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Student News and Notes, April 2008
Graduation Lunch
May 2008 graduates are invited to a graduation lunch hosted by the MatSE Department. The department will provide graduates with 3 free tickets; additional tickets may be requested for $10. The lunch buffet will be held at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 11, in room 314 Illini Union. Click here to register online for the MatSE Graduation Lunch. Register by April 28.
MatSE Padfolios for Sale
Black leather padfolios imprinted with ith the UI logo and MatSE Department are the perfect choice for students wanting to make a good impression on a job interview. They also make excellent graduation presents. Drop by the main office to see a sample. Padfolios are $20 each.
UMO News
Congratulations to the UMO officers for the 2008-09 school year:
President: Pamela Wojtulewicz
Vice President: Don To
Treasurer: Patrick Coyle
Social Chair: Robert Smith
Service Chair: Matt Seebeck
Junior Rep: Matt Menke
Sophomore Rep: John Tara
Polymers Rep: Alissa Cote
Electronic Materials Rep: Scott Levin
Ceramics Rep: David Duterte
Biomaterials Rep: Nicole Cieslak
Metals Rep: Steve Matoesian
The next UMO meeting will be the Gripe Session on Thursday, April 24, 6:30 pm, in 218 Ceramics.
Engineering Open House 2008
EOH was held on March 7-8, attracting thousands of visitors to campus to learn about science and engineering. Many MatSE projects won top spots in the "Just for the Fun of It" category. The first floor of MSEB was packed with visitors, and the smell of cotton candy permeated the building. In the photo at left, the "Materials Science of Candy" students show visitors how to make ice cream.
The cotton candy/popcorn/bake sale during Engineering Open House was a huge success! The students raised $644 in the two days which will be going to the UMO Relay for Life team. Thank you to the students who took the time to be there and run the event, who provided baked goods for the sale, and to the staff for their support.
The AVS booth “Fun with Vacuums and Plasmas” won first place in the “Just for the Fun of It: Just Because” category. The AVS students were able to speak with a lot of science teachers from the area and will be (1) helping out teachers that are having trouble with their equipment/experiments and (2) giving demos at schools that cannot afford the equipment for these experiments.
Awards Banquet
The MatSE Awards Banquet was held on Friday, April 4, at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on the University of Illinois campus. In the photo at left, Ron Morris sits with Evelyn Huang, the first G.Ronald and Margaret H. Morris Scholar. In addition to the Morris Scholarship, this was the first year the Gerson B. Bilow Scholarship and the Parmelee International Research Scholarships were awarded. Prof. Schweizer, the Morris Professor, and his wife Janice are also pictured.
The following students received awards and scholarships for the 2008-09 school year.
Paul A. Beck Scholarship: Pamela Wojtulewicz
Clifton G. Bergeron Scholarships: Gerald Marchand, Samuel Waldo
Louis R. Berner Scholarships: Jonathan Bartelt, Tyler Cain, Kevin Spencer
Gerson B. Bilow Scholarship: Nicole Cieslak
Robert Bohl Scholarships: Ting-Kai Chang, Amanda Homce, Jason Jewell, Douglas Kelkhoff, Dan Kim, Sibu Kuruvilla, Francis Yuen
Caterpillar Scholarships: Will Chemelewski, Sibel Leblebici, Stephen Menke
Earl J. Eckel Scholarships: Samik Basu, Clarabelle DeVries
Elkay Scholarship: Patrick Coyle
M. Laird and Charisann Froberg Scholarships: Varistha Chobpattana, Caitlin Tribout
Phillip H. Geil Scholarship: Timothy Huang
Henry E. Grein Jr. Scholarship: Joseph Kao
Kevin Moore Memorial Scholarship: Kelsey Green
G. Ronald and Margaret H. Morris Scholarship: Evelyn Huang
James A. Nelson Scholarship: Michael Brendel
Cullen W. Parmelee Scholarships: Jian Wei Cheng, Matthew Dejarld, Daniel Fairfield, Luke Jungles, Kang Jie Lim, Chuan Hui Moh, Jonathan Naber, Elizabeth Rehwoldt, Blake Stevens, Dylan Stradley
Cullen W. Parmelee International Research Scholarships: Timothy Dunne, Sarah Treece
Norman L. Peterson Scholarships: Brian Lin, Lisa Mazzocco
Larry D. and Carol Rakers Scholarships: Michael Odlyzko, James Young
Lucille and Charles Wert Scholarships: Nyrene Haque, Alexander Hryn, Jason Lang, Meghan McKelvey, Varun Nayini, John Sadlik, Yost Smith, Donald To, Julie Vroman
Alfred W. Allen Awards: Michael Brendel, Tracey Brommer, Jian Wei Cheng, Varistha Chobpattana, Matthew Dejarld, Daniel Fairfield, Luke Jungles, Kang Jie Lim, Chuan Hui Moh, Jonathan Naber, Blake Stevens, Dylan Stradley
Materials Science and Engineering Alumni Board Award: Courtney Skinner
Arthur L. Friedberg Awards: Kristina Bond, Sandhya Chandrasekaran, Jonathan Lelah
And the Pigs...
