Caltech has recognized four Engineering and Applied Science (EAS) graduates with the Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor regularly bestowed by the Institute. They are Y. C. L. Susan Wu (PhD '63 Aeronautics), Sébastien M. Candel (MS '69 and PhD '72 in Mechanical Engineering), Uma R. Chowdhry (MS '70 Engineering Science), and James R. Fruchterman (BS '80 Engineering and Applied Science, MS '80 Applied Physics). [Caltech Release] 3.20.13

The Caltech Division of Engineering and Applied Science and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have established a new scholarship program, named after outgoing National Academy of Engineering (NAE) president Charles M. Vest at their institutions, along with six other universities around the country. "The Vest Scholarship is a superb opportunity for high-powered international graduate students to work with faculty and researchers who are international leaders in their engineering disciplines," says Chair Ares Rosakis. "At Caltech, due to its small size and strong interdisciplinary philosophy, the students will have the opportunity to work closely with not only these international leaders in engineering research, but also with their collaborators in all areas of science and technology." [Caltech Release] [Application Information] 3.19.13

Caltech's graduate program in engineering has been ranked fourth in the country by U.S. News & World Report, up from fifth last year and seventh the previous year. Engineering specialties at Caltech also ranked very well with first in aerospace / aeronautical / astronautical, third in mechanical, fifth in electrical / electronic / communications, seventh in materials, and ninth in environmental / environmental health. [Caltech Release] 3.14.13

Peter Schröder, Professor of Computer Science and Applied and Computational Mathematics, is the new Deputy Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science. "I look forward to working with Peter over the next several years as we continue with our quest to remain a unique collaborative community of isolated singularities that sets a compelling model as a research and teaching institution," says Chair Ares Rosakis. 2.11.13

Andrei Faraon, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and colleagues have laid the groundwork for an on-chip optical quantum network by showing that defects in diamond can be used as quantum building blocks that interact with one another via photons. "Right now we only have one nitrogen-vacancy center that's emitting photons, but in the future we envision creating multiple nitrogen-vacancy centers that emit photons on the same chip," Faraon says. [Caltech Release] 2.11.13

Assistant Professor and alumnus Andrei Faraon builds devices that are based on the fundamentals of light–matter interaction. He is trying to manipulate single quantum systems in solids—systems like single atoms or single quantum dots—using light. Light is great for this purpose because it allows him to address these systems without destroying their fragile quantum states, and because it can easily interconnect quantum systems over large distances. [Caltech Interview] 11.13.12

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, is among a select group of 10 recipients of NASA's inaugural Space Technology Research Opportunities Early Career Faculty grants. She has also received the 2013 Early Career Faculty Fellow award from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) and the Young Investigator's Medal from the Society of Engineering Science (SES). Congratulations Professor Greer! [Caltech Release] 11.02.12

Oskar J. Painter, Professor of Applied Physics; Executive Officer for Applied Physics and Materials Science; and Co-Director, Kavli Nanoscience Institute, and colleagues have engineered a microscale optical accelerometer. In addition to transforming consumer electronics, such sensors could help with oil and gas exploration deep within the earth, could improve the stabilization systems of fighter jets, and could even be used in some biomedical applications where more traditional sensors cannot operate. "Professor Painter's research in this area nicely illustrates how the Engineering and Applied Science faculty at Caltech are working at the edges of fundamental science to invent the technologies of the future," says Chair Ares Rosakis. [Caltech Release] 10.19.12

For the third year the Times Higher Education world university rankings has ranked Caltech as number one in engineering and technology. [View Rankings] [Caltech Feature] 10.4.12

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, is receiving a 2012 Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics magazine as part of the team that engineered the world's lightest solid material. "I am delighted that Professor Greer is being honored with this award," says Ares Rosakis, chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS) at Caltech. "She is a great example of how we in EAS are working at the edges of fundamental science to invent the technologies of the future." [Caltech Release] 10.1.12

Julia R. Greer, her postdoctoral scholar Dr.Dongchan Jang, and colleagues have used experiments and atomistic simulations of nano-twinned metals (which have the unique combined effect of being strong and ductile) to decipher the specific role of the twin boundaries. They have found that it is the spacing between the twin boundaries that determines whether a material is brittle or ductile as opposed to the sample size, as would be expected. Greer states "this is probably the first study that truly isolated the twin boundaries by making samples which contained only twin boundaries, periodically spaced throughout the sample, and then tested them in tension. This understanding will help in the design of better structural materials and provide a certain amount of predictability in doing so, which has not been possible to date." [Nature Nanotechnology Article and Movies]

