[BNC-all] MONDAY MEMO; submit items for inclusion by Fridays at 5:00

[Starewich, Deborah S.]

MONDAY MEMO, APRIL 23, 2007


CONTENTS

1. Announcements

1.1:  REMINDER: Cleanroom Preventive Maintenance, May 1-2, 2007

1.2:  New Course: ME 597R Intellectual Property, offered Fall 2007


2. Faculty/Staff/Student Awards and Honors

2.1

 
3. Seminar Announcements

3.1:  Monday, April 23, 2007 9:30am: “Technology Challenges of the 21st Century,” by Dr. Eugene S. Meieran

3.2:  Monday, April 23, 2007, 10:30am:  Plasmonics—Building Nanophotonics with Metals,” Alexandra (Sasha) Boltasseva, BRK 1001

3.3:  2nd Annual Lovell Leadership Lecture:  Monday, April 23, 10:30 am – Stewart Center, Room 302: “TRUST: The Foundation of Leadership,” Haydn Shaw, Leadership and Team Productivity Guru”

3.4: Discovery Lecture Series:  Monday, April 23, 1:30 pm – North Ballroom, Purdue Memorial Union: “Marriage of Medicine and Management: Sustaining Improvements in Delivery, Quality, Cost, and Outcomes,” by Stephen Shortell, PhD, Dean of the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

3.5: Discovery Lecture Series: Monday, April 23, 3:00 pm (reception follows) – North Ballroom, Purdue Memorial Union: “The Road to Improving National Performance of Healthcare Delivery,” by Karen Davis, PhD, President of the Commonwealth Fund

3.6: Discovery Lecture Series: Tuesday, April 24, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Stewart Center and Purdue Memorial Union: Speakers and Panel Discussions on “Basic Healthcare – Advancing Solutions for Equitable Access,” “Consumer Choice and Responsibility – Expanding Models for Consumer-Directed Healthcare,” and “Continuum of Care – Evaluating New Provider Models.”

3.7:  Wednesday, April 25, 12:30pm: “Quantum Computation for Quantum Chemistry and Statistical Mechanics,” by Prof. Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Harvard University, WTHR 201

3.8:  Wednesday, April 25, 2:00pm: “Modeling and Analysis of VLSI Interconnects,” by Cheng-Kok Koh, Purdue University, EE 317

3.9:  Thursday, April 26, 9:30am: “Microscale Platforms for Applications in Global Health Diagnostics,” by Dr. William Rodriguez, Harvard University, MRGN 121

3.10:  Friday, April 27, 3:30pm, refreshments served: “Introduction to X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and to XPS Applications,” by Dmitry Zemlyanov, MRGN 121


4. Workshops/Conferences

4.1: Advancing the Future of Healthcare Delivery: Regenstrief Center Annual Conference, April 23-24, 2007

4.2: 2nd Annual Lovell Leadership Lecture Workshop: “Influence of the Ages,” Monday, April 23, Stewart Center, Room 302, 1:30-3:00 pm

4.3:  National Instruments Academic Events, Tuesday, April 24, BRK 1001, 9:00am–3:30pm; FREE PIZZA LUNCH

4.4:  Workplace Violence Awareness Training, June 28, 8:0-11:30am, Physical Facilities Service Building Room 1179 A-B, 775 Ahlers Road; pre-registration now open


5. Job/Fellowship opportunities

5.1:  Eta Kappu Nu presentation; Monday, April 23; 6-7pm, EE170


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1. Announcements
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1.1:  REMINDER: Cleanroom Preventive Maintenance, May 1-2, 2007

Per Mark Voorhis, a shut down of cleanroom operations has been scheduled for 48 hours to complete a six-month preventive maintenance procedure.  A shutdown of cleanroom operations will begin on Tuesday (1-May-07) at 7:00 AM and will be completed by Wednesday (2-May-07) at 5:00 PM.  Maintenance is required for our cleanroom makeup air handlers, chemical exhaust, and ultra pure water systems.  Please note that the ultra pure water will be shut down for the entire building.  We will also complete cleanroom troubleshooting to improve temperature repeatability during this time. 

Since the chemical exhaust system will be shut down please remove chemicals from all hoods in the cleanroom prior to the shutdown.  If not removed, the lab staff will dispose of them for you.

Thank you for your understanding and patience during this necessary
procedure. 

