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N E W S F R O M M I T ’ S D E P A R T M E N T O F M A T E R I A L S S C I E N C E A N D E N G I N E E R I N G

N A N O - M I C R O - M A C R O - M O L E C U L A R - C R Y S T A L - D E N D R I T E - I N T E R F A C E

L E T T E R F R O M T H E

D E P A R T M E N T H E A D

Dear friends,

This is my final letter as Course III department head. Asyou may have heard, I have accepted the position as Deanof Engineering at Rice University. Professor Carl Thomp-son has graciously consented to act as Interim DepartmentHead, and a search committee headed by Professor LornaGibson will submit recommendations for the next depart-ment head to Dean Ian Waitz by August.

Highlights of the good news in DMSE include: our under-graduate and graduate programs were again ranked firstin the nation by US News and World Report, our soph-omore class is approximately fifty students and our soph-omore-junior-senior enrollment is at an all-time high, over150. The graduate students are doing very well, withmany NSF and NDSEG Fellowship winners and best paperor poster awards in all the national materials meetings.Course III is a very popular major, morale is high, and weattract highly talented and enthusiastic UGs and Gs.

Last month, some 20,000 guests attended an OpenHouse held as part of MIT’s 150th Birthday Celebration.Course III was a very prominent player, offering variousactivities in the forge, glass lab, foundry, and Undergrad-uate Teaching Lab along with a host of faculty demo-lec-tures in the Lab for Advanced Materials tailored to theK–12 cohort (see pictures). Our central location and thefree liquid nitrogen ice cream provided by Billy Woodfordand the Graduate Materials Council team in the ChipmanRoom, made this day both very busy and very successful.

Recent faculty news (you can read the details inside thisissue) includes two promotions to tenure: Krystyn VanVliet and Jeff Grossman, and two promotions to full pro-fessor: Yoel Fink and Chris Schuh. Course III continues toattract and develop outstanding faculty and these pro-motions are richly deserved and are absolutely key to the

Promotions: 03

Events: 06

Honors: 11

Obituaries: 14

Prof. Ned Thomas with his

research group.

structure

future success of DMSE. During the past 5 ½ years that Ihave been department head, there have been six hires andfifteen successful promotions (associate without tenure,associate with tenure and full) for nine great junior faculty.

Looking back on my 22-year career in DMSE, I’ve partic-ularly enjoyed teaching undergrads: 3.13 (with Sam Allen,who still remains a great friend even after we co-wroteour textbook, The Structure of Materials), 3.063 (poly-mer physics), and 3.082/3.042 (senior capstone materialsprocessing design laboratory). At MIT, I have advisedseven master’s students and thirty Ph.D.s (with six morePh.D. students still enrolled), supervised 46 UROPs, andhosted 65 Post docs and Visiting Scientists. Some morenumbers: 279 journal publications (so far), seven differentoffices in Buildings 13, 35, 8, 6, and NE47 (the ISN). I’vecollaborated with great faculty from across the Institute,including Courses 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 16. Starting theInstitute for Soldier Nanotechnologies back in 2002 withProf. Tim Swager was a high point and I am indebted toall the ISN staff for their dedication and hard work.

I have been involved with excellent leadership and engi-neering activities during my time as department head. Iwant to thank Mike Tarkanian for his great help over theyears with many projects, especially MADMEC (Makingand Designing Materials Engineering Competition). Thefifth MADMEC contest just started, and this event hasgrown into a terrific way for student designer-engineersand entrepreneurs to improve their skills; some have con-tinued their projects, entering and winning other compe-titions or even launching companies! With the upcomingconsolidation of the Rapid Fabrication Lab, Machine Shop,and the new Design and Assembly space in the LEM (Labfor Engineering Materials) renovation along Corridor 4,Course III engineering skills will continue to sharpen. I alsoneed to mention the fantastic job that Gerry Hughes doesin lab renovations. We are also now coming up on FPOPIII; DMSE’s Freshman PreOrientation Program was initiallyspearheaded by Siamrut Patanavanich ’09, and KirstenHessler ’12, a member of the first FPOP group in 2009, isnow helping run the three-day program.

It has been a privilege to serve and help lead so many ex-cellent people, and I will miss the many good friends I havemade along the way. DMSE has a great esprit de corps,

can-do faculty, and wonderful teachers who have beenrecognized with MacVicar and Bose awards; I think we arejust the right size—small enough to feel like a tight-knitcommunity but large enough to be diverse in our peopleand in our interests. Interacting with all the great studentsand staff and faculty colleagues and representing DMSEboth on and off campus has been exciting, challenging,and FUN.

If the new department head asks me for advice, I wouldrecommend that DMSE continue to hire the next genera-tion of teaching and research stars, guarantee that the de-partment environment includes great mentoring for ourjunior faculty, and ensure that MIT finally builds a materi-als fabrication and characterization facility. By themselves,state-of-the-art equipment and buildings don’t make agreat Institute but they sure do help attract the best mindsto Cambridge and enhance productivity and creativity.Both the graduate and undergraduate curricula will be re-vised to address changing technologies and societal needs.Modularity in the curriculum and project-based learningwill be a larger part of future undergraduate education aswill life-long learning. Based on our department’s ener-getic and successful role in many MIT initiatives, I am con-fident that DMSE will lead in these important areas. Withmany faculty openings and retirements expected in thenext five years, the potential for a new building, andchanges to the curricula, the new head will have an un-precedented opportunity of shaping DMSE well into thefuture.