Sossina M. Haile, Carl F Braun Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, is the 2012 recipient of the World Academy of Ceramics International Ceramics Prize for Research & Innovation. The Prize, which is only given out every four years, recognizes Professor Haile's work in using reactive oxides for creating solar fuels, and for advancing solid oxide fuel cells. [Past Recipients] 7.3.12

Applied Physics graduate student, Peter Hung, along with Electrical Engineering undergraduate students Julie Jester, Jeff Sherman, and Sean Keenan, worked with a team of engineering students from across the country to create a one-of-a-kind machine for sharing a Coke. [Read More] 6.15.12

The student winners of the 2012 Demetriades - Tsafka - Kokkalis Prizes were announced at a special luncheon with the Demetriades - Tsafka – Kokkalis family. Philip Romero received the prize in Biotechnology for his work on developing statistical models of proteins with Frances Arnold. Michael Mello was the recipient of the prize in Seismo-Engineering, Prediction, and Protection for his work with Ares Rosakis on developing a novel methodology for identifying the unique ground motion signatures of supershear earthquakes. Leslie O’Leary received the prize in Environmentally Benign Renewable Energy Sources for her pathbreaking work on the properties of semiconductor interfaces with Nate Lewis and Bob Grubbs. This year there were two winners for the prize in Nanotechnology. One winner was Andrew Jennings for his experimental and modeling work in nanomechanics with Julia Greer. The other winner of the Nanotechnology prize was Jordan Raney who has worked with Chiara Daraio to develop new chemical synthesis methods to control the properties of carbon nanotubes. 6.14.12

Kaushik Bhattacharya, Howell N. Tyson, Sr., Professor of Mechanics and Professor of Materials Science, is the Caltech lead on a $90 million U.S. Army Research Laboratory funded program to improve protective gear and vehicles for soldiers. "...studying materials in very extreme conditions is an area where Caltech engineering really stand out," says Bhattacharya. "The tools we bring, on both the theoretical and experimental sides uniquely bridge deep fundamental principles with unprecedented application." [Caltech Feature] 5.23.12

Harry A. Atwater, Jr., Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science; as well as Director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute, and colleague Albert Polman of the Dutch Research Institute AMOLF have been awarded the ENI Award in Renewable and Nonconventional Energy for research on high-efficiency solar cells based on nanophotonic design.

The ENI Award was established in July 2007 by the Italian energy company ENI to stimulate the development of innovative ideas for a better use of energy sources, promote environmental research and to stimulate new generations of researchers. Former recipients have included the following Nobel prize winners: Sir Harold W. Kroto, Nobel Prize winner in 1996 for Chemistry and now member of the Eni Award Scientific Commission; Alan Hegger, Nobel Prize 2000 for Chemistry; and Theodor Wolfgang Haensch, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics. [ENI Press release] [Learn More] 5.17.12

Jeff Snyder, Faculty Associate in Applied Physics and Materials Science, and colleagues have identified a liquid-like compound whose properties give it the potential to be even more efficient than traditional thermoelectrics. [Caltech Press Release] 3.22.12

Professors James (Jim) L. Beck, Sossina M. Haile, Melany L. Hunt, and Rob Phillips have received named chairs. Jim Beck has been named the George W. Housner Professor of Engineering and Applied Science. Sossina Haile has been named the Carl F. Braun Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering. Melany Hunt has been named the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Rob Phillips has been named the Fred and Nancy Morris Professor of Biophysics and Biology. 12.14.11

The Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI (very-large-scale-integration)—a collaboration between the Kavli Nanoscience Institute and Leti-Minatec in France—has launched its first start-up company. The Alliance, which began informally in 2005, was officially created in 2007 to transform academic, nanotechnology-based prototypes into robust, complex sensing systems and thus accelerate nanoscience out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. The start-up company, Analytical Pixels, will focus on the design, manufacture, and commercialization of multi-gas sensing systems created over the past five years in the field of nanoelectromechanical devices, read-out electronics, and system integration, and built on two decades of prior research carried out at Caltech. [Caltech Feature] 12.14.11