If you have any questions or concerns please Mark Voorhis (mvoorhis at purdue.edu)


1.2:  New Course: ME 597R Intellectual Property, offered Fall 2007

A one-credit class that historically has been a spring semester course will be offered in Fall 2007 instead.  It is currently scheduled for Mondays 2:30-3:20pm.  If you are interested in patent law, entrepreneurship, or just have an interest in intellectual property, this course is highly recommended by Prof. James D. Jones, Associate Professor and Associate Head, School of Mechanical Engineering.  Fpr additional information, visit http://meweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~me597r/


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2. Awards/Honors
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3. Seminar Announcements
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3.1:  Monday, April 23, 2007 9:30am: “Technology Challenges of the 21st Century,” by Dr. Eugene S. Meieran

ABSTRACT: The 20th century was a century of remarkable scientific and technical achievement, as recorded in the National Academy of Engineering book, "A Century of Innovation". Three forces ("a perfect storm") combined to make this possible; almost universal availability of electric power to enable many of the other achievements, the breakthroughs in fundamental understanding in physics, mathematics and engineering that provided the intellectual impetus, and the huge amount of capital expenditures that went into ships, railroads, factories, power stations, equipment and so forth, that allowed these engineering accomplishments to be made available to a vast audience at affordable costs. The airplane, telephone, computer, automobile, refrigeration, nuclear power plants, clean water supplies, etc., were all enabled by these three forces.

In order to make the 21st century as productive in terms of benefiting human society, similar but different forces are at play.  Instead of providing power, in this century, we will be fueled by providing information and knowledge. Instead of leveraging huge physical capital expenditures, we will invest in intellectual assets; what people know rather than what they own. And perhaps not replacing mathematics and science, we will augment this with information science, biological science and medical science. So again we have the capability of harnessing a "perfect storm" to make the 21st century as beneficial to human society and quality of life as was the 20th century.

In this talk I will discuss these factors and how we as a society need to embrace the concept of innovation in order to take advantage of what's being offered. We need to understand the roles of industry, government and academia in enabling the harnessing of these forces to take place.  

BIO: Dr. Eugene Meieran has served on several government and industry panels dealing with manufacturing technology and policy issues, such as the Coalition for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems and the Next Generation Manufacturing Systems Advanced Manufacturing Systems board. He has made extensive contributions in the areas of materials analysis techniques, semiconductor processing, semiconductor device reliability, statistical quality control and industrial leadership.  Dr. Meieran has been at Intel since 1973 and has been responsible for introducing advanced technologies and applications into Intel’s component manufacturing facilities to help improve manufacturing performance. Additionally, Dr. Meieran has been heavily involved in numerous external manufacturing technology and policy programs.  He received a B.S. from Purdue University and an M.S. and Sc.D. from MIT, all in materials science. He was elected as Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 1987 and an Honorary Doctorate in 2004, Purdue University, he served on the NRC Committee for Visionary Manufacturing Challenges in 1996-1998, and he has been on the Scientific and Education Advisory Board for Lawrence Berkeley Labs. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He was Director of Research for MIT's Leaders for Manufacturing Program from 1996 to 2000.


3.2:  Monday, April 23, 2007, 10:30am:  Plasmonics—Building Nanophotonics with Metals,” Alexandra (Sasha) Boltasseva, BRK 1001

ABSTRACT: Today, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) that represent two-dimensional electromagnetic waves propagating along a dielectric-metal interface are being explored for their potential in subwavelength optics, photonic integrated circuits, data storage, light generation, microscopy and bio-sensing. One of the most attractive features of SPPs is that they can help to concentrate and channel light using subwavelength structures. This could lead to miniaturized photonic circuits with length scales much smaller than those currently achieved. Giving the possibility of using the same metal circuitry for guiding light and transmitting electrical signals, plasmonics paves the way to efficient control of optical signals in integrated optical circuits.  In this talk, different metal-dielectric geometries are considered for efficient excitation and guiding of SPPs. Planar plasmonic waveguides based on nm-thin and µm-wide metal strips embedded in a polymer that support propagation of long-range SPPs are shown to constitute an alternative for integrated optical circuits. For applications where polarization is random or changing, metal nanowire waveguides are considered to be suitable candidates for efficient guiding of arbitrary polarized light. Plasmonic waveguides based on metal v-grooves that were recently shown to have superior features for subwavelength guiding, such as relatively low propagation loss and strong confinement, are also considered. For different waveguide geometries issues like main loss contributions, propagation loss vs. confinement and fabrication challenges are discussed. In this presentation, recent advances in manufacturing of nanostructured metal surfaces for plasmonic structures are also discussed.