Thanks for your continued friendship and support. I hopeto see you on June 3 at the DMSE Luncheon, immediatelyfollowing Commencement; you can find us in the tentoutside Building 6. After July 1, if you are in Houston, Ihope you will say hello.

With warmest wishes,

Ned Thomas77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 6-113Cambridge MA 02139-4307617-253-6901.email: elt@mit.edu or elt@rice.edu

D E P A R T M E N T H E A D S E A R C H

Professor Carl V. Thompson willserve as Interim Department Head,beginning July 1. Professor Thomp-son, the Stavros Salapatas Professorof Materials Science and Engineeringand current Director of the MaterialsProcessing Center, joined our facultyin 1983. He holds the S.B. in Materi-als Science and Engineering fromMIT and the S.M. and Ph.D. in Ap-plied Physics, both from HarvardUniversity. Professor Ian Waitz, Dean

of Engineering, made the announcement, “I am confidenthe will provide effective leadership during this transitionperiod. I thank him for the very significant changes he hasmade in his personal and professional life to enable him toserve the Department in this way.”

A Department Head Search Advisory Committee has beenformed, chaired by Prof. Lorna J. Gibson. The committeehas begun to meet with Department constituents andaims to make a swift recommendation. The Committeemembers are Professors Lorna Gibson (Chair), AlfredoAlexander-Katz, Sam Allen, Angela Belcher, Mary Boyce(Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering),Darrell Irvine, Caroline Ross, Michael Rubner, and KrystynVan Vliet.

P R O M O T I O N SEffective July 1, 2011, Professors Yoel Fink and ChrisSchuh will be promoted to full professor and ProfessorsJeff Grossman and Krystyn Van Vliet will be promoted toassociate professor with tenure.

Yoel Fink joined our faculty inJuly 2000. He holds the B.A. inPhysics and the B.S. in ChemicalEngineering, both from the Tech-nion, and the Ph.D. in MaterialsScience and Engineering fromMIT.

Professor Fink’s research interestsare in the theory, design, processdevelopment, and characteriza-tion of novel multimaterial inte-

grated fibers with engineered photonic and electronicproperties. He has established that the sophisticated func-

tionality that is typical of semiconductor devices can beachieved at length scales, uniformity, robustness, and ul-timately low production costs associated with opticalfibers. His research has created unique opportunities forengineering electronic and photonic materials propertieson unprecedented length scales (kilometers), with poten-tial applications ranging from long distance low-loss com-munications to large-area fabric photovoltaics, and to highpower laser transmission for medical uses.

His research has led to the FDA-approved commercial in-troduction of a disposable photonic bandgap fiber for air-way, head and neck, pulmonary, and laryngologicalsurgeries that has been used in over 25,000 noninvasiveclinical operations to date. He has published more thansixty papers and holds thirty U.S. patents. His creativity inresearch was acknowledged in 2004 by the NationalAcademy of Science Initiatives in Research Award. He hasbeen a long supporter of the DMSE community throughgreat teaching in both the graduate and undergraduatecore and leadership of the Admissions Committee. He wasawarded the Joseph Lane Award for Excellence in Teach-ing in 2006 and the MacVicar Teaching Fellowship Awardin 2007.

Christopher A. Schuh,the Danae and VasiliosSalapatas Associate Pro-fessor of Metallurgy,came to DMSE in 2002.He holds the B.S. fromUniversity of Illinois atUrbana-Champaignand the Ph.D. fromNorthwestern Univer-sity, both in MaterialsScience and Engineering.

Professor Schuh’s research contributions are in three mainareas: understanding of grain boundary interface net-works, design of nanocrystalline alloys, and mechanismsof deformation at the nanoscale. He studies the structureof grain boundary networks in polycrystals, using bothcomputer simulations and experiments, then developsways to manipulate and enhance materials properties bycareful design of the grain boundary network. His workwith nanocrystalline alloys led to a general electrochemi-cal method for the synthesis of nanostructured alloys, andis of commercial interest for its simplicity and ease of im-

Yoel Fink

Carl Thompson

Chris Schuh

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Around DMSE

plementation. His group also studies deformation mecha-nisms at the nanoscale.

Professor Schuh is an inspiring teacher, dedicated advisor,and creative colleague who has been recognized with anumber of prestigious awards and honors including: theHenry Marion Howe Medal (ASM International), theRossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award (TMS-AIME), theRobert Lansing Hardy Award (young investigator award ofTMS), the National Science Foundation Career Award (Di-vision of Materials Research, DMR), the Office of NavalResearch Young Investigator Award, and the PresidentialEarly Career Award in Science and Engineering.

Jeffrey C. Grossman,the Carl Richard Soder-berg Associate Professorof Power Engineering, isthe newest member ofthe DMSE faculty, arriv-ing in fall 2009.

