CEM NEWS

Two CEM REU Students Published in Applied Physics Letters

Congratulations to two of our former CEM REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) students whose research was just published in Applied Physics Letters:

Ms. Rachel Sample (OSU, Mat. Science & Engineering), Academic Year REU (08-09).

Mr. Thomas Draskovic (Penn State University, Chemistry), Summer REU (09).

This is a wonderful accomplishment, and it serves as a inspiration to current and future CEM REU students.

Applied Physics Letters is a weekly journal featuring concise, up-to-date reports on significant new findings in applied physics. The full text is available here.

2009 Seed Funding Awards

The Center for Emergent Materials (CEM) is proud to announce the following Seed Project Grants (2009-2010), totaling $123,000 in direct costs:

"Towards Room Temperature Spin-Injection/Detection in Wide Band Gap Semiconductors"
PI: Asst. Prof. Roberto Myers, Department of Materials Science & Engineering

"Multifunctional Hybrid Nanomaterials: Synthesis and Manipulation"
PI: Asst. Prof. Jessica Winter, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering; Co-PI: Prof. R. Sooryakumar, Department of Physics

Renewal of "Heterogeneous Magnetic Particles for Force and Torque Sensing: A New Approach for Single Molecule Biology"
PI: Asst. Prof. Michael Poirier, Department of Physics

Renewal of "Microstructured Polymer Nanofibers for Skeletal Muscle Restoration"
PI: Asst. Prof. Yi Zhao, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Please join us in congratulating Profs. Myers, Poirier, and Zhao, and welcoming Profs. Winter and Sooryakumar to the CEM community.

Attention: Research Oriented Undergraduates in Technical Fields

Through its Education and Human Resources Development/Diversity (EHRD/D) program, the OSU Center for Emergent Materials (CEM) will support 9 undergraduates to do CEM related research during the academic year, starting November 1, 2009. The CEM's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program is eager to include women, students from underrepresented groups, and disabled students in this program. A primary goal is to introduce students to modern research.

Students will be expected to work 8 to 10 hours per week during regular class weeks at $10/hour, from November 1 through Spring quarter 2010. Students will be expected to present a poster describing their research at the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum toward the end of Spring quarter, 2010.

To apply, students should download and fill out the application. Applications should be returned to Ms. Tracee Mohler at the CEM office, 2065 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave.

Among other things, the application asks for major/minor, expected date of graduation, GPA (general and in major), technical experience that might be relevant, and what faculty the student might like to work with. Students can learn about CEM faculty and their research on the CEM website. Applicants should also provide a statement of career plans, and how the REU experience fits into them. They may also want to include a resume describing high school academics, activities, accomplishments, etc., that they feel are important indicators of success.

OSU Team Wins NSF MRI Competition

A team of OSU researchers has won an NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award for the acquisition of a hybrid diamond/nitride synthesis cluster tool for studies of wide bandgap semiconductors. The team of researchers spans two colleges and three departments including Physics (Prof. Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, CME, PI on the proposal*; Prof. Fengyuan Yang, CME; Prof. Harris Kagan, HEPX), Electrical and Computer Engineering (Prof. Siddharth Rajan**; Prof. Steven A. Ringel) and Materials Science and Engineering (Prof. Roberto Myers**). This cluster tool will allow for in situ sample transfer of substrates between diamond and nitride growth chambers, giving it the unique capability to grow high quality wide-bandgap semiconducting heterostructures.

Research activity will span from high-energy physics to prototype electronic, magnetic and photonic devices, covering 15 orders of magnitude in energy (from ~1 meV to ~ 1,000 TeV), 13 orders of magnitude in time (~ 100 fs to ~ 1 ms), and 11 orders of magnitude in length (from ~ 1 nm to ~ 10 cm). In addition, this activity will support local, national, and international collaborations including the Center for Emergent Materials (CEM, an NSF funded MRSEC at OSU), the RD42 collaboration (located at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland), the State-funded Wright Center for Photovoltaic Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC), and the Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymeric Biomedical Devices (CMPND, an NSF funded NSEC at OSU). The multi-disciplinary project was supported by and developed in conjunction with The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research (IMR).
* For more information please contact Prof. Johnson-Halperin at ejh@mps.ohio-state.edu.
** Profs. Rajan and Myers have complementary 80/20 appointments between ECE/MSE and MSE/ECE, respectively.

