Q&A: $2.5M grant to help reduce emissions, inefficiencies in industrial systems
By Sarah Small
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team led by researchers at Penn State recently received a $2,491,443 grant from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) to reduce emissions and increase thermal efficiency in industrial systems. The team, which includes researchers at Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics Inc., plans to achieve these goals by developing a new ceramic heat exchanger.
Graduate student’s materials science research recognized by national society
By Jamie Oberdick
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mingyu Yu, doctoral candidate in materials science and engineering at Penn State, recently received the Graduate Student Research Award from the professional society AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces and Processing for innovative research in two-dimensional materials.
Proximity effect: Method allows advanced materials to gain new property
By Matthew Carroll
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ferroelectrics are special materials with polarized positive and negative charges — like a magnet has north and south poles — that can be reversed when external electricity is applied. The materials will remain in these reversed states until more power is applied, making them useful for data storage and wireless communication applications.
Brian Fronk
(e) bmf141@psu.edu
(o) 814 863 8997
229 Reber Building
Alexander Rattner
(e) asr20@psu.edu
(o) 814 863 4387
236A Reber Building
Old wisdom meets new tech: Traditional Chinese medicine inspires pulse sensors
By Sarah Small
Continuously monitoring a person’s pulse can provide meaningful medical information, such as heart rate and, indirectly, blood pressure. However, pulse waves can vary dramatically from person to person and even within the same person at different times of day and during different activities. These variations make it difficult for current wearable pulse sensors to accurately record useful data, which is especially problematic for those with cardiovascular disease or high-risk factors for those diseases.
Pepinsky: Ray Pepinsky
Pepinsky and the X-RAC
As Wheeler Davey’s tenure as leader of the X-ray diffraction group came to an end with his retirement in 1949, other important faculty came to Penn State to lead X-ray diffraction into the second half of the 20th Century. One was Ray Pepinsky, who joined the Penn State faculty soon after Davey’s retirement. Pepinsky was a leading expert in the field of determination of structures, atomic locations, polarity, and bonding through detailed X-ray analysis.
Fenske: Merrell R. Fenske
Fenske Revolutionized Oil Refining
Merrell Fenske joined the Penn State chemical engineering and chemistry faculty in 1929 as the Great Depression was dawning, inspiring him to focus his research on aiding the Pennsylvania petroleum industry.