He received his Ph.D. intheoretical physics fromthe University of Illinois,performed postdoctoral

work at U.C. Berkeley, and was a Lawrence Fellow at theLawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Prior to joining MIT, he was Director of a Nano-scienceCenter and Head of the Computational Nanoscience Re-search Group with a focus on energy applications at U.C.Berkeley. Professor Grossman’s group uses theory and sim-ulation to gain fundamental understanding, develop newinsights based on this understanding, and then use theseinsights to design new materials for energy conversion andstorage with improved properties—working closely withexperimental groups at each step. He has published morethan eighty scientific papers on the topics of solar photo-voltaics, thermoelectrics, hydrogen storage, solar fuels,nanomechanical phenomena, and self-assembly. He hasrecently appeared on a number of television shows to dis-cuss new materials for energy including the Fred FriendlyPBS series and the Ecopolis program on the DiscoveryChannel. He has developed one new energy subject andis currently working on a second, taught both undergrad-uate and graduate electives, and currently teaches a coreundergraduate subject in thermodynamics.

Krystyn J. Van Vlietholds the Sc.B. fromBrown and the Ph.D.from this Department.She joined DMSE in2004 and is currentlythe Paul M. Cook Ca-reer Development Asso-ciate Professor ofMaterials Science andEngineering.

The Van Vliet group studies material chemomechanics: thedynamic coupling between mechanical and chemicalstates at material interfaces. To identify the fundamentalmechanisms of such interactions at the atomistic scale,they develop experiments and computational simulationsthat span material mechanics, chemistry, physics, and bi-ology. Professor Van Vliet seeks to predict how mechani-cal stiffness and force can alter molecular interactions, andhow chemical stimuli can alter the forces required to rup-ture adhered interfaces. The motivating example of thisresearch is the interface between biological cells and theirmicroenvironments. She has thus developed both experi-ments and computations to quantify how intermolecularbinding kinetics depend on mechanical or biochemicalchanges at cell-material interfaces. These studies showthat the stiffness of materials tethered to molecular ligandsdirectly affects ligand-receptor kinetics at cell surfaces; andhow this coupling affects the adhesion, force generation,and function of cells. This mechanistic approach requiresnew tools and models validated in nonbiological materialinterfaces and extreme environments, achieved via hergroup’s parallel analysis of engineered nanostructures andnanocomposites with diverse functional applications.

Professor Van Vliet serves as the faculty director of theNanomechanical Technology Lab and is co-founder of theMIT Center for Scientific Investigation of Materials in Ex-treme Environments. Her research and teaching effortshave been recognized by the MIT Edgerton Faculty andJunior Bose Teaching Awards; Human Frontiers ScienceProgram, DuPont Young Investigator, and NSF CAREERAwards; and the Presidential Early Career Award in Sci-ence and Engineering.

Krystyn Van Vliet

Jeff Grossman

P U B L I C A T I O N SRising Force: the Magic of Mag-netic LevitationDr. James D. Livingston (Senior Lec-turer) has written a popular intro-duction to “maglev,” the use ofmagnetic forces to overcome gravityand friction. Beginning with exam-ples of our historical fascination withlevitation, he then introduces the

fundamentals of gravitational and magnetic forces, forcebalance and stability of levitation, eddy currents, diamag-netism, superconductivity, sensors, and feedback systems.

F U N D I N GMIT Energy Initiative Seed GrantsThe MIT Energy Initiative has announced their latest roundof seed grants to fund early-stage, innovative projects.Awards have been made to projects addressing a widerange of topics including energy efficiency, new materials,thermal imaging, rock fracturing, efficient irrigation, andintegration of renewables into the smart grid.

Fourteen projects received over $2 million for a duration ofup to two years. The funded projects come from fourteendepartments, laboratories, and centers and all five of MIT’sschools, including Prof. Jeffrey Grossman’s project on“Computational design of all-carbon solar photovoltaics.”

S T U D I E SWomen at MITProfessor Lorna Gibson was the School of Engineeringchair of a study on women faculty at MIT. The Schools ofScience and Engineering conducted separate studies,which included interviewing faculty within each School.Data were collected in individual interviews, or group dis-cussions, where faculty were divided into groups: thosewho were tenured in 1999; those tenured after 1999 orhired with tenure since then; and those untenured. In thelast decade, the number of women faculty in science andengineering at MIT has nearly doubled, and those womenhave an increasingly positive experience at the Institute,according to the report, which also notes that there re-main issues of recruitment, retention, and equity ofwomen faculty members at MIT.

L A B F O R E N G I N E E R I N G M A T E R I A L S

The Laboratory for Engineering Materials will be locatedon the first floor of Building 4 with access from the Un-dergraduate Teaching Lab (UGTL) on the Infinite Corridor,and will house prototyping and fabrication equipment forthe use of faculty, students, and staff. Construction, in-cluding asbestos abatement, will begin after Commence-ment; in the meantime, major steps have been made toclean out the space, finding new homes for underutilizedequipment and disposing of obsolete machinery. As part ofthe renovation, the UGTL will be expanded to includemore fume hoods specifically for corrosion of materialslabs. Plans are to complete construction by December2011.

E D I T O R :

Rachel A. Kemper, DMSE Communications Coordinator

rkemper@mit.edu

O R I G I N A L D E S I G N :

Marc Harpin, Rhumba

P R I N T I N G :

Arlington Lithograph

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S :

Thanks to Mindy Baughman for providing 3.003 text and

photos, to Prof. Ned Thomas for photos of the MIT Open

House, to Mike Tarkanian for the Kendall Band photo, and

to Richard Pasley for the photo of Joe Dhosi. Other ma-

terials are credited throughout. Thanks to Nathaniel

Berndt, Maryann Czerepak, Angelita Mireles, and Lisa

Page for proofreading and other invaluable assistance.