Congratulations to the CEM student prize winners at the 2009 IMR Materials Week Poster Session

Nearly 100 posters were presented at this year's IMR Materials Week Poster Session. We congratulate the CEM-affiliated student prize winners:

Adam Hauser
"Magnetic and Structural Properties of Half-Metallic Sr2FeMoO6 Epitaxial Films Fabricated by Ultra-High Vacuum Sputtering"
(Advisor: Fengyuan Yang)

Tengfei Jiang
"Toward Site Specific Stamping of Graphene"
(Advisor: Nitin Padture)

Donghun Lee
"STM Studies of an Atomic Scale Gate Electrode Formed by a Single Charged Vacancy in GaAs"
(Advisor: Jay Gupta)

Rebecca Ricciardo
"Chemical, Magnetic and Orbital Order in the Substituted Double Perovskite Sr(1-x)Ca(x)Mn0.5Ru0.5O3"
(Advisor: Patrick Woodward)

2009 IMR Materials Week

Dates: Monday, August 31 - Thursday, September 3, 2009
Location: Blackwell Hotel, Columbus, Ohio

This exciting annual event showcased the most recent discoveries and applications in materials research from The Ohio State University and beyond.

This year's meeting included:

• Technical workshops and seminars by national experts in a broad range of topics including:
  • Biosensors
  • Computational materials
  • Magnetoelectronics
  • Photovoltaics
• First year highlights from Ohio State's NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
• Student poster presentations featuring work by OSU students in materials-allied fields
• Evening receptions, including an exclusive viewing of COSI Columbus' special exhibit "Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science"
  

2009 CEM Summer REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) Program

Instead of spending the summer relaxing on a beach, ten undergraduate students from a variety of colleges and universities as close as Columbus State and as distant as Clemson have come to OSU to conduct research with graduate students and CEM faculty mentors. Through the CEM's summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program, students have the opportunity to live on campus for nine weeks while participating in cutting-edge research at the CEM ranging from the development of a glucose sensor that will benefit people with diabetes, to creating a program to enhance the performance of an atomic force microscope. In addition to their research experience, REU students participate in OSU's Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), which provides workshops on research skills and seminars on topics related to graduate education and career development.

More information about the Center for Emergent Materials Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program can be found at http://cem.osu.edu

2009 Rapid Response Request for Proposals: Seed Funding Program

The Center for Emergent Materials (CEM) announces the 2009 Rapid Response Request for Proposals is available for download. The deadline is 5:00 PM, Monday, August 3, 2009, with an anticipated start date on or about September 1, 2009.

Through the Seed Funding Program, NSF intends to provide flexibility for the Center to respond quickly and effectively to new opportunities beyond the current scope of the center. Direct ties of the proposed research with the existing Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) are not required. However, synergy with the mission of the CEM is expected.

The aim of the Rapid Response Grant RFP is to provide funding to research that broadens the scope of the CEM by responding to rapidly emerging opportunities within the broad purview of the Seed Program. (Examples include support for faculty changing fields, strengthening/ developing ties to industry, the development of interdisciplinary education, capital equipment to enhance collaborative research, etc. where rapid response is essential.) Proposals that demonstrate potential synergy with ongoing CEM activities and/or the potential to nucleate interdisciplinary collaborations are preferred. The grants provide funds of up to $25,000 in direct costs to be expended over a 6-month period.

Potential applicants may contact the Seed Board Co-Chairs Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin (ejh@mps.ohio-state.edu, 614-247-4074) or Julia Meyer (jmeyer@mps.ohio-state.edu, 614 292-7995) for questions related to potential research activities.

More information about the Center for Emergent Materials Seed Funding Program can be found at cem.osu.edu/research/seedfunding.cfm.

Congratulations to the CEM REU students (and their advisors) who won at the 2009 Denman!

The Denman Undergraduate Research Forum was created in 1996 and is a cooperative effort of The Ohio State University's Honors & Scholars Center, The Undergraduate Research Office, and The Office of Research. The Forum is an opportunity to showcase outstanding student research and encourage all undergraduates to participate in research as a value-added element of their education.