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, and colleagues have developed the world's lightest solid material, with a density of 0.9 milligrams per cubic centimeter. The new material, called a micro-lattice, relies, on a lattice architecture: tiny hollow tubes made of nickel-phosphorous are angled to connect at nodes, forming repeating, asterisklike unit cells in three dimensions. "We're entering a new era of materials science where material properties are determined not only by the microscopic makeup of the material but also by the architecture of the constituents," Greer says. [Caltech Feature] 11.17.11

William A. Goddard III, Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Applied Physics, has received $1.25 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a process that takes advantage of DNA's talent for self-assembly to arrange nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and proteins into configurations designed for use in devices such as sensors, transistors, and optical components. [Caltech Feature] 11.16.11

Graduate student, Chen Li, and colleagues including Brent Fultz, Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics, have shown how scandium trifluoride (ScF3) contracts with heat. "A pure quartic oscillator is a lot of fun," Professor Fultz says. "Now that we've found a case that's very pure, I think we know where to look for it in many other materials." Understanding quartic oscillator behavior will help engineers design materials with unusual thermal properties. "In my opinion," Fultz says, "that will be the biggest long-term impact of this work." [Caltech Press Release] 11.08.11

For the second year the Times Higher Education world university rankings has ranked Caltech as number one in the subject of engineering and technology. [View Rankings] [Caltech Feature] 10.25.11

Caltech has been awarded $12.6 million in funding by the National Science Foundation to create the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM), the center will bring physicists and computer scientists together to push theoretical and experimental boundaries in the study of exotic quantum states. The co-directors of this institute are Professors Jeff Kimble, Jim Eisenstein, Oskar Painter, and John Preskill. "When you bring innovative scientists and engineers together and provide them with the facilities and collaborative spaces they need, magic happens. The magic involves transforming the way we think about and impact our world," says EAS Chair Ares Rosakis. [Caltech Press Release] 10.14.11

To strengthen fundamental science and technology and foster transformational advances in renewable energies, the Dow Chemical Company and Caltech have established a $10 million partnership. Under the partnership, Dow will provide ongoing support for graduate student research through endowed fellowships which include five in energy science. The Resnick Sustainability Institute is receiving a significant portion of the funding in the agreement. Through the new Dow Chemical Company Bridge/CI2 Innovation Program, financial support will be used to further promising graduate and postdoc research that has the possibility of creating licensable technologies and start-ups. The graduate research fellowships in energy—renewable for up to two years—will help advance clean-energy goals. [Caltech Press Release] 10.13.11

Chiara Daraio, Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Physics, has been named the 2012 Journal of Strain Analysis (JSA) Young Investigator Lecturer by the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM). This award recognizes an SEM member in early to mid-career who demonstrates considerable potential in the field of experimental mechanics. The selection is a public statement by their professional peers of the quality and impact of the contributions that they have made thus far in their career. 10.12.11

Oskar J. Painter, Professor of Applied Physics and Executive Officer for Applied Physics and Materials Science, and colleagues including graduate student Jasper Chan have cooled a miniature mechanical object—a tiny mechanical silicon beam— to its lowest possible energy state using laser light. The achievement paves the way for the development of exquisitely sensitive detectors. "In many ways, the experiment we've done provides a starting point for the really interesting quantum-mechanical experiments one wants to do," Painter says. [Caltech Press Release] 10.07.11

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, has been selected by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Materials Division Executive Committee to receive the 2011 Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award for her research contributions in "physical origins of size-dependent mechanical properties in nano-scale solids". 10.07.11

The high-tech house built by a joint team of students from Caltech and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), known as Compact Hyper-Insulated Prototype (CHIP), placed 6th at the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. In the category of Energy Balance we tied for first place; in the categories of engineering and home entertainment, we placed 2nd, and in affordability we placed third. [Latest scores and photos] [Walkthrough video of CHIP] 10.03.11

The high-tech house built by a joint team of students from Caltech and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), known as Compact Hyper-Insulated Prototype (CHIP), is heading to Washington D.C. for the 2011 Solar Decathlon competition. The SCI-Arc / Caltech team has been supported by a variety of people including Richard Murray, Thomas E. and Doris Everhart Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems and Bioengineering, and Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science; Director, Resnick Sustainability Institute. CHIP will be competing with 18 other teams for the title of the most energy-efficient, affordable, and attractive house. [Caltech Feature] [Walkthrough video of CHIP] 9.6.11