O T H E R W A Y S T O C O N N E C T :

Follow us on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/mit_dmse

Become a Fan on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/mit.dmse

PSB # 11-04-0224.

0504

Recent News

TM

M I T 1 5 0 O P E N H O U S E On April 30, MIT opened its doors to show the worldwhat happens here. 20,000 people visited, both old andyoung, many from the surrounding cities and towns butsome from a longer distance. DMSE joined other depart-ments, labs, and centers in offering a host of activities thatshow off all MIT has to offer.

Mike Tarkanian, Matt Humbert, and Prof. Sam Allenshowed the department’s metallurgical roots with demon-strations of blacksmithing and casting; Peter Houk andGlass Lab staff made pumpkins; Brienne Kugler and KathyBui mobilized our great undergraduates to put on a “Ma-terials Science Fair” in the Undergraduate Teaching Lab(UGTL); and Billy Woodford and other graduate studentsspent the day making the crowd-pleasing liquid nitrogenice cream (over 500 served!). Short talks in the new Labfor Advanced Materials provided an introduction to thefield and explained some recent advances in medicine,sustainability, and energy: Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, “Elec-trifying the World of Transportation and Renewable En-ergy”; Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet, “Making Liquid Stone”;Prof. Lorna Gibson, “Microstructures of Honeycombs andFoams in Engineering, Nature, and Medicine”; and Prof.Yoel Fink, “Fibers of the Future.”

Thanks to all who volunteered and thanks to all who visited!

Events

Liquid nitrogen ice cream passes the test.Visitors added flavorings and toppings totheir taste.

Visitors crowd the Infinite Corridor outside theUGTL. Activities started at 11:00 and ended at 4:00.

The line for the Glass Lab demo.

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Mike Tarkanian in the foundry. He demonstratedcasting medallions, soon to be distributed to ourgraduates at the Commencement Luncheon.

Matt Humbert, Technical Instructor, in the forgedemonstrating while Prof. Sam Allen explained thesteps to make an iron bottle opener.

David Bono, Research Scientist, instructs a visitor oninstrumentation in the UGTL.

Making Silly Putty in the Undergraduate TeachingLab.

Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet following a cement-makingdemonstration in the Lab for Advanced Materials.

Bethany Tomerlin ’12 tells visitors a bit about whatmaterials science is, explaining rubber elasticity.

3 . 0 0 3 P R I N C I P L E S O F E N G I N E E R I N G P R A C T I C E

Principles of Engineering Practice, an undergraduate sub-ject, introduces students to the interdisciplinary nature of21st-century engineering projects with three threads oflearning: a technical toolkit, a social science toolkit, and amethodology for project-based learning. Students en-counter the social, political, economic, and technologicalchallenges of engineering practice by participating in realengineering projects with faculty and industry; this se-mester’s major project focuses on the engineering andeconomics of solar cells. Student teams create prototypesand mixed media presentations with exercises in projectplanning, analysis, design, optimization, demonstration,reporting and team building. The subject was recently ap-proved as an elective subject for MIT’s new energy stud-ies minor.

3.003 is now a collaboration between the University ofTokyo and MIT as a joint introductory engineering subjectthat first met face-to-face in Japan in May 2010. Fundedby the Dean of Undergraduate Education, the Office ofEducational Innovation and Technology, and MIT’s Coun-cil on Educational Technology, the subject successfully im-plemented technology to teach the same curriculum intwo locations, bridging both time zones and cultures.

Academics

The combined 3.003 class, MIT and University ofTokyo students, in Tokyo.

Professor Kazumi Wada, Head of Materi-als Engineering Department at the Uni-versity of Tokyo, opens the seminar.

MIT student Ranjeetha Bharath asks a question dur-ing the first day of the seminar.

Last May, a small group of MIT students traveled to Japanwith Prof. Lionel Kimerling and Mindy Baughman to meettheir University of Tokyo classmates and participate in anall-day seminar where they presented their 3.003 finalprojects and heard related talks by esteemed Japaneseprofessors and industry leaders. The MIT group also trav-eled to Kamakura near Tokyo to see the home of “The BigBuddha”, to enjoy meals of soba, sushi, and tempura, andto navigate the complexities of the Tokyo subway. Prior tothe trip, MIT International Science and Technology Initia-tives (MISTI) personnel gave the students an introductionto Japanese culture in order to help them better under-stand the society and the role engineering plays in it. Un-dergraduates participating in the trip were Monica Isava,Ranjeetha Bharath, and Garrett Lau. This month, 3.003will return to Tokyo with a new group of students.

The 3.003 curriculum was developed in 2007 and origi-nally funded by a d’Arbeloff grant.

—Mindy Baughman

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+ to learn more

about activities taking place in DMSE

please visit http://dmse.mit.edu

MIT group visits the Big Buddha at Kamakura.

Prof. Kimerling, Garrett Lau, Ranjeetha Bharath,Monica Isava, and Mindy Baughman at Kamakura.

Exploring the Tokyo subway at rush hour.

Visiting a temple at Kamakura.

M I T - D O W O U T R E A C H F U N DThe Dow-MIT Outreach Program, announced in March,develops and supports the science and engineering careersof underrepresented minorities and women.