Mathematical and Physical Sciences Category

First Place: Adam Reed
"Broadband Ferromagnetic Resonance Using Coplanar Waveguides"
(Advisor: Chris Hammel)

Third Place: Michael Roe
"Characterization of Hydrogenated Diamond Surface Conductivity"
(Advisor: Jay Gupta)

2009 Strategic Interest Call for Proposals: Hybrid Materials

The Center for Emergent Materials (CEM) announces a call for proposals to the Seed Funding Program. The RFP for the 2009 Strategic Interest Call for Proposals: Hybrid Materials is available for download. The application deadline is 5:00 PM, Wednesday, July 1, 2009, with an anticipated start date of mid-September 2009.

Through the Seed Funding Program, NSF intends to provide flexibility for the Center to respond quickly and effectively to new opportunities beyond the current scope of the center. Direct ties of the proposed research with the existing Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) are not required. However, synergy with the mission of the CEM is expected.

The aim of the Strategic Interest Grant Program is to develop into areas of strategic interest to the materials community. The 2009 call focuses on the field of hybrid materials, broadly defined. The grants provide funds of up to $50,000 in direct costs to be expended over a 12-month period.

Potential applicants may contact the Seed Board Co-Chairs Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin (ejh@mps.ohio-state.edu, 614-247-4074) or Julia Meyer (jmeyer@mps.ohio-state.edu, 614-292-7995) for questions related to potential research activities.

The 2009 Rapid Response Grant Call for Proposals will be issued in the near future.

CEM faculty member Chris Hammel published in Nature

Chris Hammel’s commentary titled “Imaging: Nanoscale MRI” was published in the April 2009 issue of the journal Nature in the section News & Views.

Abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging offers rich three-dimensional pictures, but with limited resolution. Imaging at the nanometre scale has now become possible using highly sensitive force-detection techniques.

Nature is the international weekly journal of science and has been published monthly since 1870. The full text is available here.

Middle School Students Explore Materials at CEM (February 18, 2009)

Trains that don't touch the track? Bananas can be hammers? Metals can have memory?!? Middle school students investigated these phenomena and more during a morning of hands-on activities with CEM faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students on February 18, 2009. This visit to the CEM was part of the Breakfast of Science Champions, an Ohio State program that introduces students to science, math, and engineering, and the visit was the second hosted by the CEM this academic year. The students will return to campus in May to participate in a videoconference during which they will share what they learned about the CEM and materials science with other students.

2009 Summer REU Program Now Accepting Applications

CEM will host a 9-WEEK UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROGRAM for interested students in Chemistry, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), Materials Science & Engineering (MSE), and Physics.

Application forms are available at http://cem.osu.edu/reu/application.pdf. Deadline is March 1, 2009. For more information please contact Professor Thomas Lemberger, (Lemberger.1@osu.edu or 614-292-7799.)

Ohio State Awarded Prestigious Materials Research Center

Read more >>

NSF Awards 14 Materials Science and Engineering Centers

Read more >>

CEM Director Prof. Nitin Padture elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Read more >>

CEM Hosts Breakfast of Science Champions Outreach Event (November 5, 2008)

Over 350 Ohio eighth graders explored science, math, and engineering at Ohio State during the Breakfast of Science Champions held on November 5, 2008. CEM faculty, staff, and graduate students hosted 20 students for a morning full of materials science activities focused on shape memory alloys, liquid nitrogen, and magnetism. Activities also included a superconducting model train.

The CEM plans to host another breakfast in February 2009 and students will return again to campus in May to present reports on their learning activities throughout the year.

CEM Hosts Women in Engineering Outreach Event (November 14, 2008)

CEM shared its transformational research and world-class facilities during the College of Engineering's Women in Engineering (WiE) "Change the World: WiE Are the Future" program on November 14, 2008. Nine girls (grades 10-12) from Ohio and Michigan attended the event. The girls observed thin film growth by pulsed laser deposition and had the opportunity to operate an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer while touring laboratories on campus. At the Campus Electron Optics Facility, the students witnessed the Titan 3 scanning/transmission electron microscope and Nova-600 dual-beam focused ion beam in action. Participants were also given a "hands-on" opportunity to drive a Sirion high-resolution field-emission gun scanning electron microscope.