The tradition of giving out pigs to the faculty and staff continued at this year's awards 
banquet. There were polymer pigs, metallic pigs, and even a pig for "Best Dressed" (in the tux) which went to Prof. Robertson.
More Congratulations
Stephen House, Jon Lelah, and Ruoshi Sun received the Bronze Tablet, the highest award which can be bestowed upon a graduate.
Erik Nelson, Ph.D. student in Prof. Braun’s group, received the Mavis Memorial Scholarship from the College of Engineering.
Intel-Racheff Award winners
Four graduate students received laptop computers and up to $1,000 financial support to 
attend a conference at which their research will be presented, as recipients of the MatSEDepartment’s Racheff/Intel Awards.
2008 Award Winners and their Research:
Abhijit Mishra (Prof. Wong, advisor): HIV TAT Forms Pores in Membranes by Inducing Saddle-Splay Curvature: General Mechanism for Cell-Penetrating Peptides
Xuan Zheng (Prof. Cahill, advisor): Micron-Scale Measurements of the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion by Time-Domain Probe Beam Deflection
Nikhil Ganesh (Prof. Cunningham and Prof. Rogers, advisors): Resonant Enhancement of Quantum Dot Fluorescence Using Photon Crystals
Shan Jiang (Prof. Granick, advisor): Janus Colloidal Particles-From Synthesis to Self-Assembly
ACerS Awards/Scholarships
The Electronics Division of The American Ceramic Society invites nominations for the Edward C. Henry Award and the Lewis C. Hoffman Scholarship. The Edward C. Henry Award is given annually to an outstanding paper reporting original work in the Journal or Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society during the previous calendar year, on a subject related to electronic ceramics. We are currently seeking nominations for the best paper published in calendar year 2007. More Information
Nomination Deadline: July 11, 2008
The Electronics Division also invites applications for the Lewis C. Hoffman Scholarship. The purpose of the $2000 tuition award is to encourage academic interest and excellence among undergraduate students in the area of ceramics and materials science and engineering. The award will be given to a junior-year student. More Information
Nomination Deadline: July 18, 2008
Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is proud to sponsor the Engineering Student of the Year award. This exciting award, now in its third year is aimed at engineering students around the world. The winner of the award will receive a paid trip for two to attend the 2008 Farnborough Airshow this summer in the UK.
The key criterion for award entries is the impact, or potential for impact, of the candidate's work on current or future aeronautical or space technology. This impact might be seen in new or enhanced systems or processes or tools, new levels of performance, improved life cycle costs, new capabilities, or in other areas. The award is open to any full- or part-time engineering student in a program leading to a recognized academic degree such as BS, MS, or Ph.D.
To enter students need to submit a summary of their work (500 words maximum), plus any supporting material. This could include new patents or documented applications that have been adopted by industry, published papers or research that have won recognition from academic, professional or industrial associations. All entries must be received by June 13, 2008.
More information