Siddhartha (Sid) Pathak, a W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) Postdoctoral Fellow in Material Science, has received the first prize in the NanoArt 2011 International Competition. The inspiration for Dr. Pathak's entry entitled "In-situ SEM deformation of CNT micro-pillars" is his research on nano-mechanics of carbon nanotubes. As a KISS postdoc Dr. Pathak is working with Professor Julia Greer on mechanical testing of carbon nanotubes at submicron length scales, with a particular emphasis towards space applications. Read More... 8.24.11

Liang Feng, a Postdoctoral Scholar in Electrical Engineering who works with Professor Axel Scherer, has designed a new type of optical waveguide - a 0.8-micron-wide silicon device. The waveguide allows light to go in one direction but changes the mode of the light when it travels in the opposite direction. This new technique to isolate light signals on a silicon chip, solves a longstanding problem in engineering photonic chips. [Caltech Press Release] 8.4.11

Jeff Snyder, Faculty Associate in Applied Physics and Materials Science, and colleagues have developed a thermoelectric material that might be able to operate off nothing more than the heat of a car's exhaust. "You'll see applications wherever there's a solid-state advantage," Snyder predicts. "One example is the charging system. The electricity to keep your car's battery charged is generated by the alternator, a mechanical device driven by a rubber belt powered by the crankshaft. You've got friction, slippage, strain, internal resistance, wear and tear, and weight, in addition to the mechanical energy extracted to make the electricity. Just replacing that one subsystem with a thermoelectric solution could instantly improve a car's fuel efficiency by 10 percent." [Caltech Press Release] 5.23.11

Sandra M. Troian, Professor of Applied Physics, Aeronautics, and Mechanical Engineering, and colleagues' experiments have confirmed which of three possible mechanisms is responsible for the spontaneous formation of three-dimensional (3-D) pillar arrays in nanofilms (polymer films that are billionths of a meter thick). "My ultimate goal is to develop a suite of 3-D lithographic techniques based on remote, digital modulation of thermal, electrical, and magnetic surface forces," Troian says. Confirmation of the correct mechanism has allowed her to deduce the maximum resolution or minimum feature size ultimately possible with these patterning techniques. [Caltech Press Release] 5.19.11

William L. Johnson, Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, and his team of researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to make metallic-glass parts utilizing the same inexpensive processes used to produce plastic parts. "We've taken the economics of plastic manufacturing and applied it to a metal with superior engineering properties,”
Professor Johnson says. "We end up with inexpensive, high-performance, precision net-shape parts made in the same way plastic parts are made—but made of a metal that's 20 times stronger and stiffer than plastic." [Caltech Press Release] 5.13.11

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, has received a five-year award from the Department of Energy Office of Science's Early Career Research Program for her proposal entitled "Investigation of radiation damage tolerance in interface‐containing metallic nano structures". These research awards provide incentives for exceptional researchers, during the crucial early career years, to focus on research areas that are a high priority for the Department of Energy and the Nation. 5.6.11

Sossina M. Haile, Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, is a recipient of the David Chow Humanitarian Foundation Award for her "extraordinary humanitarian work on developing long-term, sustainable energy solutions". 4.12.11

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, is one of ten, and the only female, to receive the 2011 TMS Young Leader Professional Development Award. This award gives young members of the Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society (TMS) the opportunity to advance in the field of Materials Science through interaction with TMS division leaders, and participation in the decision-making and long range planning of the society. Congratulations Professor Greer! [The Young Leader Newsletter] 4.8.11

Harry A. Atwater, Jr., Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science; and Director of Resnick Institute, has been elected a 2011 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fellow. The title of MRS Fellow honors those MRS members who are notable for their distinguished research accomplishments and their outstanding contributions to the advancement of materials research, world-wide. The maximum number of new Fellow appointments each year is limited to 0.2% of the current MRS membership. The distinction is thus highly selective. 2.28.11

At a special event entitled "Meet the Volts" students had the opportunity to learn about the evolution of electric vehicles from Kent Kresa, Chair of the Caltech Board of Trustees and former Interim Chairman of GM's Board of Directors. Also, presenting at the event was Larry Nitz, GM's Executive Director of Hybrid and Electric Powertrain Engineering, who discussed the propulsion technology that makes the Volt, GM's new electric car, unique. [Watch the Presentations] 2.24.11

Congratulations to Chiara Daraio, Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Physics, for receiving a 2011 Sloan Research Fellowship. The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded yearly to 118 researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field. Read More... 2.16.11

