News
Dr. Ben Wang accepts position at Georgia Tech
Dr. Ben Wang, founder and director of the High-Performance Materials Institute, has accepted a position as Executive Director of Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing Research Center and was named as to serve as the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing Systems in GT's College of Engineering. Dr. Wang will still be involved in activities with the High-Performance Materials Institution.You can find additional information on Dr. Wang's new position at GT's Industrial and Systems Engineering website.
Sean Ennis wins scholarship from Institute of Transportation Engineers
HPMI’s Sean Ennis won first place in the Big Bend Florida Chapter Institute of Transportation Engineers (BBFCITE) book scholarship award. Sean was awarded $500 for his presentation on Multifunctional Nanomaterials and Processes for Infrastructure Repair and Corrosion Inhibition. This annual award goes to one or split between two deserving Transportation Engineering or Transportation Planning students enrolled at Florida A&M University or Florida State University.
Buckypaper technology on display at NHMFL Open House
At the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Open House, HPMI's Travis Rasmussen demonstrated how buckypapers can work as speakers.
Dr. Ben Wang Named as a Finalist for the World Technology Awards
Dr. Ben Wang, director of the High-Performance Materials Institute, was selected as one of the five finalists for the individual award in Materials. The awards banquet was the culmination of the World Technology Summit held at the Time-Life Building in New York City on November 30 – December 1. A total of 24 highly respected researchers from academia and industry were nominated for this award.
The World Technology Network (WTN), which sponsored the summit and awards gala, is a cross between a global meeting ground, a virtual think tank and an elite club whose members are focused on the business or science of bringing important emerging technologies into reality. The World Technology Awards are presented each year to outstanding innovators from various sectors within the science and technology arena to honor individuals and organizations.
Sponsors of the summit and awards included the publications Time, Fortune, Technology Review, Science, as well as CNN, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence.
Dr. Richard Liang Honored by FSU for EMI Research
Dr. Richard Liang, chief technologist for HPMI, was one of the 11 faculty members the FSU Office of Research honored for making great strides to commercialize their research results during a special ceremony held Nov. 17 at the University Center Club. During the event, researchers were recognized who have worked to commercialize their inventive and creative ideas during the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
Dr. Liang was noted for his work in Novel Lightweight, Flexible electro-magnetic interference (EMI) Shielding Material. He was noted for building one or more demonstration devices to show the level of electromagnetic shielding that can be obtained using composites fabricated in varying thicknesses with one or more carbon nanotube face layers. For additional details, click here.
REU Opportunities with HPMI
REU Opportunities with HPMIREU Opportunities with HPMI The High Performance Materials Institute (HPMI) at Florida State University is offering opportunities to undergraduates in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines for the 2011 REU Summer RETREAT Program. The Retaining Engineers through Research Entrepreneurship and Advanced-Materials Training (RETREAT) is scheduled to last 10 weeks and offers a stipend of $5,600 for each participant, travel allowances, room and board, and a modest amount to help cover feeding. Chosen applicants will have the opportunity to work with leading experts and be trained on the utilization, manufacture, and characterization of multiscale and multifunctional advanced composites. They will also learn how to successfully commercialize technological innovations by participating in seminars on Entrepreneurship and an EngiPreneur Competition (an entrepreneurship-based student project competition) to be coordinated by experts from FSU's Jim Moran Institute (JMI) of Global Entrepreneurship.
This program will hold at the ultra-modern High-Performance Materials Institute's new 45,000 sq. ft. facility reputed to be the largest nanocomposites research facility in the world.
- US citizenship or permanent residency required
- Selection will be based on academic performance and faculty recommendation
- Women and underrepresented minority students are encouraged to apply
- Tentative date: May 23- July 29, 2011
NSF Awards HPMI Grants for Four Projects
HPMI principal investigators have received 4 National Science Foundation grants over the past several weeks. The combined awards total over $850,000.
Dr. Okenwa Okoli is the principal investigator for Development of a Triboluminescence and Photocatalysis Based System for Intrinsic Structural Health Monitoring. This 3-year project was funded at $300,000. Dr. Arda Vanli and Dr. Ben Wang will serve as Co-PIs for this project.