A five-year, $2 million commitment from The Dow Chem-ical Company supports science education throughout theentire pipeline, beginning with high school science teach-ers and their students and following through to under-graduate and graduate education in chemistry, chemicalengineering, and materials science.

“Dow and MIT understand that motivated, passionatestudents are the key to the future of innovation,” re-marked Theresa Kotanchek, a Ph.D. chemical engineerand Dow Vice President of Sustainable Technologies andInnovation Sourcing. “Dow is fully committed to champi-oning the Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Materi-als Science departments at MIT as we work together toprovide opportunity for the best and brightest students toexcel in the field,” she added.

The first goal of the Dow-MIT Outreach Program is de-veloping resources aimed at inspiring interest in the phys-ical sciences, particularly chemistry, among high schoolstudents and teachers. The materials will be made avail-able through MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and the MITHighlights for High School portal.

The second goal expands Dow-MIT ACCESS, a programthat has already seen outstanding success since its begin-nings in 2009. This program introduces underrepresentedminority undergraduates to the exciting possibilities ofgraduate-level education in engineering and sciencethrough a weekend of workshops, talks, tours, and inter-action. Dow’s highly successful BEST program offers a sim-ilar experience for graduate students to explore industrialcareers in science and engineering. The Dow Outreach giftexpands the program from the Department of ChemicalEngineering to the Department of Chemistry and DMSE.

Finally, the gift establishes three Dow Graduate Fellow-ships to be offered on a competitive basis to outstandingunderrepresented minorities and women entering theirfirst year of graduate education in chemistry, chemical en-gineering, or materials science. Each department willaward one first-year fellowship for each of the five yearsof the program for a total of fifteen fellowship awards.

Professor Sylvia Ceyer noted the enhanced opportunitythe program brings, and said, “Dow and MIT are unitedin their recognition of the fundamental need to fully en-gage underrepresented minorities in the fields of scienceand technology. This program will identify the most prom-ising students at a variety of stages along the educationalpipeline and will help them to achieve their full potential asscientists and engineers.”

“The United States needs to maintain a leading role glob-ally, as well as sustain the continued development of oursociety. To achieve this goal we are dependent on futuretechnology and industrial innovation, and must leverageour human resources to meet increasing global competi-tion,” said Prof. Timothy M. Swager, who initiated the giftthrough William F. Banholzer, Dow Executive Vice Presi-dent and Chief Technology Officer.

—MIT News Office

Initiatives

Announcing the Dow-MIT collaboration were: TimSwager, John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry,Klavs Jensen, Professor of Materials Science and Engi-neering and Warren Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering; Head of the Department of ChemicalEngineering, Theresa Kotanchek, Vice President, Sus-tainable Technologies and Innovation Sourcing, TheDow Chemical Company, Cecilia D’Oliveira, Execu-tive Director of MIT OpenCourseWare, Sylvia T.Ceyer, J. C. Sheehan Professor of Chemistry andHead of the Department of Chemistry, CatherineHunt, Director, Innovation Sourcing and SustainableTechnology, The Dow Chemical Company, and NedThomas, Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Scienceand Engineering and Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Photo, Donna Coveney.

! Learn more about ACCESS at

http://access.mit.edu/

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F A C U L T Y H O N O R SBeginning July 1, Prof. Sam Allenwill serve as Chair of theMIT Faculty for a two-year term. The faculty chair has re-sponsibility for representing the Faculty in a wide variety offorums and roles, through committees and regular meet-ings with the President and other MIT officers.

Professor Craig Carter received second place in the an-nual Institute Screw Competition. The contest, sponsoredby APO, invites nominations, and votes are made by con-tributions, which are then presented to a charity of thewinning nominee’s choice. Professor Carter, instructor of3.016 Mathematical Methods for Materials Scientists andEngineers, pledges to try harder next year.

Professor Yet-Ming Chiang was the keynote speaker at“Breaking the Glass Ceiling: How to be an Asian Leader inthe Corporate World.” This all-day workshop was held atMIT in April and presented by the MIT and Cornell Soci-ety of Asian Scientists and Engineers.

Professor Chiang presented the Plenary Lecture, “Materi-als, Systems, and Manufacturing Challenges for Electro-chemical Storage at Transportation and Grid Scales” at theSpring MRS meeting. He also addressed the TechnologyInnovation Forum.

Professor Lionel Kimerling was elected a Fellow of theSchool of Engineering at the University of Tokyo. Whilethere, Prof. Kimerling worked with Prof. Kazumi Wada, along-time collaborator and former DMSE Visiting Scien-tist.

Thomson Reuters has released data identifying the world’stop 100 materials scientists and top 100 chemists, rankedby the highest citation impact scores for articles and re-views published since January 2000. Impact is a weightedmeasure of influence that seeks to reveal consistently su-perior performance. In the Top 100 Chemists was Prof.Michael Rubner, #40. In the Top 100 Materials Scientistswere Prof. Subra Suresh, #28; Prof Yet-Ming Chiang,#66; and Prof. Caroline Ross, #86.

Professor Chris Schuh is one of the 2011 MacVicar Fellows. The MacVicar Fellowship, one of MIT’s highesthonors, recognizes Margaret MacVicar, Sc.D. ’67, MIT’sfirst dean for undergraduate education and founder ofUROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program).The ten-year fellowship provides an annual allowance tosupport faculty undergraduate teaching efforts.

