OSU School of Materials Science and Engineering 2018 Highlights

OSU SCHOOL OF

MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

Highlights ACADEMICS

MSE student selected as top OSU CEAT graduate student Vishal Yeddu, an OSU-Tulsa graduate student in materials science and engineering, was named the overall Outstanding Graduate Student for the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology on April 30 in Stillwater.

CEAT Dean Paul Tikalsky presented the award to Yeddu during the department’s faculty, staff and student awards banquet.

Paul Tikalsky, dean of the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, left, presents Vishal Yeddu, a master’s student in materials science and engineering, the college’s top graduate award at the recent awards banquet in Stillwater, along with Dr. Raman Singh, head of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at OSU-Tulsa.

As an undergraduate student, Yeddu co-authored an article for the Journal of Molecular Liquids and was the top candidate for the School of Materials Science and Engineering master’s program at OSU-Tulsa when he enrolled in 2016. He maintains a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Under the guidance of assistant professor Dr. Do Young Kim, Yeddu’s research at the

Helmerich Research Center is focused on improving the performance and efficiency of perovskite-based infrared photodetectors.

He also led a multi-university team to develop the first infrared-sensitive OLED with high photon conversion efficiency using polymer light sensitizers. This development could lead to commercial manufacturing of infrared and night-vision cameras in high demand by defense agencies.

Yeddu serves as treasurer of the OSU-Tulsa student chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering and is the OSU-Tulsa MSE student representative for the OSU Graduate and Professional Student Government Association.

He plans to graduate in fall 2018.

Spring 2018 Materials Science and Engineering Seminar Series The OSU School of Materials Science and Engineering hosted six guest speakers during the spring semester for its Materials Science and Engineering Seminars Series.

FEBRUARY 9

The series is aimed at bringing in materials science and engineering innovators from across the country to share their research and expertise with students, faculty, professionals and anyone interested in the field:

FEBRUARY 23

JANUARY 26 Dr. Alexei Grigoriev, Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Tulsa - Electrostatic Polarization Coupling in Ferroelectric Thin Films

R.D. Bell – Oklahoma State University-Tulsa Reference Librarian - Knovel: Your Engineering Library Digital Toolkit Dr. Frank Blum, Harrison I. Bartlett Chair and Regents Professor of Chemistry, Oklahoma State University - Dynamics of Polymers in Interphases

MARCH 9 Dr. Angus Rockett, Head of the Department of Metalurgy and Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and Emeritus Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois - Photovoltaics As Part Of A Renewable Energy Economy

APRIL 13 Dr. Mauro Sardela – Director of Central Research Facilities at the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Challenges for shared-instrumentation facilities and the use of complementary techniques to advance materials science

APRIL 27 Dr. Satish Kumar, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology – Carbon and Multifunctional Fibers and Nanocomposites

MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING H i g h l i g h t s RESEARCH

Graduate student creates material to protect aircraft, wind turbines from lightning strikes

MEETINGS

development that has caught the attention of global conglomerate General Electric.

Under the guidance of Dr. Ranji Vaidyanathan, Varnadow Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Dhakal designed the new technology to be lighter and more durable than current materials.

Dilli Dhakal, an OSU-Tulsa student pursuing a master’s degree in materials science and engineering, tests the product he created to protect wind turbines and aircraft from lightning damage.

OSU-Tulsa materials science and engineering student Dilli Dhakal invented a material that can keep lightning from damaging aircraft and wind turbines, a

“As a major wind turbine manufacturer, GE is a potential customer. They are really enthusiastic about our project,” Dhakal said. “GE wrote a letter of support for our project and we included that in our application for a $5,000 VentureWell grant. I think that’s a big part of why we got it.”

The VentureWell grant will be used toward moving the product to the commercial market.

The OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology administration held its yearly planning meeting at the Helmerich Research Center at OSU-Tulsa. Bottom row from left are Young Chang, Suzanne Bilbeisi and Norb DeLatte; second row from left are Randy Seitsinger, Raman Singh and Sunderesh Heragu; third row from left are John Veenstra, Dan Fisher and Rob Whiteley; top row from left are Paul Tikalsky, Jeffrey Young and Ed Kirtley.

RESEARCH

MSE kicks off third Research Experience for Undergraduates

RESEARCH

Taking the leap from summer fellowship to full-time graduate student As part of the OSU-Tulsa Research Experience for Undergraduates in materials science and entrepreneurship, Lynsey Baxter spent last summer with a graduate student researching materials to shield astronauts from galactic cosmic radiation.

Science Foundation and co-funded by the U.S. Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

OSU-Tulsa’s 2018 REU Fellows are from bottom left, Nicholas Nowak and Spencer Galluci; from second row left, Christine Brockman, Michael Rivera and Erik Perez; from third row left, Erin Wernick and James Gruich; and top row left, Christian Schaefer, Alyssa Curry and Kathryn Bartosik. Avery Slack is not pictured.

Since then, she made the leap from REU participant to the OSU-Tulsa master’s degree program and this summer she is a graduate student mentor to a New Jersey college student during the nine-week program.

Eleven undergraduates from universities throughout the country arrived on campus on May 29 as the third cohort of OSU-Tulsa’s Research Experience for Undergraduates, a nine-week summer fellowship on materials science and entrepreneurship

“I really looked at the REU as a way to figure out if materials science is what I want to do,” she said. “After last summer, I decided that it was.”