Sossina Haile, Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, and colleagues have built a reactor at the heart of which is a cylindrical lining of ceria—a metal oxide. The reactor takes advantage of ceria's ability to "exhale" oxygen from its crystalline framework at very high temperatures and then "inhale" oxygen back in at lower temperatures. Ultimately, Haile says, the process could be adopted in large-scale energy plants, allowing solar-derived power to be reliably available during the day and night. Read More... 01.20.11

William Johnson, Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, and colleagues have developed a new alloy—a combination of the noble metal palladium, a small fraction of silver, and a mixture of other metalloids—that has a combination of strength and toughness not previously seen in any other material. Read More... 01.20.11

On October 21, 2010, the EAS division participated in the Caltech ShakeOut drill. A key element of the success was the Building Assessment Teams (BATs). These teams consist of graduate students trained to assess the outside of buildings for structural damage in the event of an emergency, and label buildings with: safe, caution, or closed. They perform an important building triage function for the Institute in the case of a major earthquake. Thank you to all who participate in the ShakeOut.

Amnon Yariv, Martin and Eileen Summerfield Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Electrical Engineering, has received one of the highest honors bestowed by the United States government on scientists, and engineers. He is a recipient of the National Medal of Science. Professor Yariv's research group has pioneered the field of optoelectronics. Many innovations such as distributed Feedback (DFB) Semiconductor Lasers, Integrated Optoelectronic Circuits, Optical Phase Conjugation, External Cavity Tunable Semiconductor Lasers, Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors (QWIP's), and all-fiber add/drop filters have found their beginnings in his research group. Currently, his group’s research aims at developing the new technologies that will be mandated by the seemingly endless appetite for optical bandwidth. Specifically, they are working at extending, to the field of laser optics, some key ideas that form the foundation of the microwaves and the radio frequencies fields. Learn More... 10.15.10

Chiara Daraio, Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Applied Physics, has been named one of Popular Science's Brilliant 10. The article states that Professor Daraio is "brilliant because: she manipulates simple laws of physics to make cancer-destroying 'sound bullets'." Learn More on page 80-01 10.14.10

Harry A. Atwater, Jr., Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, along with colleagues Nate Lewis, George L. Argyros Professor and Professor of Chemistry, and Dr. Michael Kelzenberg are recipients of a 2010 Breakthrough Award by Popular Mechanics for their work on flexible solar cells. Read More... 10.05.10

Congratulations to William Chueh, graduate student in the Department of Applied Physics and Material Science, who has won the President Harry S. Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering. Chueh is one of only two recipients this year. The winners are expected to have solved a major scientific or engineering problem in their thesis work or have provided a new approach or insight to a major problem, as evidenced by a recognized impact in their field. Chueh has won this fellowship for his work in advancing the fundamental understanding of elevated-temperature materials for solar-to-fuel and fuel-to-electricity conversion processes. 8.18.10

Congratulations to Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, whose paper entitled Size dependence of mechanical properties of gold at the micron scale in the absence of strain gradients is the highest cited original research paper, in the past five years, in Acta Materialia.
[Find and read the paper by clicking the "Top 10 Cited" link] 8.18.10

A $122 million Energy Innovation Hub, aimed at developing revolutionary methods to generate fuels directly from sunlight, is to be directed by Nate Lewis, George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry. Other members of the leadership team include Harry A. Atwater, Jr., Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and Director of the Resnick Institute; and Bruce S. Brunschwig, Director of the Beckman Institute Molecular Materials Resource Center. Learn More... 07.22.10

The student winners of the 2010 Demetriades - Tsafka - Kokkalis Prizes were announced at a special luncheon with the Demetriades - Tsafka – Kokkalis family. Xiquan Cui received the prize in Biotechnology for his work on biophotonics with Professor Changhuei Yang; Matt Eichenfield received the prize in Nanotechnology for his work in nanomechanics with Professor Oskar Painter; Morgan Putnam received the prize in Entrepreneurship for work on silicon solar cells with Professor Harry Atwater; and Andrew May received the prize in Environmentally Benign Renewable Energy Sources for his work on thermoelectric materials with Professor Sossina Haile and Dr. Jeff Snyder. 06.08.10

Congratulations to Jordan R. Raney, graduate student in Professor Daraio's group, who has won a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship. NDSEG awards, from the Department of Defense, are three-year graduate fellowships given to individuals who have demonstrated ability and special aptitude for advanced training in science and engineering. 4.30.10