Professor Schuh also received the Ralph R. Teetor Educa-tional Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers.The SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Fund brings youngerengineering educators together with practicing engineersto exchange views on techniques, challenges, and futurepossibilities.

Professor Harry Tuller presented the Israel Pollak Distin-guished Lecture Series at the Department of Materials En-gineering, Technion, in December of last year. His talkswere on “Electroceramics—Strategic Materials in theQuest to Solve the Energy Crisis” and “Nano-StructuredMaterials for Next Generation Fuel Cells and Sensors.”

S T U D E N T A W A R D SUndergraduate StudentsCourse III seniors who have been awarded the 2011 NSFFellowship are Kathleen Alexander (attending MIT in fall2012), Mahati Chintapalli (attending UC Berkeley),Daniel Montana Fernandez (attending MIT), and DenysZhou (attending Stanford).

Christopher Francis, ’12, received one of MIT’s Ronald E.McNair Scholarship Awards. The Scholarship was estab-lished by the Black Alumni/ae of MIT (BAMIT) in 1986, inhonor of Dr. Ronald E. McNair ’77, the NASA astronaut

Awards and Honors

Professor Subra Suresh, current head of the NationalScience Foundation, was awarded the Padma Shri bythe President of the Republic of India. The award, thehighest civilian honor bestowed by India, recognizeshis distinguished work in science and engineering.

Credit: Mohammed Shafiq

and MIT alumnus who lost his life in the space shuttleChallenger explosion on January 28, 1986. Dr. McNair’scommitment to professional excellence and communityservice are qualities that the Fund recognizes and rewardsin black MIT undergraduates.

Phi Beta Kappa inductees for the class of 2011 includeLina Garcia and Christina Jaworsky. After graduation,Ms. Garcia will work in San Francisco for the Boston Con-sulting Group and Ms. Jaworsky will enroll in MIT’s grad-uate program in Mechanical Engineering next year.

Daniel Montana Fernandez, ’11, has been awarded theMerage American Dream Fellowship. The Merage Foun-dation for the American Dream honors outstanding im-migrants who display significant leadership and academicachievements. Merage Fellows receive a two-year,$20,000 stipend that may be used for formal study, travelfor research, and professional opportunities.

Anjali Thakkar, ’12, a double major in biology and mate-rials science and engineering, received one of the 2011Harry S. Truman Scholarships. These prestigious scholar-ships recognize college juniors who are committed to ca-reers in public service. Ms. Thakkar’s future plans are formedical school, with a focus on the study of diabetes, hop-ing to work with Partners in Health.

Graduate Students

Several of our students are recipients of NSF Graduate Re-search Fellowships: Brian Albert of the Kimerling group,David Cohen-Tanugi of the Grossman group, DanielHarris, a student of Prof. Moungi Bawendi of the De-partment of Chemistry, and Oliver Johnson of Prof.Schuh’s group.

Richard Baumer, a student in Prof. Michael Demkowicz’group, was recognized as a Best Poster winner at the FallMRS meeting in Boston. The poster, “Atomistic Simula-tions of Radiation Damage in Amorphous Metals,” wasco-authored by T. Oppelstrup, V. Bulatov, and M.J.Demkowicz.

Marco Bernardi, a graduate student in Prof. Grossman’sgroup, has been awarded a Corporate Intel Ph.D. Fellow-ship for the 2011–2012 academic year. The award coverstuition, a stipend, and a travel allowance for attending theIntel Ph.D. Fellowship Forum in August.

David Cohen-Tanugi also received a Fellowship from theOffice of the Dean for Graduate Education.

At the MRS Fall Meeting, Xiaoting Jia, graduate studentworking with Prof. Millie Dresselhaus, received the MRSGraduate Student Gold Award and Noémie Chocat ofProf. Fink’s group received the Graduate Student SilverAward. Sung Keun Lim, a graduate student in Prof. SilvijaGradecak’s group, won a 2011 MRS Spring MeetingGraduate Student Silver Award. MRS Graduate StudentAwards honor and encourage graduate students whoseacademic achievements and current research display ahigh level of excellence and distinction and who showpromise for significant future achievement.

Xiaoting Jia also received the APS Division of MaterialsPhysics Ovshinsky Student Travel Award in March.

Oliver Johnson received the NDSEG graduate researchfellowship.

Sophie Ni, Jon Singer, and Clark D. Della Silva (under-graduate in Course II) won the Lockheed Martin Prize(second place) in the Soldier Design Competition for theirwork on optimizing materials selection and device geom-etry for a flexible, modular cantilever-based inductive windharvester that could serve as an alternative to diesel gen-erators. In the Soldier Design Competition, teams fromMIT and West Point apply creativity and engineering skills

Winners of the Materials Day 2010 Best PosterAwards were Rodolfo Camacho-Aguilera (left) andTimothy W.C. Zens (right), pictured with their advi-sor Prof. Kim Kimerling. Mr. Camacho-Aguilera’sposter was titled, “Germanium Laser: A Bridge to thePhotonic Network,” and Mr. Zens’ poster was titled,“Resonant Cavity Enhancement of PbTe Films for IRDetectors on Si-ROICs.” Credit: Maria Aglietti

Gradecak

to solve the problems of the modern soldier. This year’swinning team came from West Point.