The REU provides undergraduates opportunities to work on research projects with OSU-Tulsa faculty and graduate students in the HRC laboratories. The research projects, ranging from additive manufacturing to solar cells, are typically the caliber of research reserved for graduate students.

Launched in 2016, the interdisciplinary summer program is funded by a $405,208 grant from the National

Lynsey Baxter

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MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING H i g h l i g h t s OUTREACH

OUTREACH

MSE takes liquid “Avengers: Infinity War” movie inspires nitrogen, magnetic teens to join MENTOR summer camp levitation demos to STEM Expo

Doctoral researcher Ranjan Singhal, left, and Dr. Feng Lu, research scientist, demonstrate the properties of several materials to middle-schoolers at the Flight Night Back to School STEM Expo in September.

Demonstrating the wonders of magnetic levitation, liquid nitrogen and hapememory alloy, two OSU-Tulsa researchers drew crowds of curious middle-school students to their booth at the inaugural Flight Night Back to School STEM Expo in September.

Doctoral researcher Ranjan Singhal and research scientist Dr. Feng Lu led students in hands-on demonstrations during the day-long event at the Exchange Center at Expo Square. The expo was created to ignite a love of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) among Tulsa area children.

For most of the students, this was the first time they experienced such complex scientific phenomena through simple activities, making it easier for them to understand the basic underlying science.

The expo was presented by the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance, Cox Media Group and the Tulsa State Fair.

OSU-Tulsa research scientist Dr. Feng Lu, left, introduces high school seniors Elise Niehaus and Zoe Ziftar to the scanning electron microscope during MENTOR Camp at the Helmerich Research Center in late July.

When Tony Stark transforms into Iron Man at the push of a button in the “Avengers: Infinity War” movie, a stunned onlooker asks, “Where did that come from?”

Iron Man glances at his suit of armor and replies, “It’s nanotech. You like it?”

The movie and its predecessors have spurred news and magazine articles and YouTube videos exploring whether the featured nanotechnology is possible in real life.

For Holland Hall School seniors Elise Niehaus and Zoe Ziftar, the recent movie is part of the reason they signed up for the Materials Engineering and Nano Technology OutReach (MENTOR) Camp hosted by the School of Materials Science and Engineering at OSU-Tulsa.

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RECOGNITION

OSU-Tulsa student to work on NASA project to protect against galactic cosmic radiation

Korey Herrman

OSU-Tulsa doctoral student Korey Herrman will spend the 2018 spring semester conducting research in galactic cosmic radiation shielding at the NASA Research Center in Langley, Virginia.

She will work with NASA researcher Dr. Sheila Thibeault developing new radiation-shielding materials specifically for long-duration space flights.

Herrman is one of a growing number of OSU-Tulsa students who have worked with NASA and one of 2,000 students nationwide who are selected for a NASA internship each year.

NASA research interns are competitively selected based on the student’s background and recommendations.

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MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING H i g h l i g h t s RECOGNITION

Doctoral student to speak at International Astronautical Congress in Germany

Blaze Heckert

On his first foray outside of the country, OSU-Tulsa doctoral student Blaze Heckert will be a featured speaker at the International Astronautical Congress in Germany Oct. 1-5.

Heckert, who is pursuing a doctorate in materials science and engineering, was

selected to discuss his research into improving materials used in aerospace components to better absorb energy and reduce vibration.

“Aerospace components are used in high stress areas so we want to make them to be safer and last longer,” he said.

Heckert, who has an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in polymer chemistry, will give a 12-minute technical talk on

his research. His participation and trip are being sponsored by NASA. The International Astronautical Federation is a global network of experts and global leaders in different fields of space. Heckert was selected as a presenter from among 4,336 abstracts submitted worldwide.

To learn more about the IAF, visit the organization’s website.

RECOGNITION

RECOGNITION

OSU-Tulsa researchers Vaidyanathan to be deputy technical chair of the Composites and Materials Expo Conference developing brighter with technical knowledge and career and cheaper display experience. technology “It is an honor to be selected as one of the organizers of the premier composites conference in the world by experts in the field and to work together with industry and academic experts to choose topics and papers to be presented by students, faculty and industry experts,” said Vaidyanathan.

Ranji Vaidyanathan

Dr. Ranji Vaidyanathan, OSU-Tulsa materials science and engineering professor within the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, has been chosen to be the Deputy Technical Chair of the Composites and Materials Expo (CAMX) Conference for 2019.

Created by the American Composites Manufacturers Association and the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) to connect and advance all aspects of the world’s composites and advanced materials communities, CAMX is an all-encompassing event.

This CAMX Conference is one of the foremost technical conference in the composites materials field in North America and consists of emerging leaders in SAMPE

SAMPE has more than 2000 members including student members, and Oklahoma State University has a local student chapter which Vaidyanathan is the advisor.

Vaidyanathan is a professor of materials science and engineering at the Helmerich Research Center at OSU-Tulsa, he is a faculty fellow with the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship at the School of Entrepreneurship, Spears School of Business at OSU, and has a joint appointment with the School of Chemical Engineering in CEAT. He works collaboratively with faculty members from various disciplines and colleges to develop products and solutions for Oklahoma small manufacturers, and works with the HRC faculty to develop a major research and technology transfer thrust in composite materials.

FOX 23 News featured MSE researchers at Helmerich Research Center working on improving display technology. Click the image to watch the video.