2012

June 3-7, 2012: 13th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys

Carnegie Mellon University is hosting the ICAA in 2012, the 13th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys. The ICAA continues to be the most important global conference for exchanging new knowledge on the structure and properties of aluminum materials, contributing to the education of the participants and the advancement of aluminum application development worldwide. Symposia will include the science of aluminum alloy design for a range of market applications, the accurate prediction of material properties, novel aluminum products and processes, as well as emerging developments in recycling and applications using both monolithic and multi-material solutions.

Meeting Website: http://www.tms.org/Meetings/Specialty/icaa13/home.aspx/

June 5, 2012: PA Nanotechnology 2012: Nanotech's Role in Advancing PA's Economy

Join us in Harrisburg for a day of discussion on nanotechnology for the future of Pennsylvania! More information will be available in March.

June 25-29, 2012: ASM Materials Camp for Teachers

CMU is hosting a FREE summer materials camp for high school science and math teachers June 25-29, 2012. This camp is designed to help science and math teachers to incoporate materials science related topics into their classrooms at no or little cost.

Application is available at the ASM education foundation website: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22ERUPWR64S

or visit: www.asmfoundation.org

2011

Workshop on 3D Microstructure Studies

On May 24-26, 2011, a workshop was held on 3D microstructure studies. Invited speakers included Carol Kiely from Lehigh University and Michael Groeber from the Air Force Research Lab. The MIMP Summer School focused on the characterization of 3D microstructures and grain boundary properties, quantifying and predicting microstructural evolution, and linking materials properties to microstructures. 41 scientists from from academia, industry and government laboratories participated in the workshop.

Congratulations to MRSEC Professor Tony Rollett who has been elevated to the rank of fellow of TMS (The Materials Society)!

This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the practice of metallurgy/materials science and technology.  He is one of only five fellows named this year.  Prof. Rollett was recognized at the annual meeting in Feb. 2011.

2010

June 30, 2010: CMU hosts 2nd Annual Pittsburgh ASM Materials Camp for Teachers

The CMU MRSEC and MSE Dept hosts 2nd annual ASM Materials Camp for teachers. From June 21-25, 2010, the MRSEC hosted 26 Pittsburgh area science teachers for a summer camp to help incorporate materials science into high school science classrooms. The camp is taught by master teachers, with considerable experience teaching materials science at the high school and middle school levels. The camp involved demonstrations, lectures and various hands-on experiments that the teachers can easily implement in their classrooms. Support for the camp was provided by:

• TMS Foundation
• AIST Foundation
• ASM Materials Education Foundation

June 14, 2010: MRSEC Chooses SEED projects for 2010-2011 academic year

The CMU MRSEC has selected two new SEED projects for the upcoming 2010-2011 year. Professor Jessica Zhang in the Mechanical Engineering Department and Professor Kristina Woods in the Physics Department will be working on projects supporting the MRSEC. See research page for detailed description of projects.

June 7, 2010: CMU MRSEC hosts over 60 scientists at 1st Summer School on 3D Microstructure Analysis

On June 1st -4th, 2010, CMU hosted 67 scientists from around the world at the 1st Summer School on 3D Microstructure Studies. MRSEC Faculty, graduate students and researchers introduced the techniques that were developed and continue to be developed here at CMU to characterize of the internal structure of polycrystalline materials. The school consisted of a mix of lectures, demonstrations and hands-on interactive activities for the participants. Sections were taught on measuring the grain boundary character distribution using serial sectioning, generating synthetic microstructures, using the TEM for orientation mapping and using synchrotron techniques for orientation mapping. The participants included scientists from industry (15%), academia (25%), and government laboratories (60%).

Professor Martin Harmar, a MRSEC professor at Lehigh University has been selected to receive the 2010 ACerS W. David Kingery Award. The W. David Kingery Award recognizes distinguished lifelong achievements involving multidisciplinary and global contributions to ceramic technology, science, education and art. Recognition of this award will be given at the ACerS Honors and Awards Banquet at the 112th Annual Meeting on Monday, October 18, 2010 in Houston, Texas, USA.

2010 CMU MRSEC Seed Program: Call for Proposals

DEADLINE: MAY 15, 2010
The Carnegie Mellon Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) invites proposals for seed funding. Our MRSEC is dedicated to the understanding, control, and optimization of interface dominated materials properties. Our seed program provides for one year of graduate student support for exciting projects undertaken by teams of CMU faculty that have the potential to eventually be sustained through external funding.

