[BNC-all] Monday Memo 05/05/2008

[Marris, Melissa J]

WEEKLY MEMO, May 5, 2008

 

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1.  ANNOUNCEMENTS

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1.2: CARD READERS 2nd FLOOR EAST & WEST:  The BNC card reader system
installation is will expand to include work on the **2nd Floor EAST**
wing (BRK 20XX) starting 05/05/2008.  Some cutting and grinding can be
expected as the card readers are mounted in the galley and on each lab
door (BRK 2031, 2037, 2077, & 2081). The installation work is also
continuing on the **2nd Floor WEST** wing (BRK 22XX) where researchers
can still expect to see electricians in their labs and in some cases may
be asked to briefly suspend experiments as door strikers are installed.


If you have any issues or concerns please contract Mary Jo Totten
(61173) or Mark Voorhis (43036).

 

1.3:  TOWN HALL MEETING: Thursday, 05.15.08, 1:30, BRK 1001

 

1.4: Additional landscaping work will be taking place around the BNC to
repair several problems with the existing landscape.  These should have
a minimal affect on the building, but at times may have sidewalks
temporarily closed.  Additionally, there will be some noise- and
vibration-creating activities where concrete must be cut and removed.
This work will take place between May 1 and June 19, 2008.  Major
vibration-creating activities are planned for mornings during the week
of May 5.  Please contact John Weaver jrweaver at purdue.edu if this timing
is problematic.

 

1.5:  Summer Project . . . Birck gets waxed:-):  Birck rooms 2019, 2021,
2023, 2025, 2044, 2046, 2048, and 2050 are scheduled for waxing this
week.  A reminder will be posted on the door of each room.  Please place
all items from the floor on top of your desk.  The custodian crew thanks
you for your cooperation.

 

1:5: The Refrigerator is now working properly. 

 

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2.  TOURS/VISITORS

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2.1:  Monday & Tuesday, May 5&6, BRK Labs & CR PreGowning Area:  Film
crew from the Big Ten Network filming for "Discovery with Delivery".

 

2.2:  Monday, May 5, 2008, 9:00:  Prof. Paul Greenfield, President of
the University of Queensland

2.3:  Monday, May 5, 2008, 1:30:  Jasper Manufacturing Group.  Tour to
begin in Burton Morgan and include Bindley Bioscience and Birck

2.4:  Thursday, May 8, 2008, lunchtime:  IEST visit; includes lunch and
tour of Birck

2.5:  Thursday, May 8, 2008, 8:00:  Clarian Health Leadership Conference

2.6:  Friday, May 9, 2008, 8:00-4:00, BRK 1001:  Ali Shakouri,
University of California, Santa Cruz

 

 

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3.  SEMINARS

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3.1:  Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 9:30, Pfendler Hall Auditorium:
"Self-Assembled Soft NanoMaterials from Sugar Surfactants," by Dr.
George John.

ABSTRACT: The self-assembly of low molecular weight building blocks into
nanoscale molecular objects has recently attracted considerable interest
in terms of the bottom-up fabrication of soft nanomaterials. The
building blocks currently used in supramolecular chemistry are
synthesized mainly from petroleum-based starting materials. However,
biobased organic synthesis presents distinct advantages for the
generation of new building blocks since they are obtainable from
renewable resources. Our research efforts are deeply devoted towards
developing building blocks from renewable resources to generate soft
materials such as new surfactants, liquid crystals, lipid nanotubes and
molecular gels. Present talk illustrates few successful examples of
generating self-assembled soft materials from agri-sources, through
simple organic transformations and by enzyme catalysis. To take these
materials to the next level, we successfully showed the utility of these
hydrogels as drug delivery vehicles. Enzyme catalysis was used as a tool
to make and break the hydrogels, which apparently triggered controlled
drug delivery. Intriguingly, by combining biocatalysis, with principles
of green and supramolecular chemistry, we developed building
blocks-to-assembled materials. Also address the advances that have led
to the understanding of chiral behaviour and the subsequent ability to
control the structure of glycolipid nanostructures-derived from
renewable resources-and the resulting impact of this on future material
applications. We foresee that these results will encourage
interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists in the fields of
organic synthesis, materials research, novel surfactants, green
chemistry, drug discovery to design, and develop biobased functional
materials from under-utilized plant/crop based feedstocks, as new forms
of materials, and energy needs.