Yoda Patta was presented with MIT’s Karl Taylor Comp-ton Prize, the highest award presented by the Institute tostudents and student organizations in recognition of ex-cellent achievements in citizenship and devotion to thewelfare of MIT. This is the third time in recent years thatthis award has been made to a DMSE student: Kevin Mc-Comber received it in 2010 and Dave Danielson in 2008.Ms. Patta is a student in Prof. Michael Cima’s group.

Joaquin Rodriguez Nieva received the Roberto RoccaFellowship. The Fellowships are open to citizens of Ar-gentina, Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Romaniaand Venezuela who are pursuing a Ph.D. outside theircountry. Rocca Fellows are enrolled in programs studyingMaterials Science, Mechanical, Metallurgical, or PetroleumEngineering, and their research offers potential benefits tothe steel industry. The Fellowships honor the late RobertoRocca, Sc.D. ’51, who was president of OrganizacionTECHINT, in Buenos Aires.

Xing Sheng, a graduate student advised by Prof. Kimer-ling, received the MIT Energy Initiative Martin Fellowship.He also received the Best Poster Award (runner-up) in the35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2010; theposter title was, “Efficient Light Trapping Structure in ThinFilm Silicon Solar Cells.”

Timothy W.C. Zens and the Electronic Materials ResearchGroup at MIT won best group poster for the DMSE Visit-ing Students Weekend.

GWAMIT, Graduate Women at MIT, received a William L.Stewart, Jr. Award. These awards recognize outstandingcontributions by a student or student organization to ex-tracurricular activities and events. GWAMIT was foundedby Megan Brewster and many DMSE graduate womenare active in the organization.

S T A F F H O N O R SResearch scientist Xiaoman Duan was awarded an Hon-orary Professorship at the XIAN Institute of Optics andPrecision Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Science(CAS). This recognized Dr. Duan’s and the Kimerlinggroup’s achievements on “High Efficiency Solar Cells withTextured Photonic Crystal Backside Reflectors,” which waspresented at an invited talk at CAS in Shanghai.

A L U M N I H O N O R S

Tom Shaefer, ’09, is a junior officer on the USS NewHampshire (SSN 778), which recently conducted opera-tions under the Arctic icecap. Under the ice exercises havetwo purposes: to increase the Navy’s operational experi-ence in the region as it is used as a route between the At-lantic and Pacific and to advance understanding of theArctic environment.

Dr. Robert Shull, ’68, was recently named a Fellow of theNational Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).He joins 35 other such individuals (out of 3000 employees)at NIST who are part of an elite cadre of Senior Profes-sional Scientists within the Government. Amongst theother NIST Fellows are two Nobel Laureates and four National Academy members.

The citation reads “Dr. Shull is one of the world’s top ma-terials scientists and nanomagnetics experts. He has madestellar contributions during his thirty year career at NIST inthe areas of rapid solidification, phase equilibria, super-conductivity, magnetic refrigeration, magnetic exchangebias, nanotechnology, and magnetic nanocomposites.While his achievements in any one of these areas meritmajor recognition, the immense breadth and depth of hiscontributions across a multitude of disparate topics is re-markable. Bob is among the most recognized and admiredresearchers working at NIST and embodies all the bestqualities expected of NIST Fellows. He continues to gen-erously use his significant expertise and time to assist inthe development of NIST programs, staff, and young scientists.”

Dr. Shull has also provided leadership nationally and inter-nationally, recently as the President of TMS (2007), the2008–2010 Chairman of the International Organizationof Minerals, Metals, and Materials Societies (IOMMMS),and as an Honorary Member of the Indian Institute ofMetals.

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Tom Shaefer in front of the USS New Hampshire.

A N N E M . M A Y E S

We're sorry to announce that AnneM. Mayes, ’86, passed away onTuesday, Jan. 25, 2011, at herhome in Mustang, Oklahoma.

Anne came to MIT as a freshman,where she fell in love with materialsscience after enrolling in Gus Witt's3.091 and Bob Ogilvie’s freshmanseminar. In 1993, she came back toMIT as a faculty member, after aPh.D. at Northwestern and a post-doc at IBM Almaden. She wasfiercely dedicated to MIT students,not only to her advisees andUROPs, but also to the students inher classroom and to all the CourseIII majors. This dedication led her to

champion the drive to introduce biomaterials to the cur-riculum and to redesign the laboratory subjects to be thetypes of subjects that she would have wanted to take as astudent. She was the first woman tenured and promotedto full professor in DMSE and, in recognition of her excel-lence in teaching, she was named a MacVicar Fellow in2001. She supervised sixteen Ph.D. candidates, seven M.S.degrees, and many UROPs.

In 1994, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After sur-geries and chemotherapy were unsuccessful, she took partin a clinical trial that eradicated the cancer but damagedher immune system and lung capacity. In 2006, a bout ofpneumonia caused her to take medical retirement and re-turn to Mustang with her husband, Glenn Mailand. Emailsfrom Anne were full of stories of experimenting with newrecipes, developments on her solar-powered home, andspending time with family.

