Spring 2009 Seminar Series | Monday April 27th, 2009
Mysteries of Minai, a Twelfth - Thirteenth Century A.D. Persian Ceramic Tradition
Host/Contact: Dr. Blythe McCarthy
Time and Place: 2:00-2:50pm, Chavez 405
Speaker: Blythe McCarthy completed a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University in a special program in conservation science. Her thesis analyzed ceramic glazes from Nippur in Iraq using dynamic imaging ellipsometry to study initial stages of corrosion as well as chemical and microstructural characterization. She conducted research on Limoges enamels and their deterioration as a DAAD Fellow at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Chemistry in Wuerzburg , Germany, and then research on stone conservation during a second post-doctoral fellowship at the Getty Conservation Institute. She participated in excavations at the tombs of the nobles in Thebes , Egypt and has edited the Forbes Symposium volumes that present technical research on Asian art. For 11 years she has studied and characterized a wide range of materials at the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research of the Smithsonian\'s Freer and Sackler Galleries, including kingfisher feather jewelry, glasses, pigments and East and West Asian ceramics, Her research interests also include the application of nondestructive testing techniques to museum objects, and she completed a project for NCPTT (National Center for Preservation Technology and Training) using eddy currents to characterize gilding layers on bronze. More recently she has used materials from the Freer Gallery\'s study collection to explore the effect of microstructure on casting flaws in bronzes using thermal mechanical analysis, to study construction methods and repairs in ceramics using radiography, and the topic she will discuss today, the technology and conservation of Persian minai ware.
The Freer and Sackler Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, first established as the \"Technical Laboratory\" in November 1951 by Rutherford J. Gettens, constituted the first government facility devoted to the use of scientific methods for the study of works of art. Gettens and his colleagues at the Freer are remembered in the field for numerous historic accomplishments, including a two-volume catalog of the Freer\'s important collection of Chinese bronzes, as well as international efforts to create a comprehensive, scientific description of traditional artists\' pigments. Research efforts that apply science to the study of works primarily in the Freer and Sackler collections continue today. | |
|  | Thursday April 23rd, 2009
BLOCK-COPOLYMER TEMPATING AS A SIMPLE ROUTE TO COMPLEX NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS
Host/Contact: Sarah H. Tolbert
Time and Place: Koffler 218, 4:00pm
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| | Wednesday April 15th, 2009
Modelling Biomaterial Interfaces
Host/Contact:
Time and Place: 2:00-2:50pm Kuiper Space Sciences Building, Room 308
Speaker: Professor Nora de Leeuw
Professor Nora de Leeuw has made substantial and original contributions to our understanding of complex materials. She has developed and applied computational tools to investigate key problems in interfacial chemistry, including solid/water interfaces, heterogeneous solid interfaces and organic/ inorganic interfaces. Since starting her PhD in 1994, De Leeuw has published extensively (>120 refereed journal articles) and her work is increasingly well cited (h index = 21). Of particular note are her pioneering studies of biomaterials, for example her elucidation of the structure of the bone mineral hydroxyapatite and of the rôle of fluoride in retarding the dissolution of tooth enamel, which work was selected for a Nature News article. http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040119/full/news040119-8.html
APPOINTMENTS:
2000- 2002 University Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, University of Reading
2002- 2007 EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow, Birkbeck College London
2004- 2006 Reader in Computational Materials Science, Birkbeck College London
2006- 2007 Reader in Computational Materials Science, University College London
2007- present Professor of Computational Materials Science, University College London
AWARDS:
2002 EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship
2008 Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
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| | Wednesday April 15th, 2009
Computer Modelling of Catalytic Processes
Host/Contact:
Time and Place: 1:00-1:50pm Kuiper Space Sciences Building, Room 308
Speaker: Professor Richard Catlow FRS
Professor Richard Catlow has worked for over thirty years in the field of computational and experimental studies of complex inorganic materials. His group has pioneered a wide range of applications of computational techniques in solid state chemistry to systems and problems including microporous and oxide catalysts, ionic conductors, electronic ceramics and silicate minerals. This applications programme has been supported by technique and code development, including recent work on embedded cluster methodologies for application to the study of catalytic reactions. The computational work has been firmly linked with experimental studies, using both neutron scattering and synchrotron radiation techniques, where the Royal Institute group has also made notable contributions to development as well as application studies. Professor Catlow\'s research has led to over 800 publications, and in 2004 he was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society for \'pioneering the development and application of computer modeling in solid state and materials chemistry. He is currently Dean of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Faculty at University College London.
APPOINTMENTS:
1976-1985 University Lecturer in Chemistry, University College London.
1985-1989 Professor of Physical Chemistry, University College London. (Joint appointment with Daresbury Laboratories and University of Keele)
1989-2007 Wolfson Professor of Natural Philosophy, The Royal Institution, London.