BIO: George John was born (1962) in Kerala, the southwest costal state
of India. After obtaining his Ph.D. (1993) in Chemistry from Kerala
University, India under the mentorship of Dr. C.K.S Pillai, Regional
Research Laboratory, Trivandrum, he held a postdoctoral position (1994)
at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. Subsequently, he was a
research scientist at the Agency for Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology (AIST), Japan. In the fall of 2002 he joined the Rensselaer
Nanotechnology Center as a research faculty and pursued his research
interests in the area of soft materials. Currently, he is an Associate
Professor of Chemistry, the City College of the City University of New
York. His research interests are in the broad area of organic and
macromolecular materials chemistry; specifically includes biobased
organic synthesis, self-assembled soft nanomaterials for functional
applications, green chemistry, understanding growth mechanisms of
nanostructures and designing new structures and multifunctional
nanocomposites.

 

3.2: Friday, May 9, 2008, 9:30-10:30, BRK 1001 Dr. Ali Shakouri Baskin
School of Engineering Univ. of California Santa Cruz
  
We review solid-state devices that allow direct conversion of heat into
electricity. We describe fundamental and practical limits of
conventional thermoelectric materials. Novel metal-semiconductor
nanocomposites are developed where the heat and charge transport are
modified at the atomic level. Potential to reach high power densities
and high conversion efficiencies will be discussed. We also describe how
similar principles can be used to reduce heating in optoelectronic
devices and make micro refrigerators on a chip in order to remove hot
spots in integrated circuits. 

Biography: 
Ali Shakouri is professor of electrical engineering at University of
California Santa Cruz. He received his Ph.D. from California Institute
of Technology in 1995. His current research is on nanoscale heat and
current transport in semiconductor devices, submicron thermal imaging,
micro refrigerators on a chip and novel optoelectronic integrated
circuits. He is the director of the Thermionic Energy Conversion center,
a multi university research initiative aiming to improve direct thermal
to electric energy conversion technologies. He received the Packard
Fellowship in Science and Engineering in 1999, the NSF CAREER award in
2000 and the UCSC School of Engineering FIRST Professor Award in 2004.

 

 

3.3:  June 11 and 12, 2008: 2008 Advanced Materials Characterization
Workshop organized by the Center of Microanalysis of Materials (CMM) at
the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory (FS-MRL) on the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.  The two-day event
features lectures given by our FS-MRL scientists who are experts in the
mainstream analytical techniques that are important for both academic
and industrial research work. Please see more detailed information in
the attachment. The workshop will be held in the room ESB190 on June 11
and 12, 2008, from 9 AM to 5:30 PM.  Common analytical techniques such
as x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron
microscopy (SEM and TEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger
electron spectroscopy (AES), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS),
atomic force microscopy (AFM), Rutherford backscattering (RBS), etc.,
will be covered in individual lectures. Each lecture will have a strong
focus on practical applications and problem solving strategies.  Our
first workshop on this topic in May 2007 was attended by 200
participants who gave 99% positive feed back on the quality and
usefulness of the lectures. This year's workshop is an expanded two-day
event with more detailed lectures, laboratory tours and demonstrations
of the techniques.  The $ 25 registration fee will include two full days
of lectures and tutorials, laboratory tours, instrument demonstrations
and lunches for both days of the event. Registration forms are available
online (see also attached). Attendees do not need to be a current user
of the CMM or FS-MRL facilities to register. Registration deadline is
June 2, 2008. Information and registration form can be found in:
http://cmm.mrl.uiuc.edu/Workshop2008/
<http://cmm.mrl.uiuc.edu/Workshop2008/> 

 

3:4 Biofuels Symposium 2008 highlights sustainability, policy issues

You are cordially invited to attend the 2008 Biofuels Symposium hosted
by the Energy Center at Discovery Park.  The two-day event begins at
1:00 p.m. on Monday, May 19th with a plenary speaker and discussions on
ethanol and biodiesel followed by a poster session and dinner.  Tuesday,
May 20th will include speakers on biofuels sustainability issues, policy
perspective, and new frontiers in biofuels and bioenergy.   

 

Experts will discuss research advancements and the policy and
sustainability issues facing the ethanol and biodiesel industries during
Purdue University's Biofuels Symposium 2008 on May 19-20.

Speakers at the two-day event led by the Energy Center in Discovery Park
will include top executives from the biofuels industry, government
officials and leading academic researchers from Princeton and Purdue
universities and the University of Massachusetts. Symposium events will
be held in third-floor meeting rooms in Stewart Center.  