Stanley Burgos, researcher at the Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion Energy Frontier Research Center, Harry A. Atwater, Jr., Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and colleagues have engineered a novel negative-index metamaterial that responds to visible light. This material bends light in the "wrong" direction from what normally would be expected, irrespective of the angle of the approaching light. Read More... 4.23.10

William A. Goddard III, Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Applied Physics, has been elected to 2010 American Academy of Arts and Sciences class of fellows. Professor Goddard joins an assembly that was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other scholars to provide practical solutions to pressing issues. Read More... 4.20.10

Harry A. Atwater, Jr., Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, has been awarded the Fred Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience by the Materials Research Society. His lecture was entitled "Bending Light to Our Will: Nanophotonic Structures for Terawatt-Scale Solar Energy Conversion." Read More... 4.15.10

Congratulations to Andrew Jennings, graduate student in Professor Greer's group, who has received a 2010 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for his outstanding abilities and accomplishments, as well as his potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise. 4.6.10

Julia Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, and Dongchan Jang, Postdoctoral Scholar, have developed a way to make some notoriously brittle materials ductile—yet stronger than ever—simply by reducing their size. Professor Greer describes, "We are entering a new era in materials science, where structural materials can be created not only by utilizing monolith structures, like ceramics and metals, but also by introducing 'architectural' features into them." Read More... 2.09.10

Harry A. Atwater, Jr., Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and Nathan S. Lewis, George L. Argyros Professor and Professor of Chemistry, are leading a new solar-research collaboration between Caltech and Dow Chemical Company aimed at developing the use of semiconductor materials that are less expensive and more abundant than those used in many of today's solar cells. In addition, they announced the creation of the Dow Chemical Company Graduate Fellowship in Chemical Sciences and Engineering. Read More... 11.12.09

Hareem T. Maune, a graduate student studying carbon nanotube physics, and Si-ping Han, a graduate student investigating the interactions between carbon nanotubes and DNA, have developed DNA origami nanoscale breadboards for carbon nanotube circuits. "This collaborative research project is evidence of how we at Caltech select the top students in science and engineering and place them in an environment where their creativity and imagination can thrive," says Ares Rosakis, chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Caltech and Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The work of these students was supervised by: Erik Winfree, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Computation and Neural Systems, and Bioengineering; William A. Goddard III, Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Applied Physics; Paul W.K. Rothemund, Senior Research Associate, and Marc Bockrath, Associate Professor of Physics at University of California Riverside. Read More... 11.10.09

Congratulation to Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, for been selected to participate in the DARPA Young Faculty Award program. She is among 33 "rising stars" from 24 U.S. universities who each will receive grants of approximately $300,000. Greer's project is aimed at understanding and subsequently mimicking the superior mechanical robustness and strength of naturally occurring protective layers—such as nacre, or mother of pearl, a composite produced by some mollusks to line their inner shell—to create strong, ductile, damage-tolerant materials that maintain a relatively low density. Read More... 11.04.09

Brent Fultz, Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics, is the recipient of the 2010 TMS-EMPMD Distinguished Scientist Award of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS). The award includes a TMS conference symposium in honor of Professor Fultz that will emphasize the vibrational entropy of materials, and studies of vibrational entropy by inelastic neutron scattering and modern computational methods of materials science. This work was the basis for the award. 10.23.09

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, has been recognized as a rising star by Advanced Functional Materials. Her latest publication is entitled Emergence of New Mechanical Functionality in Materials via Size Reduction. Read Julia Greer's interview... 10.01.09

Graduate student Michael Winterrose, and Brent Fultz, professor of materials science and applied physics, and colleagues, describe the exotic behavior of materials existing at high pressures in a paper in the June 12th issue of Physical Review Letters. By squeezing a typical metal alloy at pressures hundreds of thousands of times greater than normal atmospheric pressure, the material does not expand when heated, as does nearly every normal metal, and acts like a metal with an entirely different chemical composition. This insight into the behavior of materials existing at high pressures becomes doubly interesting when you consider that some 90 percent of the matter in our solar system exists at these high pressures. Read more... 07.01.09

DOE Names Harry Atwater as Director of EFRC Focusing on Light-Material Interactions. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science has announced that it will fund the creation of 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) over the next five years, including one that will be housed at Caltech. That $15 million EFRC will be headed by Harry Atwater, the Howard Hughes Professor and professor of applied physics and materials science. Read more... 05.11.09

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded an American
Competitiveness and Innovation (ACI) Fellowship to Sossina M. Haile, Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, "for her timely and transformative research in the energy field and her dedication to inclusive mentoring, education and outreach across many levels." This recognition program honors current NSF grantees who have demonstrated a combination of transformative research accomplishments and outstanding contributions toward education, mentoring, and broadening participation of women, underrepresented minorities, and people with disabilities.

