab tests, an injection of the specially-designed nanoparticles eliminated 74 percent of the bacteria on an implant in 48 hours. When repeated three times over six days, the nanoparticles killed 100  percent of the bacteria.

Entire article and a TV clip airing across the country summarizing some of Professor Webster's and graduate student Erik Taylor's research (make sure to click play in the first image):

http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=23473

NSF Career Awards to Dworak and Reda

Two young faculty members in the Division join the ranks of our faculty that have been awarded the NSF CAREER Awards, Jennifer Dworak and Sherief Reda. The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.

Enhancing Quality through Probabilistic On-Chip Test
Jennifer Dworak

Future integrated circuits will contain tens, hundreds, or possibly even a thousand cores per chip. However, the scaling techniques that will make this possible also make the underlying circuit fabric less reliable—leading to increased wearout and defects that cannot be detected at manufacturing. In response, the PI proposes fundamental research for generating new test sets on-chip to identify failing cores. The tests will be created “on-the-fly” and dynamically targeted to the most critical areas of a core. Some key portions of the proposed research involve the creation and verification of hardware monitors for determining which faults are most important for the user’s applications, the diagnostic use of online error detection hardware to pinpoint locations that caused previous failures, and the analysis and development of protocols to efficiently create and transport tests in a network-on-chip environment.

The great performance advantages of future multi-core devices will remain unrealized if the reliability of those devices cannot be trusted. The proposed research investigates critical tools for promoting that reliability. The integrated education plan provides research opportunities for students at multiple levels—from high school to graduate school—including students from underrepresented groups. In addition to recruiting undergraduates from Brown, the PI plans to work with the CRA-W DREU (Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program to host visiting female undergraduates for summer research. The PI will also recruit high school students from the Providence Public Schools, many of whom are members of underrepresented groups, for summer research through the Brown GK-12 program.

Link: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0915302

Transcending the Thermal Management Challenges of Tera-Scale Computing

Sherief Reda

Elevated temperature is a major problem for the reliability, performance, power consumption, and packaging costs of integrated electronic devices.

Temperature is a main physical barrier limiting the performance benefits of future technologies that promise tera-scale integration. To meet the thermal management challenges of future many-core processors, this research program envisions a new class of intelligent dynamic thermal management systems that explore the vast search space of possible control parameter settings and decide the optimal temperature and performance targets. This research program also investigates new cooling system designs that enable the thermal management system to target directly hot spots at the micro scale. Directly targeting hot spots alleviates the thermal constraints on performance.

The proposed research program will lead to transformative solutions and tools that address the fundamental thermal management challenges of computing systems and ensure their scalability. The proposed program will lead to the training of a diverse workforce of undergraduate and graduate students to be well prepared to deal with tomorrow’s thermal management challenges. The educational component of this program includes (1) research experiences for undergraduates; (2) integrated approach to entrepreneurship education with research; (3) hands-on training through the development of educational laboratories based on a state-of-the-art infrared camera; and (4) continuous education through the development of high-quality educational materials and an interactive technical Web site.

Link: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0952866

Clyde Briant elected to the National Academy of Engineering

Congratulations to Clyde Briant on his election to the National Academy of Engineering.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature," and to the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

CLYDE LEONARD BRIANT, Otis E. Randall University Professor and vice president for research, Brown University, Providence, R.I. For elucidation of microstructural effects on high-temperature mechanical performance of metals.

See NAE Press Release.