Participation and/or leadership from non‐tenured faculty is strongly encouraged
and viewed favorably in the review process. Proposals that lead to connections with industry are also desirable. Interested faculty are welcome to consult with current participants in the MRSEC (see people page). The criteria are:
• Intellectual merit
• Relevance to the MRSEC mission
• Ability to be sustained after the seed period

Details
The proposals should be e‐mailed to Neetha Khan (neetha at andrew.cmu.edu) by
May 15th, 2010.
The proposals must be no longer than three pages and should address the main
criteria listed above.
The maximum amount of funding will be $60,000 for AY10/11.
The maximum duration is one year.
The PIs of funded projects must attend center meetings, submit an annual report,
and provide a project highlight (in the normal NSF style).
The projects will be evaluated by the MRSEC executive committee in early June.
This year, certain proposals may also be included (in synopsis form) in the MRSEC
renewal proposal that will be submitted in the later part of 2010.

2010 REU Program at CMU May 24 - July 31, 2010 - Carnegie Mellon University hosts a 10 week summer research progrm to expose science and undergraduates to cutting edge materials research each year. See REU Website for more information on the 2010 Program.

Fatma Uyar, a MRSEC grad student in the research group of Professor Rollett won the third place in graduate division for the Biological Materials Science Poster Contest at the 2010 TMS meeting (February 2010), with her poster titled "Tissue Development in Arabidopsis: 3D Shape Analysis for Detection of Cell Type".

2009

Carnegie Mellon's Katayun Barmak Develops Novel Nanoscale Mapping Process for Tracking Structures

REU Program at CMU – May 26 - Aug 1, 2009
Carnegie Mellon University hosted a ten-week summer research program to expose science and engineering undergraduates to cutting edge materials research each year. See REU Website for detailed information on our program activities.

ASM Materials Science Summer Camp for High School Teachers
June 22 -26, 2009
The CMU MRSEC and the Materials Science and Engineering Department at CMU hosted this camp “Materials Science and Technology for Teachers” in 2009.  This week-long, hands-on, lab-based camp shows teachers how to use applied science and engineering techniques in the classroom.

June 4, 2009 - Carnegie Mellon's Katayun Barmak Develops Novel Nanoscale Mapping Process for Tracking Structures

March 31, 2009 - MRSEC Graduate student Ben Anglin received the NDSEG 2009 Fellowship Award.

2008

2008-2010 Dr. Yoshihiro Arita, Senior Researcher at Nippon Steel Corporation is a visiting researcher, working on optimization of microstructure, texture and properties of electrical steels.

2008-2009 Professor Heung Nam Han and Dr. Kyung Jun Ko from Seoul National University will be visiting researchers in Professor Tony Rollett’s group in the MRSEC, studying microstructural evolution and abnormal grain growth. Dr. Ko will be working with Profs. Rollett and Han on computer modeling of microstructural evolution in steels.

October 2008 Dr. Dominique Chatain from the CINaM-CNRS Laboratory in Marseille, France visited the MRSEC.

June-August 2008 Dr. Satyam Suwas, assistant professor from Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India is a visiting researcher working with Prof. Rollett's group on laminate metal-metal composites.

Graduate Student Chris Hefferan won a poster presentation prize at the Argonne National Laboratory APS (Advanced Photon Source) User's Week conference May 4-8, 2008. http://www.aps.anl.gov/Users/Meeting/2008/Awards/

Professor Greg Rohrer has received the Robert B. Sosman Award, the highest recognition of scientific accomplishment given by the American Ceramic Society. This award is given in recognition of outstanding achievement in basic science of an area that results in a significant impact to the field of ceramics.

O. Burak Ozdoganlar has received the Best paper of the Year award from the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of Society of Manufacturing Engineers (2007-2008) for the following paper: N. Kota and O.B. Ozdoganlar, “A Simplified Model for Orthogonal Micromachining of fcc Single-Crystal Materials,” Transactions of the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME, (2008): 36, 193-200.

Two former research associates in the MRSEC have successfully acquired faculty positions in prominent universities. Dr. Shen Dillon, a former postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the MRSEC has accepted a position as Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Elon Terrell, a former postdoctoral researcher in Prof. C.F. Higgs’ group has begun a position as Assistant Professor at Columbia University.

June 2007

Special Symposium in honor of Professor Wynblatt.

The symposium was an opportunity to see talks by an international group of scientists in the area of interface science and meet with friends of years.

Herbert Miller presentation to the 10th European Ceramic Society.

Herbert Miller got a NSF Travel Fellowship to attend 10th European Ceramic Society. He will be giving a talk titled “Time Evolution of the Grain Boundary Character Distribution During Grain Growth in Strontium Titanate”.

As part of the program, he will also be traveling to visit a couple ceramic companies in Germany as well as the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.

May 2007

David Kinderlehrer appears in Nature, News and Views.

