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MEMS NewsJuly 17, 2008
By Richard Merritt
DURHAM, N.C. – Nature, in the simple form of a tree canopy, appears to provide keen insights into the best way to design complex systems to move substances from one place to another, an essential ingredient in the development of novel “smart” materials.
Duke University engineers believe that an image of two tree canopies touching top-to-top can guide their efforts to most efficiently control the flow of liquids in new materials, including the next ...
July 1, 2008
Professor Jeffrey T. Glass has been appointed Senior Associate Dean for Education, Dean Tom Katsouleas announced on July 1, 2008. He succeeds Tod Laursen, who served in that capacity since 2003 and will now become chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.
"Jeff has the ideal background to help the faculty and the departments to develop innovative and exciting new educational programs that respond to the nation’s need for engineers that will be ...
June 30, 2008
Note to editors: Anne Lazarides can be reached at (919) 660-5483 or anne.lazarides@duke.edu. The journal article is available online at http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/asap.cgi/nalefd/asap/html/nl080029h.html.
DURHAM, N.C. – The ability to use genetic material to assemble nanoscopic particles of gold could be an important step toward creating tiny “spies” that will be able to infiltrate individual cells and report back in real time on the cell’s inner workings.
A team of Duke University materials engineers and chemists has developed tiny gold ...
June 26, 2008
Professor Tod Laursen has been named chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Dean Robert Clark and Dean designee Tom Katsouleas announced on June 26. He succeeds professor Franklin H. Cocks, who served as interim chair during the 2007/2008 academic year.
“Tod is well known and respected for his scholarship, leadership, judgment and academic values. He has ambitious goals for MEMS and we expect him to be a transformative Chair,” said Katsouleas.
Laursen received ...
June 19, 2008
Residence hall/laboratory receives state's first platinum LEED rating
DURHAM, NC -- The Home Depot Smart Home at Duke University, a 10-person student residence hall for green living and learning, has achieved a top-level platinum standard for its design from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system. The building becomes the first in North Carolina to achieve that standard.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
The 6,000-square foot-residence, designed by students and advisers, earned 59 ...
May 20, 2008
Liposomes are tiny capsules made of lipids, the same fatty molecules that make up the membrane of every cell in the body. These synthetic spheres naturally tend to form into hollow capsules around a drop of watery solution.
Researchers first fabricated liposomes in 1965 but needed several decades to give them protection against attack by the body’s immune system. Today, they’re coated in polyethylene glycol, which provides several hours of protection in the bloodstream.
David Needham’s years ...
May 16, 2008
Firas Khasawneh, a Ph.D. student in the department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science (MEMS), recently received a graduate student mini-grant from the Duke chapter of Sigma Xi, an international organization that promotes scientific achievement. Khasawneh, a native of Jordan, works in the laboratory of Brian Mann, assistant professor in MEMS. Khasawneh plans to use the Sigma Xi funding to further a research project entitled “Experimental Investigations of Noise-Induced Resonance via Delayed Feedback.” The results ...
May 11, 2008
Duke University and its Pratt School of Engineering awarded degrees to 230 undergraduate and 174 graduate students May 11 and engineering Dean Robert L. Clark said Pratt’s graduating seniors are ready to help tackle some of the many challenges facing the nation and the global society.
“You are about to accept a much greater responsibility for yourselves, and as engineers, for all of humanity,” Clark told a standing-only-crowd of graduates, and their friends and families gathered ...
May 8, 2008
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering has received a gift of $5 million from an anonymous donor to establish a new undergraduate curriculum that will encourage students to think critically about problems that lack obvious solutions, like those they will encounter after graduation, President Richard H. Brodhead announced Wednesday.
The planned curriculum will be open to undergraduates from all majors.
“Duke’s strategic plan, ‘Making a Difference,’ calls for investments in programs that help students ...
April 18, 2008
Critics are always looking for flaws and defects. Like critics, John Dolbow is also interested in defects, but not for their ability to detract from a finished product, but for the vast potential in better understanding and harnessing their potential. More specifically, he meticulously follows the process of materials as they change in response to mechanical loads, looking for that precise instant when they transform from one state into another.
As an example of these stress-response ...
April 18, 2008
Critics are always looking for flaws and defects. Like critics, John Dolbow is also interested in defects, but not for their ability to detract from a finished product, but for the vast potential in better understanding and harnessing their potential. More specifically, he meticulously follows the process of materials as they change in response to mechanical loads, looking for that precise instant when they transform from one state into another.
As an example of these stress-response ...
April 11, 2008
From a public health standpoint, one of the major issues facing underdeveloped countries is the supply of safe and clean drinking water. Countries trying to solve this problem are often daunted by the high costs of traditional water purification systems.
However, a team of current and former Triangle area university students, including Pratt sophomore Will Patrick, have come up with a plan they feel can address this issue. If their efforts come to fruition, they believe ...
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