Dr. Okoli was also the principal investigator for the creation of a Research Experience for Undergraduates Site. The project "REU Site: Retaining Engineers through Research Entrepreneurship and Advanced-Materials Training" provides $328,000 to provide undergraduates the opportunity to conduct advanced research.
Dr. Chuck Zhang is the lead investigator for the NSF funded "Collaborative Research: Multi-Accuracy Bayesian Models for Improving Property Prediction of Nanotube Buckypaper Composites." This three-year, $220,000 project partners FSU with Texas A&M University. Dr. Vanli and Dr. Wang will serve as Co-PIs on this project.
HPMI has also received a $30,000 NSF-grant to host a workshop for Intrinsically Multifunctional Composites. The workshop is scheduled for February 23-24, 2011.
HPMI Researcher Wins National Award
HPMI researcher, Jesse Smithyman, won second place in the SAMPE 2010 University Research Program, MS Category. His winning presentation was for his work in “Binder-Free Carbon Nanotube-Activated Carbon Composites for Electrochemical Applications.” SAMPE (Society of the Advancement of Material and Processing Engineering) selected six finalists among MS students throughout the U.S. and Canada. SAMPE sponsored Smithyman to attend the conference in Seattle, WA on May 16, where his presentation was awarded second place. In addition, Smithyman will also receive a monetary award of $600.
HPMI Holds Poster Competition
HPMI held its annual poster competition on March 19. Chase Knight took first place for his poster "Recycling Carbon Fiber Composites Using Supercritical Fluids." Daniel Labrador won second place for his poster on "Characterization of the Blocking Force Generated by Buckypaper Composite Actuators." Shu Li was awarded third place for his poster "Structure-Property Models of Electrical Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube Networks."
Dr. Richard Liang awarded FSU’s Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award | October, 2009
HPMI Chief Technologist, Dr. Richard Liang, was recently awarded FSU’s Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award. Sponsored annually by the Graduate School, this award honors faculty mentors whose dedication to graduate students and commitment to excellence in graduate education and mentoring have made significant contributions to the quality of life and professional development of graduate students at Florida State University. This award notes that Dr. Liang demonstrated outstanding mentoring practices and an overall commitment to graduate education at Florida State University.
HPMI wraps up its first summer intern program | August, 2009
On July 31, HPMI wrapped up its first summer intern program. The program brought together students from various disciplines around the university to work on HPMI projects. The program wrapped up with a poster competion in the atrium of the Materials Research Building. Below are just some of the comments made by our interns.
"My HPMI internship gave me great research experience in a relaxed but professional environment. Seeing a practical application to my engineering studies has been great, it takes away the monotony of studying everything out of a book."
-- Johnathan Lenoff, Mechanical Engineering.
"During my summer internship at HPMI, I was given the opportunity to be directly involved in a cutting edge materials research project. The knowledge, experience, and skills I gained from working on this project are invaluable to me, and I would encourage any student to apply for an internship at HPMI."
-- Jennifer Zerbe, Chemical-Biomedical Engineering.
"Florida State University's summer internship program at the High Performance Materials Institute was truly a rewarding experience. Students that are given the opportunity to participate in future offerings should expect to be exposed to cutting edge research under the guidance of some of the foremost authorities in their respective engineering fields. For those interested, it is a great way to move beyond undergraduate class work and begin to make the connections and form the habits needed for graduate study."
-- Farag Abdelsalam, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering.
"The HPMI internship gave me an inside look at a research environment. I was able to use the knowledge I had gained from my classes, assist others with a research project that I was interested in, and provide input when colleagues needed a second opinion. Overall, I feel like I really made a difference in the research."
-- Steve Tsalickis, Electrical & Computer Enginering.
"HPMI provided me with an experience that opened my eyes to modern composite fabrication techniques relevant to the future of manufacturing. I view my experience here as invaluable to shaping my academic chocies and future progress as an engineer."
-- Duncan Haldane, Mechanical Engineering.