David Kinderlehrer, Professor in the Department of Mathematics at CMU, appears in Nature, News and Views, by writing “Mathematical physics: Added dimensions to grain growth” (click here to see the article). This article is an accompanying commentary about “The von Neumann relation generalized to coarsening of three-dimensional microstructures” paper that Robert D. MacPherson & David J. Srolovitz wrote (click here to see the article).

Kinderlehrer was interviewed by many papers and magazines including the Scientific American and the New York Times, where he was quote along with  Srolovitz in an articled entitled “ … In Bubbles and Metal, The Art of Shape-Shifting”.

April 2007

Higgs and Islam win CAREER Awards

Two MRSEC young faculty members have received prestigious five-year Early Faculty Career Development Awards from the National Science Foundation. The recipients are C. Fred Higgs III, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and Mohammad F. Islam, assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering. They will use their awards to further their research on computer models to predict wearing problems in surfaces (Higgs) how atoms and molecules are organized in crystals and alloys (Islam).

March 2007

Harmer to receive 2008 Sosman Award

Martin Harmer, Professor at Lehigh University, was chosen to receive the 2008 Robert B. Sosman Award from the American Ceramics Society (ACerS). The award, the top honor in ceramics, is named for the 20th century physical chemist who helped develop optical materials and made major discoveries about the phases of silica.

Lisa Chan wins TMS graduate student poster award

Lisa Chan, a Graduate Student advised by Rohrer and Rollett won the Graduate Student poster award at the TMS annual meeting at the TMS annual meeting in Orlando FL for her poster entitled "The Effect of Grain Boundary Character Distribution on the Stress Corrosion Cracking Susceptibility of 2124 Aluminum Alloy."

November 2006

Ozdoganlar Wins Manufacturing Engineer Award

Burak Ozdoganlar has been selected to receive the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award.

September 2006

Stephen D. Sintay was awarded "best poster of the conference"…

Doctoral Student, Stephen D. Sintay (with R.Campman, G. Welsh, E.L. Anagnostou, J.M Papazian, A.D. Rollett), was awarded "best poster of the conference" for "Grain orientation influence on matrix crack initiation in AA7075-T651," during the International Conference on Fatigue Damage of Structural Materials VI: Sponsored by the International Journal of Fatigue.

Michael Gao's recent paper was just awarded the "APDIC Best Paper Award".…

MSE Research Associate, Dr. Michael Gao's recent paper entitled "Reassessment of Al-Ce and Al-Nd Binary Systems Supported by Critical Experiments and First-Principles Energy Calculations" and published at Metall. Mater. Trans. A 36A (2005) pp3269-3279, was just awarded the "APDIC Best Paper Award" for the best published manuscript on alloy phase diagram data in the year 2005. Co-authors on the paper were N. Unlu, G. J. Shiflet, M. Mihalkovic and M. Widom. APDIC stands for Alloy Phase Diagram International Commission. This paper was done with partial financial support from Computational Materials Science Network, a program of the Office of Science, US Department of Energy.

August 2006

Christopher Roberts has been named the 2006 International Symposium on Superalloys Scholar by TMS.

The award, which carries a $2,000 cash award is available to undergraduate and graduate students majoring in metallurgical and/or materials science and engineering with an emphasis on all aspects of the high-temperature, high-performance materials used in the gas turbine industry and all other applications.

July 2006

Maria Emelianenko (CMU, Mathematics Department) won the first prize poster at the Gordon Research Conference on Physical Metallurgy (July 23-28, 2006) by presenting:

Title: Mathematical modeling and simulation of the grain boundary character distribution

Collaboration: Maria Emelianenko*, Dmitry Golovaty, David Kinderlehrer, Shlomo Ta'asan

Abstract: Preparing a texture suitable for a given purpose is a central problem in materials science, which presents many challenges for mathematical modeling, simulation, and analysis. We focus on the mesoscopic behavior of the grain boundary system and on understanding the role of topological reconfigurations during evolution. We formulate several types of evolution equations based on fractional kinetics and stochastic descriptions, compare its results with the simulations and discuss their limitations and possible extensions to higher dimensions.

Physical Metallurgy
Microstructural Evolution and Stability:
Challenges at the Intersection of Experiment and Theory
July 23-28, 2006
Holderness School|
Plymouth, NH
http://www.grc.org/programs/2006/physmet.htm

June 2006

June 5 – August 11 2006: The REU Summer program 2006 adjourned with brio… more

June 22 – 23 2006: First and successful High School Teacher Workshop was held at CMU MRSEC ! more

May 2006

Professor Anthony D. Rollett has developed a new computational method that may help track the lifespan of U.S. Navy aircraft. more

Course Description

The 2006 Materials Educational Course offered by Pittsburgh Chapter of ASM International addressed the state of the art in scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was held on May 9, 2006, in the Digital Microscopy Facility, Roberts Engineering Hall at Carnegie Mellon University. Instructors Tom Nuhfer and Anthony Rollett explained how to use modern SEMs:

• Modern Field Emission Gun SEM;
• X-ray Microanalysis in the SEM: Energy Dispersive Analysis, Wavelength Dispersive Analysis
• Automated Electron Back Scatter Diffraction for Orientation Mapping (OIM™);
• Automated Serial Sectioning with a Dual-Beam FIB;
• New trends.