The role of polymers in environmental issues was an on-going theme in Prof. Mayes’ research. A major develop-ment was “baroplastics,” a plastic that becomes soft underhigh pressure, thus allowing recycling with less energy ex-pended and without thermal degradation of the material.Early on, she pioneered research in energy storage usingblock copolymers in a lithium polymer battery. Othermajor research projects were in water filtration and bio-materials. Her research accomplishments were recognizedwith awards from her peers: in 1998, she was the first

woman to receive the MRS Outstanding Young Investi-gator Award; in 1999, she was awarded the prestigiousJohn H. Dillon Medal from the American Physical SocietyDivision of High Polymer Physics for “her unique combi-nation of theoretical and experimental insight into poly-mer self-organization”; and in Spring 2006, she becamethe first woman recipient of the Carl S. Marvel CreativePolymer Chemistry Award. Just last year, she was nameda POLY Fellow by the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry.

Anne was well known for her dedication to her students,for developing cutting-edge research, and for committingherself wholeheartedly to making DMSE, MIT, and theworld better. We will miss her.

The Anne M. Mayes (1986) Fellowship in Materials Sci-ence and Engineering was established to honor Prof. AnneMayes’ contributions to the Department and the Institute.Income from the endowed fellowship fund provides fel-lowship support for a first-year graduate student in the

Obituaries

Anne M. Mayes

Team Mayes Group meeting in 2004.

Faculty Banquetfor Anne Mayes

Late to arrive is the new junior woman—black sleeveless mini-sheath, black stockings black three-inch platform heels

gyroscopic earrings. Her hair’s come back inblonde from chemo, a quarter inch of pale fuzzcovers the surprised arc of her skull.

She swirls whisky in a balloon glass, announcesSome of us are going dancing after dinner. A light shines through her.

Anne C. Fowler

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Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Thefund was nucleated with a generous gift from Anne andhas been supported with donations from colleagues, stu-dents, and friends as well as matching funds from theDean of Engineering and the Provost’s Office. We arehonored that Anne’s commitment to DMSE students con-tinues, now supporting one student each year with a one-semester fellowship.

There are plans for a memorial symposium at MIT this fall.We will distribute details as we have information.

J O S E P H M . D H O S I

Joseph Mitti Dhosi, S.M.’59, died on April 29,2011. Joe joined the DMSEcommunity more than halfa century ago; while stillemployed at the Water-town Arsenal, he enrolledin MIT as a graduate stu-dent as one of Prof. NickGrant’s advisees. Aftercompleting his thesis on“The Elevated Tempera-ture Characteristics ofThree Age Hardened andInternally Oxidized Tita-nium–Copper–Cerium Al-

loys,” he worked in the Boston area and continued hiseducation at the Sloan School. In 1976, he returned toMIT as Administrative Officer for DMSE, under Prof. Wal-ter Owen, then Department Head. At that time, Joe andthe DMSE Headquarters staff had responsibility for all de-partmental personnel and financial matters, grants ad-ministration, and space concerns.

In 1996, Joe “retired,” and began a new schedule wherehe worked half-time as the Course III Internship Coordi-nator, a task he had first undertaken when the Internshipprogram was established in the mid-1970s. More than700 Course III undergraduates have benefitted from Joe’s

wide network of MIT alumni/ae and from his dedicationto finding not only a position for every student but theright position for every student. He continued this workuntil 2010. In 1995, he received MIT’s James N. MurphyAward, which is presented to an employee whose spiritedcontributions to the Institute family have won a place inthe hearts of students. This award recognized Joe’s role increating and maintaining the internship program. Startingwith the class of 2011, the department will present theJoseph M. Dhosi Outstanding Internship Award to recog-nize outstanding student work in that program.

He leaves his wife Irene, his children, Katharine I. Kolendaand her husband Daniel, Joseph J. Dhosi and his wifeSusan, and grandchildren James, Annalise and MatthewKolenda, Katharine and Charles Dhosi. A deeply movingfuneral service that celebrated Joe’s devotion to his familyand his dedication to educating others was held on May3 at St. George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral.

Expressions of sympathy may be made in memory of Mr.Dhosi to the Leukemia Discovery and Treatment Fund,Massachusetts General Hospital, 165 Cambridge St., Suite600, Boston, MA 02114, or to the St. George AlbanianOrthodox Cathedral, 523 East Broadway, South Boston,MA 02127.

We will miss his generous spirit and good humor and wesend our condolences to his family and his many friends.

Joseph M. Dhosi.

The commuters waiting at Kendall Square are smiling asthey hear chimes. Pythagoras, the bell instrument in theKendall Band, is back in order. A team of MIT students,led by Mike Tarkanian, removed the instrument’s bells,hammers, wires, and pulleys last year and brought thepieces to the basement of Building 8 where the aluminumbells, teak pendulums, and platform controls were cleanedand repaired. All the mechanisms are now operating andthe bright and shining bells and hammers are reinstalled.

Paul Matisse, a local artist, created the instruments in 1987when the Kendall/MIT MBTA station was rebuilt. Initially,he maintained the piece, but in recent years, the ongoingtask has proven too difficult. In 2009, Seth Parker con-tacted Clarise Snyder in MIT’s Music and Theatre Arts De-partment in hopes that MIT would be interested in takingon a refurbishment and adopting the instruments. Theteam, mostly DMSE students, has been through MBTAsafety training to authorize them to work on the tracks.They will soon discuss how or if to address maintenanceon the remaining instruments.

To learn more about the project, see their bloghttp://kendallband.wordpress.com or their Facebookpage http://www.facebook.com/pages/MIT-Kendall-Band-Preservation-Society.

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