Dr. Ben Wang wins the David F. Baker Researcher Award
Dr. Ben Wang, director of the High-Performance Materials Institute, was recently awarded the David F. Baker Research Award. The Institute of Industrial Engineers presents the award to recognize outstanding research in the profession. It is given for a career of accomplishments that broadly benefited practitioners, organizations, or other researchers rather than for a single activity or application. The award is named for David F. Baker, Ph.D., late chairman of the industrial engineering department at The Ohio State University.Center of Excellence sponsered students from Manatee County to compete at National Skills USA Championship
Three Mantee County high school students sponsered by Manatee Technical Institute through the Florida Center of Excellence in Advanced Materials will compete in National Skills USA competition in Kansas City. See story here.Florida State University Evaluated as One of the Best Value Colleges in the Nation
The Princeton Review ranked The Florida State University as number fifth best value college among the nation's public colleges. According to the USA Today, the overall selection criteria included more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs and financial aid. Academic ratings were based on student surveys about such issues as professors' accessibility and class sizes, as well as institutional reports about student-faculty ratios and percent of classes taught by teaching assistants. See the complete story in the USA Today.HPMI Student Researchers Design and Build Composite Electric Car.
HPMI Students researchers recently built and designed a composite electric car. The car was featured during the Florida State University Homecoming parade. T.K. Wetherell, president of FSU, drove the car in the parade. On a visit to Tallahassee, Senator Bill Nelson also took the car for a test drive. Below are some links to articles and other links relating to the project.http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/34361659.html
http://www.fsu.edu/news/2008/11/12/homecoming.car http://tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=CD&Date=20081114&Category=PHOTOS03&ArtNo=811140805&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=3
http://tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=CD&Date=20081114&Category=PHOTOS03&ArtNo=811140805&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z68KXpWt6QY
HPMI wins Nano 50 Award.
Students, researchers and faculty members at the High-Performance Materials Institute (HPMI) at Florida State University were recently recognized in the fourth annual Nanotech Briefs Nano 50 Awards for their work with an innovative material called buckypaper. (See article.)Dr Okenwa Okoli explains the RIDFT process and Triboluminescent In-situ Damage Sensing at the Boeing Company.
On October 26, 2007 Dr. Okoli presented two seminars at the Boeing Company in Seattle, WA on the subject of Resin Infusion between Double Flexible Tooling Process, a winner of the R&D 100 Award and Triboluminescent In-situ Damage Sensing. For more information on the RIDFT process go here, and abstracts of the seminars are here.The Institute of Industrial Engineers featured Nanotechnology in the web supplement of the August issue.
The article is Nano Nations by Candi S. CrossNano-machining of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite using conductive atomic force microscope tips and carbon nanotubes.
HPMI's nano-processing technology has made it to the cover of journal: Nanotechnology. See the abstract here.Buckypaper technology wins Micro Nano 25 Award.
HPMI's Engineered Carbon Nanotube (CNT) and Nanofiber Buckypapers was selected by the editors of R&D Magazine and MICRO/NANO Newsletter as one of the most innovative products of 2007 in the Inaugural MICRO/NANO 25 Competition. See the complete listing of award winners here.HPMI Personnel Accept New Positions.
Jeff Louis and Johnnattan Ugarte have accept positions with the Harris Corporation.Ground breaking on new Materials Research Building.
On May 21, officials gathered at Innovation Park to break ground on the new Materials Research Building, future home of HPMI. Please click here for additional details. Details regarding the building can be found at our Facilities link.Center of Excellence in Advanced Material Advisory Board Meeting.
Following the ground breaking ceremony on May 21, HPMI hosted the first meeting of the CEAM Advisory Board.Congratulations to our Nexus I2P Competition team.
Eric Rodriguez, Jonnattan Ugarte and John Wallace did an outstanding job at this year's Nexus I2P Competition hosted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Nano I2P Competition is an early-stage technology commercialization plan competition that aims for unique product ideas using innovative nanotechnologies and matching those ideas with a clear market need and demand.Graduates Receive Job Offers.
Kirk Davey: Baker Hughes Composites EngineerDr. Ashley Liao: Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) of Tawain Industrial Engineering-Nanotechnology Project Engineer
Dr. Edward Wang: Texas Tech University Assistant Professor