Julia Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science, has been recognized by Technology Review magazine as one of the world's top innovators under the age of 35 for her work with materials on a nanoscale level. Selected from more than 300 nominees by a panel of expert judges and the editorial staff of Technology Review, the TR35 is an elite group of accomplished young innovators who exemplify the spirit of innovation.

Axel van de Walle, Assistant Professor of Materials Science, has developed a general formalism to represent structure-property relationships in crystals. It enables the prediction, from a database of quantum mechanical calculations, of anisotropic material properties such as elasticity, piezoelectricity, dielectric constants, etc. As an application, he developed predictive models of anisotropic properties relevant to the design and optimization of III–V semiconductor epitaxial optoelectronic devices. This work was recently highlighted as the cover feature of Nature Materials. Read article and commentary...

Julia R. Greer, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, has won an NSF Career Award for her proposal CAREER: Experimental Investigation of Plasticity at Nano-scale via in-situ Mechanical Deformation.

Professor Sossina Haile, creator of the first solid-acid fuel cell, is profiled in Newsweek. Soild-acid fuel cells operation at much lower temperatures than conventional fuel cells. Early this year, the start-up company Superprotonic--founded by two of her former grad students--will ship the first commercial prototypes to energy-systems makers.

The third edition of the book, Transmission Electron Miscroscopy and Diffractometry of Materials, by Professor Brent Fultz and James M. Howe has been published by Springer.

The AT&T Tech Channel discusses Plasmonics with Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science. New research in Plasmonics promises breakthroughs with implications ranging from the creation of faster than light computing, possible new weapons against cancer, and maybe even achieving invisibility. Video clip...

The NRG 0.1 lecture series, organized by Caltech's Energy Advisory Committee, will take place in Baxter Lecture Hall on Fridays from 2-3 p.m. through mid February. The first speaker, on October 5th, will be former Caltech professor/Provost and current Chief Scientist of BP, Steve Koonin, giving a broad overview of the global energy challenge. Future speakers include Sossina Haile, Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harry Atwater, Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and Jared Leadbetter, Associate Professor of Environmental Microbiology.

Julia R. Greer has joined the EAS Division as Assistant Professor of Materials Science. Her research areas are in mechanical deformation and materials characterization at the nanoscale.

In the online journal Science Express, Caltech applied physicists Harry Atwater, Henri Lezec, and Jen Dionne report that they have devised a way to make visible light travel in the opposite direction that it normally bends when passing from one material to another, like from air through water or glass. This could lead to "cloaking devices" that may render an object invisible.

Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, has authored the cover article of Scientific American (April 2007) with his article "The Promise of Plasmonics." Read more...

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded Caltech $6.5 million to found CCSER, the Center for Sustainable Energy Research. Read more...

NSF has awarded $11.97 million for Distributed Data Analysis for Neutron Scattering Experiments (DANSE). The project is led by Brent Fultz, Professor of Materials Science and Applied Physics, with co-principal investigators Michael A. G. Aivazis and Ian S. Anderson. This work is aimed at designing new materials for a huge variety of applications in transportation, construction, electronics, and space exploration. Read more...

Caltech has teamed up with the energy company BP to look for better and cheaper ways of producing solar cells.The Caltech solar nanorod program will be directed by Nate Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor and Professor of Chemistry, and Harry Atwater, the Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science. Atwater's group will investigate ways of creating silicon-based single-junction and compound semiconductor-multijunction nanorod solar cells using vapor-deposition synthesis methods that are scalable to very large areas. Read more...

Graduate student Robert Walters and Professor Harry Atwater report in the current Nature Materials on the first light-emitting transistor to be entirely based on silicon. Although bulk silicon is a poor light emitter, when it is in the form of isolated crystals of just a few nanometres in diameter; its ability to emit light improves significantly. By incorporating these nanocrystals into a conventional silicon transistor, and applying an alternating voltage, the transistor can be made to light up. The ability to generate light in an all-silicon device opens a range of new possibilities in the field of optoelectronics. Field effect electroluminescence is a new conceptual approach to carrier injection in nanocrystal-based light emitting devices, and represents a significant advance in the search for an efficient silicon light source, one of the perennial "holy grails" of microphotonics.