Optional Sessions: Hands-on Demonstrations of FEG-SEM and EBSD Orientation Scanning (OIM) operation.

A lot of materials related discussions have been initiated with the participants. Allan Hutt from Perryman came out with an interesting fatigue problem in Ti springs. A couple of specimens will be analyzed at the MSREC by EBSD in the near future to see if there is anything related to microstructure.  Walt Moorhead from Product Evaluation turned out to be very interested in using our equipment for failure analysis, mainly high resolution SEM on the XL30.  Brian Schwandron from USS would like to bring a dual-phase steel specimen in to see if a high resolution EBSD scan will allow him to resolve a 2-phase structure. 

List of Participants:

• Robert Albert, Bettis
• Maria Sawford, Crucible
• Jim McCalla, Crucible
• Peter Kozlowski, Crucible
• Joe Muha, Crucible
• Jill McGibbney, Dynamet
• Kevin Groll, Matco
• Dickey Scott, Matco
• Allan Hutt, Perryman
• Nicholas Polasky, Perryman
• Ikanos Kayafas, Product Evaluation Systems
• Walt Moorhead, Product Evaluation Systems
• Brian Schwadron, USS
• Debbie Giensante, USS
• William Kaiser

February 2006

Congratulations to the authors for the "Highly Cited" paper

"Current issues in recrystallization", R. D. Doherty, D. A. Hughes, F. J. Humphreys, J. J. Jonas, D. J. Jensen, M. E. Kassner, W. E. King, T. R. McNelley, H. J. McQueen and A. D. Rollett, Mat. Sci. & Eng. A., 238/2, 219-274 (1997).

For the year of 1997, it was the most cited paper of ALL articles published that year in:

• Materials Science and Eng A, B
• Philosophical Mag A, B
• Scripta Mater
• Jour. Mater Sci
• Prog. Mater Sci
• Metall. Mater. Trans
• and many others

Click here to read the article.

October 2005

Materials Science Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) will receive $6.5 million over the next six years from the National Science Foundation to continue creating new, super efficient materials for many industry sectors.

"Our goal is to create new paradigms for interdisciplinary work that apply the principles of basic science and engineering to understanding the behavior, development and application of various materials," said Gregory S. Rohrer, head of MRSEC and Carnegie Mellon's Materials Science & Engineering Department. Since 1996, MRSEC researchers have been working to understand the intricate nature of nanoscale grain boundaries in materials. Most metallic and ceramic materials used in aircraft, automobiles and computers are made up of many microscopic crystals held together by grain boundaries. These materials are called polycrystals.

"We are studying how these nanoscale polycrystals work and what makes them both durable and functional," Rohrer said.

To that end, MRSEC researchers have discovered that materials in this polycrystalline state often behave differently depending on the types of grain boundaries they contain. Familiar materials, from gold to plastics, display startling new properties when the nanoscale grain boundary structure is altered. Some can display greatly increased strength or resistance to corrosion while others can turn into potent chemical catalysts. What's more, Carnegie Mellon researchers are finding with their newly developed computer-controlled experimental methodology that they can create materials for everything from fortified car fenders to more fuel-efficient aircraft.

"We see our research ultimately making it possible for manufacturers to one day produce smaller, faster computer chips and safer power plants," Rohrer said.

MRSEC also has extensive collaboration with national laboratories, as well as important international collaborations. An important feature of the educational program is a Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) with Florida A&M University. Carnegie Mellon's center is one of 29 centers nationwide supported by the MRSEC program with annual NSF support of $52.5 million.

Professor Anthony D. Rollett and his co-workers (David Saylor, Joseph Friday, Bassem El-Dasher, Kee Young Jung) have won the Henry Marion Howe Medal from ASM. This medal has been awarded since 1923 to authors of the best paper in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions during the past year. Rollett's team has won the 2004 medal for the paper: D.M. Saylor, J. Fridy B.S. El-Dasher, K.-Y. Jung and A.D. Rollett, "Statistically Representative Three-Dimensional Microstructures Based on Orthogonal Observation Sections," Metallurgical and Materials Transactions, 35A (2004) 1969-1979. [PDF]