BIO: Dr. Alexandra (Sasha) Boltasseva received M. Sc. degree in Physics, with highest honors, from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 2000 and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 2004. After industrial experience with companies Micro Managed Photons A/S and Alight Technologies A/S, she joined as a postdoc the Department of Communications, Optics & Materials at DTU, where she is currently an Assistant Professor. Her main research activities are within nanophotonics, plasmonics, metamaterials and advanced nanotechnology.


3.3:  2nd Annual Lovell Leadership Lecture:  Monday, April 23, 10:30 am – Stewart Center, Room 302: “TRUST: The Foundation of Leadership,” Haydn Shaw, Leadership and Team Productivity Guru”

The source of highest value is the creative engagement of the whole person: body, heart, mind, and spirit.  Learn how to unleash the full potential in your organization based on the timeless principles of Franklin Covey.


3.4: Discovery Lecture Series: Monday, April 23, 1:30 pm – North Ballroom, Purdue Memorial Union: “Marriage of Medicine and Management: Sustaining Improvements in Delivery, Quality, Cost, and Outcomes,” by Stephen Shortell, PhD, Dean of the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

Shortell is known as a leading academic voice advocating reform of the nation’s healthcare system.  His research has helped establish determinants of health outcomes and quality of care for health care organizations.  He has received the Baxter-Allegiance Prize, considered the highest honor worldwide in the field of health services research.  He is an elected member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, where he serves on the executive committee of the Governing Council.


3.5: Discovery Lecture Series: Monday, April 23, 3:00 pm (reception follows) – North Ballroom, Purdue Memorial Union: “The Road to Improving National Performance of Healthcare Delivery,” by Karen Davis, PhD, President of the Commonwealth Fund

Davis is a nationally recognized economist, with a distinguished career in public policy and research.  She assumed her position as president in 1995, having previously served as deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Department of Health and Human Services from 1977-1980, making her the first woman to head a US public health service agency.  Elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1975, she has served two terms on its governing council (1986-90 and 1997-2000).  She also has been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, and an assistant professor of economics at Rice University.


3.6: Discovery Lecture Series: Tuesday, April 24, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Stewart Center and Purdue Memorial Union: Speakers and Panel Discussions on “Basic Healthcare – Advancing Solutions for Equitable Access,” “Consumer Choice and Responsibility – Expanding Models for Consumer-Directed Healthcare,” and “Continuum of Care – Evaluating New Provider Models.”

Join healthcare experts from industry and academia in the national dialogue about the roles of state-of-the-art engineering, science, and business principles in transforming healthcare delivery.  View complete agenda and register at www.purdue.edu/dp/dls/rche.


3.7:  Wednesday, April 25, 12:30pm: “Quantum Computation for Quantum Chemistry and Statistical Mechanics,” by Prof. Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Harvard University, WTHR 201

ABSTRACT: In this talk, we introduce two algorithms for the use of quantum computers for chemical applications.  First, we describe a quantum algorithm for the calculation of molecular energies. The calculation time for the energy of atoms and molecules scales exponentially with system size on a classical computer, but polynomially using quantum algorithms.  We demonstrate that such algorithms can be applied to problems of chemical interest using modest numbers of quantum bits.  In the second part of the talk, we introduce an algorithm for finding protein low-energy conformations using a quantum computer. The algorithm uses the adiabatic model of quantum computation to anneal the system to solutions of the problem.

BIO: Professor Aspuru-Guzik obtained his B.Sc. from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He studied his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University since 2006. His research interests are in the intersection of theoretical physical chemistry and quantum information. In particular, the development of quantum algorithms for the simulation of physical systems. He is also interested in algorithms for many-body physics (density functional theory and quantum Monte Carlo) and the understanding of the fundamental processes of charge and energy transfer in photovoltaic materials.


3.8:  Wednesday, April 25, 2:00pm: “Modeling and Analysis of VLSI Interconnects,” by Cheng-Kok Koh, Purdue University, EE 317

ABSTRACT: With continual technology scaling, the accurate and efficient modeling and simulation of interconnect effects have become problems of central importance.  In order to accurately model the distributive effects of interconnects, it is necessary to divide a long wire into several segments, with each regarded as a lumped RLC element.   In this tutorial, two fundamental problems in the 
modeling and analysis of VLSI interconnects will be covered: (i) capacitance extraction and (ii) simulation of interconnects with inductive coupling. 
 