Professor Sossina Haile and colleagues have created a propane-burning fuel cell that's almost as small as a watch battery, yet many times higher in power density. The team reports in the June 9 issue of the journal Nature that two of the cells have sufficient power to drive an MP3 player. If commercialized, such a fuel cell would have the advantage of driving the MP3 player for far longer than the best lithium batteries available.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has selected Professors Kaushik Bhattacharya and Guruswami Ravichandran as the recipients of the 2004 Best Paper Award in the area of active materials. The paper selected is "Large Electrostrictive Actuation of Barium Titanate Single Crystals".

Professor Sossina Haile and colleagues, including postdoctoral scholar Zongping Shao, have definitively solved a key problem in bringing fuel cells closer to practical widespread use. Their new cathode material, "BSCF", brings the operating temperature down to the relatively cool range of 1100 deg F, while achieving more power output than others are achieving at the higher temperatures--about 1 watt per square centimeter of fuel cell area.

"Bubbloy" is a new springy foamed metal recently invented by Caltech doctoral students Chris Veazey and Greg Welsh in the lab of Professor William Johnson. This reincarnation of a bulk metallic glass has the stiffness of metal but the springiness of a trampoline. Bubbloy is one of several advances that was showcased at the September 15 conference Materials at the Fore, the third annual meeting of the Center for the Science and Engineering of Materials at Caltech. Presentations included "Nano-scale Mechanical Properties," by Moore Distinguished Scholar Subra Suresh; "Thermoelectric Devices," by Professor Sossina Haile.

William Johnson, the Ruben & Donna Mettler Professor of Engineering & Applied Science, has been selected as a Fellow of the American Society of Metals for the invention of bulk metallic-glass-forming alloys and for the development of bulk metallic glasses as structural materials. In addition, the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) has selected Professor Johnson to give the Institute of Metals Lecture and receive the Robert Franklin Mehl Award.

Center for Structural and Amorphous Metals (CCSAM) was initiated in May 2001 as part of a broader SAM program sponsored by the Defense Sciences Office of DARPA.

Mike Manley, who received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from Caltech in 2001, has been named the recipient of the 18th Louis Rosen Prize of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE).

Inelastic Neutron Scattering at the Spallation Neutron Source

The DoE recently announced grants totalling $10.9 million for energy-efficient science research, an estimated $406,559 of which will go to Professor Sossina Haile to develop new proton conducting materials for fuel cells with higher chemical stability that improve energy efficiency...

Center for Ferroelectric Engineering at Caltech - Caltech has been awarded a Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative on "Multiscale modeling and process optimization for engineered microstructural complexity" for $5,390,538 over five years beginning June 1, 2001. This initiative will focus on the use of appropriate theory and targeted experimentation as a tool for development of complex materials and materials systems. It will use ferroelectric materials and their application in microactuation as a case study. The program will be managed by the Army Research Office, and involves nine investigators in Caltech: K. Bhattacharya (PI), H.A. Atwater, W.A. Goddard, D.G. Goodwin, S.M. Haile, R.M. Murray, M. Ortiz, G. Ravichandran and T. Cagin.

On December 1, 2001, the American Ceramic Society selected Sossina Haile to receive the 2001 Robert L. Coble Award for young scholars. The award honors the late Professor Coble whose enthusiasm and creative energy were directed toward putting the field of ceramics on a sound scientific foundation. Professor Coble's lifelong mission was to enhance the achievement and advancement of young ceramic scientists. This award recognizes an outstanding scientist who is conducting research in academia, industry or a government-funded laboratory. Candidates must be ACerS members at the time of nomination and must be 35 years of age or younger as of the Annual Meeting.

Caltech, Agere Systems scientists develop technique to shrink memory chips. New flash memory uses nanoparticles.

NSF awards $9.6 million for materials research center at Caltech.

Professor Sossina M. Haile has been selected for the Electrochemical Society High Temperature Materials Divison J. Bruce Wagner, Jr. Young Investigator Award. The criteria for the award is that the nominee should be no more than 36 years old on Jan 15, 2001, be an ECS member for 2 or more years, and have shown exceptional promise for a successful career in the field of high temperature materials. The award consists of $1000 and financial assistance to present a keynote talk at the Fall 2001 ECS Meeting in San Francisco. More details about this meeting can be found at: www.electrochem.org under meetings.