 Keynote speaker Jim Fischer, senior scientific advisor for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Research Education, and Economics Mission
Area, will kick off the event with his presentation, "Biofuels Research
and Development Strategic Plan," at 1:15 p.m. May 19 in Stewart Center,
Room 218.  

 Sessions on day one will continue through 5 p.m., and a poster session
also is planned that day. The morning session May 20 carries the theme
biofuel economic and policy issues, while the afternoon will focus on
the new frontiers in biofuels and bioenergy for the bio-economy. 

 For the two-day schedule of the event sponsored by Discovery Park's
Energy Center, go to:
http://www.purdue.edu/dp/energy/2008biofuels/program%20agenda.php
<http://www.purdue.edu/dp/energy/2008biofuels/program%20agenda.php> . 

A PDF version of a detailed agenda also can be downloaded at:
http://www.purdue.edu/dp/energy/pdfs/bio_detailed_agenda_08.pdf
<http://www.purdue.edu/dp/energy/pdfs/bio_detailed_agenda_08.pdf> .  

 

 

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4.  OPPORTUNITIES

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4.1:  RE:  Department of Energy's Engineering Frontier Research Centers
(EFRC) competition:  The Funding Opportunity Announcement may be found
at
https://e-center.doe.gov/iips/faopor.nsf/UNID/933104E42D0185E58525742100
694C78/$file/EFRC_FOA_Final_Dated_April42008_FINAL.pdf. 

Purdue may submit three proposals for this competition.  Because of the
need for expediency, letters of intent were dropped from this
competition.  Remaining important dates are:  Friday, May 2:
Preproposals due to the OVPR; Thursday, May 8:  Limited submission
review committee meets to select Purdue's proposals.  Please note:
Preproposals to the OVPR should be e-mailed to OVPRlimited at purdue.edu.
Purdue's limited submission policy, as well as the template for the
preproposal, may be found at
http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi
<http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> .

 

4.2:  Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Accepting Proposals for
Innovation Award; Deadline: June 2, 2008 (Pre-proposals) Sept. 18 (full
proposals); Info at:
http://216.235.201.218/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=259#selection
<http://216.235.201.218/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=259#selection> .  A
program of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the Damon
Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award is designed to provide support for the
next generation of exceptionally creative thinkers with "high risk/high
reward"  ideas that have the potential to significantly impact the
understanding of and/or approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, or
treatment of cancer.  The award is specifically designed to provide
funding for extraordinary early career researchers who have an
innovative new idea but lack sufficient preliminary data to obtain
traditional funding. It is not designed to fund incremental advances.
The research supported by the award must be novel, exceptionally
creative, and, if successful, have the strong potential for high impact
in the cancer field.  Applicants (including non-U.S. citizens) must be
conducting independent research at a U.S. research institution. Basic
and translational/clinical projects will be considered. Applications
will be accepted from all scientific disciplines provided that the
proposed research meets the selection criteria. Applicants with a
background in multiple disciplines are especially encouraged to apply.
Applicants must belong to one of the following categories: 1)
Tenure-track Assistant Professors within the first three years of
obtaining their initial Assistant Professor position (cutoff date is 1
June 2005); 2) Clinical Instructors and Senior Clinical Fellows (with an
M.D.) who are pursuing a period of independent research before taking a
faculty position; 3) Postdoctoral Fellows and highly motivated recent
Ph.D. and M.D. graduates who are pursuing a period of independent
research before taking a faculty position.  The program awards between
three and five new grants each year, with each recipient receiving
$450,000 over three years.

4:3 GRC Call for White Papers in Modeling & Simulation of Nanoelectronic
Materials, Processes, and Devices  - Deadline June 16, 2008

The Device Sciences area of the Semiconductor Research Corporation
Global Research Collaboration is soliciting white papers in Modeling &
Simulation of Nanoelectronic Materials, Processes, and Devices.  Two
page white papers addressing needs in a new research needs document are
due Monday, JUNE 16, 2008 at 3 PM ET/12 PM PT.  A limited number of full
proposals will be accepted based on the white paper submissions and a
subset of these proposals will be selected for anticipated three-year
contracts beginning January 1, 2009.  Interested researchers should note
the proposal and review schedule, needs document, and instructions for
web-based white paper submissions on the SRC GRC Web site at:

http://grc.src.org/fr/S200803_Call.asp
<http://grc.src.org/fr/S200803_Call.asp>     

 

 

 

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