1998-2007 Director of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory, The Royal Institution, London.
2002-2007 Head of Chemistry Department, University College London
2007 - Dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences Faculty, University College London.
AWARDS:
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry - 1990
Royal Society of Chemistry Medal: Solid State Chemistry - 1992
Fellow of the Institute of Physics - 1995
Honorary Member of the Materials Research Society of India - 1996
Royal Society of Chemistry Interdisciplinary Medal - 1998
Honorary Degree of the University of Havana, Cuba - 2001
Fellow of the Royal Society - 2004
Fellow of the Third World Academy of Science - 2006
Liversidge medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry - 2008
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| | Monday April 13th, 2009
An investigation of tellurium based glasses for use in bio-sensing and space applications
Host/Contact: Allison Wilhelm
Time and Place: 2:00-2:50pm, Chavez 405
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| | Monday March 23rd, 2009
PRECIPITATION PROCESSES FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF NANOSTRUCTURED POWDERS
Host/Contact:
Time and Place: 2:00-2:50pm, Chavez 405
Speaker: OLIVIA A. GRAEVE
Associate Professor
Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering
Alfred University
Prof. Graeve received her B.S. degree in Structural Engineering from the University of California, San Diego and her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Davis. She has been a faculty member at Alfred University since Fall 2008 as an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Her research interests include the synthesis and processing of several types of materials, especially ceramics and ceramic composites and the optical properties of ceramic luminescent materials. Currently she is working on the synthesis, processing and consolidation of nanostructured oxide and carbide powders, the synthesis and characterization of Y2O3 luminescent materials, the processing of magnetic fluids, the synthesis of boride nanopowders, and the preparation of amorphous metals. Dr. Graeve’s research efforts are being supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Energy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Science Foundation.
Prof. Graeve is an active member of the Materials Research Society (MRS), the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), the Academia Mexicana de Ciencia de Materiales, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). She is currently serving on the International Relations Committee of MRS. She has been involved in many activities related to the recruitment and retention of minority students in engineering, particularly with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. For her efforts on behalf of SHPE, she received the National Hispanic Educator of the Year award in 2006.
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| | Monday March 9th, 2009
Molecular and biomolecular-based nanomaterials: Tubulin and Taxol as molecular constituents
Host/Contact: Javier Castro
Time and Place: 2pm in Chavez 405
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| | Monday February 23rd, 2009
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: From Concept to Commerce in Five Painful Steps
Host/Contact: Larry Hench
Time and Place: 2:00-2:50pm, Chavez 405
Speaker: Larry L. Hench
Visiting Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona
Professor Emeritus Imperial College London
Adjunct Graduate Research Professor University of Florida
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|  | Wednesday February 11th, 2009
Destroying Malignant Tumors Using Radioactive Glass Microspheres --TheraSpheres (TM) and Evaluation of Three Dimensional scaffolds made from 13-93 Bioactive Glass Fibers after Implantation in Rats.
Host/Contact: Delbert E. Day
Time and Place: 3:30 - 5:00pm, Mines 225
Speaker: Delbert E. Day recently retired from the University of Missouri-Rolla as Curators’ Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering and Senior Investigator (formerly Director) of the Graduate Center for Materials Research. During his 44 year career as a university professor and researcher, he published more than 335 technical papers dealing the structure and properties of glass, edited three books and received 44 US and foreign patents for sealing glasses, glasses for biological applications, glass microspheres for radiation therapy, dental materials, transparent composites, and refractories, He conducted the first US glass melting experiments on NASA’s Space Shuttle and is a co-inventor of Glasphalt which utilizes waste glass as the aggregate in asphalt paving. He is also co-inventor of special purpose glass microspheres, TheraSphereTM, which are now in commercial use in the US and Europe to treat patients with inoperable liver cancer. His numerous honors and awards include election to the National Academy of Engineering, Distinguished Life Member (and past president) of the American Ceramic Society, the Presidential Award for Research and Creativity (University of Missouri), selection as the Nation’s Outstanding Young Ceramic Engineer (Pace Award) by the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers, the Hosler Alumni Scholar Medal for Scientific Achievement (Pennsylvania State University), the Outstanding Educator Award from the American Ceramic Society, and being elected a Fellow in the American Ceramic Society, the Society of Glass Technology (United Kingdom) and the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers. He is the former Chairman and CEO of MO-SCI Corp, a company he co-founded and which manufactures special purpose glasses for the healthcare, electronics, transportation, aerospace, chemical and sporting goods industries. | |
| | Monday February 9th, 2009
Ideal glassformers: seeking non-polymer liquids that are stable at their glass temperatures
Host/Contact: Regent Prof. C. Austen Angell
Time and Place: 2:00-2:50pm, Chavez 405
Speaker: Department of Chemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ | |
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