The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research (IMR) announces its first IMR Industry Challenge Grant awarded to Dr. Dennis Bong, Assistant Professor of Chemistry. 

Dr. Bong will receive $20,000 in cost share from IMR to supplement his project Synthesis of amphiphilic core-shell latex emulsions from soy proteins and delivery of corrosion inhibitors and biocides for coatings application, an externally sponsored research project funded by an industry partner. 

The IMR Industry Challenge Grants program was created to help strengthen new collaborations in materials-allied research between OSU researchers and private industry partners, which will lead to major external proposal development. These grants provide one-to-one matching funds up to $20,000 per year to fund graduate students or postdoctoral researchers working on these collaborative research projects.

 Industry Challenge Grants have a rolling deadline – applications are accepted at any time.  Visit the IMR website for more information and the full Request for Proposals.

On October 29, Nanotech West Laboratory was honored to host a visit from a Chinese delegation representing Hubei Province, a sister-state to Ohio since 1979 and home of Wuhan University.  The delegation of 14 included Mr. Yang Song, Deputy Party Secretary of Hubei Provincial Committee and Mr. Wang Dunsheng, Deputy Director-General of Hubei Provincial Department of Agriculture.

Dr. John Carlin, Research Scientist and IMR Member of Technical Staff, provided the distinguished group with an overview of the photovoltaics research taking place at Ohio State and the broad research capabilities of OSU’s Nanotech West Laboratory. Dr. Carlin was joined by Dr. Yun Wu, a Postdoctoral Researcher at OSU’s NSEC program, who is originally from Hubei Province.

During their visit to Ohio, the Hubei group signed a memorandum of agreement with the Ohio Department of Agriculture pledging to continue a long-standing alliance between Ohio and Hubei Province in promoting and advancing their agriculture industries.

2009 Interdisciplinary Materials Research Grants (IMRGs) Awarded by the OSU Institute for Materials Research (IMR)

IMR’s Research Enhancement Program provides different funding mechanisms to support novel research at The Ohio State University. Five new research projects were awarded by the IMR in June 2009, for a total investment of $225,000. Three IMRG research projects also received a second year of funding from IMR for an additional $130,000 in direct research support from IMR.

2009 IMRG Research Projects: New Research

Metamaterials with Smart Reconfiguration for Broadband RF Antennas
Lead: Marcelo Dapino, Mechanical Engineering; Co-Applicants: Suresh Babu, Industrial Systems Engineering; John Volakis, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Economical Platforms for FET-based Protein Detection to Support Sensor Clinical Translation
Lead: Stephen C. Lee, Biomedical Engineering; Co-Applicant: Paul Berger, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Use of Electrospun Biomaterials as Carriers of Bone Marrow Derived Stem/Progenitor Cells to Stimulate
Lead: Nicanor I. Moldovan, Internal Medicine; Co-Applicant: John J. Lannuti, Materials Science and Engineering.

Exploring Electrically Tunable Magnetism in Gd-doped Nitride Quantum Structures
Lead: Roberto C. Myers; Materials Science and Engineering & Electrical Computer Engineering; Co-Applicants: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Michael Mills, Materials Science and Engineering.

Synthesis of III-V Semiconductor Nanowire Heterostructures Using Metalorganic Chemical Vapor
Lead: Fengyuan Yang, Physics; Co-Applicants: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Roberto C. Myers, Materials Science and Engineering & Electrical and Computer Engineering

2009 IMRG Renewals

IMR also provided $130,000 in direct funding to support the second year of these successful IMRG research projects:

Experimental and Computational Study of ALD-grown Dielectrics on III-Nitrides
Lead: Siddharth Rajan, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicant: Wolfgang Windl, Materials Science and Engineering

IMRG Research Award to Supplement Center for Emergent Materials Program
Lead: Katherine Flores, Materials Science and Engineering

Solving the “Contact Problem” of Molecular Electronics via Atomic Layer Deposition
Lead: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Co-Applicants: Jonathan Pelz, Physics; Malcolm Chisholm, Chemistry

Throughout the month of November, the Office of Research is hosting a variety of workshops, panel discussions, and other events for Research Awareness Month.  A full schedule of events is available online here

IMR will participate in the Research Awareness Month Expo on Tuesday, Novermber 3rd from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm at Thompson Library. Stop by our table to talk to our technical staff, pick up some literature, and learn more about IMR and what services we provide to the OSU materials community.

The announcement below of the naming of a Center of Excellence in Advanced Energy at Ohio State is from the OSU Media Relations Department:

Ohio State to help drive Ohio’s new energy economy as state-designated Center of Excellence

The Ohio State University today was named an Ohio Center of Excellence in advanced energy by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. The selection recognizes Ohio State’s wide range of research expertise in the areas of climate, energy and the environment and ties the university’s work directly to the state’s economic development strategies.