For capacitance extraction, one approach is to use a boundary element technique for solving the integral form of Laplace equations.  Such an approach usually involves an iterative solver whose most expensive 
operation is matrix-vector multiply.  The tutorial will include a fast multi-pole method that relies on a hierarchical data structure to perform matrix-vector multiply in linear time complexity. 
 
The second part of the tutorial will introduce a fast simulation technique for inductively coupled interconnects based on the notion of wire-duplication.  The technique exploits the sparsity resident in the inverse of a inductance matrix to construct a small-sized equivalent RLC circuit. The wire-duplication technique improves simulation efficiency significantly while preserving simulation accuracy. 


BIO: Prof. Koh received the Ph.D. degree in computer science from University of California at Los Angeles.  Currently, he is an Associate  Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.  His research interests include physical design of high-performance low-power VLSI circuits, with an emphasis on VLSI interconnect layout optimization.  He received the ACM Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA) Meritorious Service Award in 1998 and the SIGDA Distinguished Service Award in 2002, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2000, and the Semiconductor Research Corporation Inventor Recognition Award in 2005. 


3.9:  Thursday, April 26, 9:30am, reception follows: “Microscale Platforms for Applications in Global Health Diagnostics,” by Dr. William Rodriguez, Harvard University, MRGN 121

ABSTRACT:  Of the 40 million people living with HIV infection worldwide, fewer than 10% are aware that they’re infected.  Fewer than 500,000 have access to the blood tests (CD4 cell counts and HIV RNA levels) essential for effective treatment.  Of the 5,000 people dying each day from tuberculosis, half are undiagnosed; the best available test for diagnosing TB — the light microscope — was invented 350 years ago.  Diagnostic tests for other major global diseases — dengue, malaria, typhoid fever, diarrhea — are equally unusable in resource-limited settings, like sub-Saharan Africa, where the global burden of disease rests.  Can advances in microfabrication, microfluidics, MEMS, and biosensing be applied to the development of diagnostics for these diseases?  Can they be made into truly point-of-care diagnostic products, against unforgiving specifications?  We have applied these technologies to global health, and made progress in point-of-care devices for CD4 cell counting, HIV RNA measurement, and TB diagnosis.  To be reviewed will be the biological, technical, product development, intellectual property, funding, and commercialization challenges to unleashing the potential of bioengineering methods to have a major impact on global health. 

Dr. Bill Rodriguez is an honors graduate of Brown University and the Yale University School of Medicine.  He completed training in internal medicine and infectious disease at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he also served as Chief Medical Resident in 1998–99.  Since 2001, he has led a research program in global health at Harvard’s Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  He is the co-inventor of several microtechnologies for HIV diagnostics, including low-cost methods for HIV RNA and CD4 cell counting.  He has served as the Director of the Office forInternational Programs at the Harvard Medical School Division of AIDS, and has worked on scale-up of HIV clinical and laboratory programs in the eastern Caribbean, throughout Africa, and in Vietnam, India, and China.  Since 2002, he has worked with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, as Senior HIV Advisor, as director of the Foundation’s HIV operations research initiative, and as Chief Medical Officer.  He serves as an expert consultant on HIV care, treatment, laboratory diagnostics and research in resource-poor settings for several national governments, for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and for the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.  He has been a member of the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School since 1997, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  He is also the recipient the Class of 2005 First-Year Teaching Award at Harvard Medical School for excellence in teaching.


3.10:  Friday, April 27, 3:30pm, refreshments served: “Introduction to X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and to XPS Applications,” by Dmitry Zemlyanov, MRGN 121

ABSTRACT:  X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), which is known as Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA), is a powerful research tool for the study of the surface of solids. The technique is widely used for studies of the properties of atoms, molecules, solids, and surfaces.  The main success of the XPS technique is associated with studies of the physical and chemical phenomena on the surface of solids.  These investigations were limited by relatively simple inorganic reactions and not many biologically related objects were approached by XPS.  There are impartial reasons for low involvement of XPS into investigations of biologically related objects.  In this presentation successful examples of XPS studies of bio-related specimens will be presented.  In particular, the systematic XPS investigation of four peptide-silane and peptide-silane hybrid sol-gel thin films prepared under biologically benign conditions will be reported.  This work demonstrates a use for XPS to characterized biologically inspired surfaces, providing critical information on peptide coverage on the surface of the materials.  The self-assembling layer characterization will be considered on the examples of thiols on Au and aryl diazonium molecules on Si(111).