In a news conference, Gov. Strickland designated nine Ohio Centers of Excellence in advanced energy. Each of the Centers will focus their academic and research activities within advanced energy to undertake world-class research that ultimately drive the competitiveness of Ohio’s economy. Each will also help the state meet the requirements of Senate Bill 221, a landmark energy reform bill, enacted last year.

Caroline Whitacre, vice president for research at Ohio State, says the award recognizes the university’s unique capacity to assemble comprehensive teams that can focus on critical problems such as global warming, carbon sequestration and a range of sustainable new energy and transportation technologies.

“Ohio State has the people and programs in place to help take energy research in Ohio to the next level,” Whitacre said. “More than 300 Ohio State researchers are focused on some aspect of climate, energy, and the environment. We already partner with many businesses and nonprofits, entities that have helped make Ohio a top-five producer of clean energy jobs. This recognition will help strengthen those partnerships and attract the best researchers, faculty and students who are committed to this important field.”

Whitacre says the Centers of Excellence take the existing synergies and opportunities for collaboration in the energy area among Ohio universities already established by the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio to a new level.

“In a time of scarce resources, we think it’s important to leverage the strengths of all the state’s public institutions in addressing Ohio’s future. There are a lot of potential connections between us that will benefit not only Ohio State, but also the other universities and ultimately, the citizens of Ohio – by educating the best students and in facilitating cutting-edge research and development that will serve as an economic driver for the state’s future.”

Creating Centers of Excellence at Ohio’s public universities is part of the University System of Ohio’s Strategic Plan for Higher Education, 2008-2017. The idea draws upon the distinctive research strengths of each institution to make Ohio competitive in the country and in the world. It is a way of organizing research excellence across the state to solve problems, create new technologies and propel promising state industries.

In response to the request, Ohio State created five Centers of Excellence which draw faculty and researchers from across the institution to contribute in the most immediate ways to the economic health of our state and to its position in a global economy: Climate, Energy and the Environment; Health and Well-Being, Human Behavior and Bioinformatics; State, Regional and Urban Development; Food Production, Supply and Safety; and Materials, Manufacturing Technologies and Nanotechnologies.

Advanced energy represents the first round of announcements of Centers of Excellence that align with the state’s targeted industries and keep talent in Ohio. The additional university Centers for advanced energy are located at: Bowling Green State University; Case Western Reserve University; Central State University; University of Cincinnati; University of Dayton; The Ohio State University; Ohio University; and The University of Toledo.

Ohio State dedicates more than 300 researchers to the nation’s quest for environmentally sustainable energy solutions that promote economic growth in Ohio and safeguard our planet. Comprehensive teams at Ohio State build on extensive expertise to sequester carbon, refine carbon-trading, generate cleaner, less expensive and renewable power and protect natural resources. They track the effect of climate change on water resources from retreating glaciers to rising sea levels and water tables across the globe. And, they partner with advanced materials experts to make solar energy collection even more commercially viable.

The OSU Institute for Materials Research (IMR) announces the first talk in its 2009-2010 IMR Colloquia Series:

Toward Higher Performance Permanent Magnets for Automotive Applications
Kazuhiro Hono
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and University of Tsukuba

Thursday, October 29, 2009
9:00 – 10:00 AM (light reception to follow)
E100 Scott Laboratory
201 West 19th Avenue

For a full abstract and bio click here

A team of OSU researchers has won an NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award for the acquisition of a hybrid diamond/nitride synthesis cluster tool for studies of wide bandgap semiconductors.

The team of researchers spans two colleges and three departments including Physics (Prof. Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, CME, PI on the proposal*; Prof. Fengyuan Yang, CME; Prof. Harris Kagan, HEPX), Electrical and Computer Engineering (Prof. Siddharth Rajan**; Prof. Steven A. Ringel) and Materials Science and Engineering (Prof. Roberto Myers**). This cluster tool will allow for in situ sample transfer of substrates between diamond and nitride growth chambers, giving it the unique capability to grow high quality wide-bandgap semiconducting heterostructures. Research activity will span from high-energy physics to prototype electronic, magnetic and photonic devices, covering 15 orders of magnitude in energy (from ~1 meV to ~ 1,000 TeV), 13 orders of magnitude in time (~ 100 fs to ~ 1 ms), and 11 orders of magnitude in length (from ~ 1 nm to ~ 10 cm).

The MRI instrument aqcuisition award will allow an interdisciplinary research team to impact many areas.

As shown in the diagram above, this activity will also support local, national, and international collaborations including the Center for Emergent Materials (CEM, an NSF funded MRSEC at OSU), the RD42 collaboration (located at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland), the State-funded Wright Center for Photovoltaic Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC), and the Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymeric Biomedical Devices (CMPND, an NSF funded NSEC at OSU). The multi-disciplinary project was supported by and developed in conjunction with The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research (IMR).

* For more information please contact Prof. Johnson-Halperin at ejh@mps.ohio-state.edu.

** Profs. Rajan and Myers have complementary 80/20 appointments between ECE/MSE and MSE/ECE, respectively.