BIO: Dmitry Zemlyanov received his PhD in Physics and Mathematics from the Novosibirsk State University, Russia. He is currently a Surface Science Application Scientist at the Birck Nanotechnology Center and he is in charge for the Surface Analysis Facility at Birck.  Earlier, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Fritz-Haber-Institute, Berlin, at Worchester Polytechnic Institute, MA; an adjunct assistant professor at the Physics Department, Worchester Polytechnic Institute, MA, and a research fellow at Material and Surface Science Institute, University of Limerick, Ireland.  His research interests include surface science, heterogeneous catalysis, surface phenomena, and material science.


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4. Workshops/Conferences
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4.1: Advancing the Future of Healthcare Delivery: Regenstrief Center Annual Conference, April 23-24, 2007

Steven M. Witz, Director, Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, personally invites you to join us for the Regenstrief Center Annual Conference on April 23-24, 2007.  The conference, titled “Advancing the Future of Healthcare Delivery: Access, Quality and Responsibility” features recognized healthcare experts in industry and academia exploring the innovations necessary to transform healthcare delivery for the future.

All sessions are free and open to the public.  Registration and additional information are available at www.purdue.edu/dp/dls/rche.  The conference presents a unique opportunity to explore the emerging field of healthcare engineering while connecting with healthcare colleagues from across the region and Purdue leadership and faculty.  

4.2: 2nd Annual Lovell Leadership Lecture Workshop: “Influence of the Ages,” Monday, April 23, Stewart Center, Room 302, 1:30-3:00 pm.

The knowledge and experience in most organizations is almost as varied the ages represented.  Experience this powerful workshop based on understanding – and embracing the diversity of the generations.


4.3:  National Instruments Academic Events, Tuesday, April 24, BRK 1001, 9:00am–3:30pm; WITH FREE PIZZA LUNCH

National Instruments, invites you to gain experience in modeling, designing, and building powerful, custom measurement and control applications. Research faculty, professors and graduate students are invited to presentations and technology demonstrations on Nanotechnology and RF/Communications andSignal Processing Solutions for Teaching and Research. Reserve your seat today at ni.com/seminars

9:00am – 12:00 pm:  NI LabVIEW Hands-On Workshop for Students and Graduate Students.  Gain hands-on experience in modeling, designing, and building powerful, custom measurement and control applications with intuitive graphical programming during this three-hour workshop.  Learn about NI LabVIEW, the graphical development environment used by thousands of companies, students, researchers, and faculty members in virtually every industry. 

1:00pm – 2:00 pm:  Empowering Nanotechnology Research with Virtual Instrumentation for Research Faculty, Professors, and Graduate Students:  Learn about NI's hardware and software platform for modeling, simulation, measurement, and automation; Review successful nano applications including: automation, nanofabrication and nanocharacterization; See demonstrations using LabVIEW for data acquisition, image acquisition, and instrument development; Explore ways to add functionality, increase flexibility and deploy cost-effective approaches for nanotechnology research.

2:30pm – 3:30pm:  RF/Communications and Signal Processing Solutions for Teaching and Research for Research Faculty, Professors, and Graduate Students:  Discuss research projects and applications to meet a variety of RF engineering needs; Learn about the NI PXI platform, which contains a software-defined vector signal analyzer, avector signal generator, switching, an amplifier, an attenuator, and hardware-programmable (FPGA) onboard signal processing; Examine how data acquisition and other types of hardware integration facilitate an integrated approach that bridges simulation and practice; View teaching demonstrations and research materials including in-depth.


4.4:  Workplace Violence Awareness Training, June 28, 8:0-11:30am, Physical Facilities Service Building Room 1179 A-B, 775 Ahlers Road; pre-registration now open

www.itap.purdue.edu/apps/training/physicalfacilities/training/; contact Dan Larson: dalarson at purdue.edu; 49-61064

—  Workplace Violence: Awareness, Prevention, and Survival 
—  Develop awareness for the potential of violence in the workplace
—  Recognize the early warning signs of a potentially violent person, or situation. 
—  Handling confrontational individuals
—  Evaluating workspace areas and establishing individual “shelter in place” locations
— Taking chances vs. compliance 
— Identify non-verbal communication skills. 
 
86% of past attendees report they will change their actions in the workplace as a result of attending this important training


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5.  Fellowship/Job Opportunities
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5.1:  Lexmark Industry Presentation; Monday, April 23; 6-7pm, EE170

Eta Kappa Nu Presents:  Lexmark Industry Presentation (http://www.lexmark.com); Speaker: Brian Jacobs; Monday, April 23
6-7PM, EE170; FREE Fu Lam Chinese food; Bring an updated resume!







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