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News
Materials Science & Engineering Students Inducted Into Alpha Sigma Mu at the ASm Hartford Chapter Meeting
At the April 14, 2009 meeting of the Hartford Chapter of ASM, certificates, keys, and tassels were presented to the newly elected members of the Connecticut Alpha Chapter of Alpha Sigma Mu, The International Professional Honor Society for Materials Science and Engineering. Student membership selection is based upon scholastic standing, character and  leadership.
The photo, taken by Arnie Grot, shows from left to right:
Robin Bright, newly elected member, PhD candidate;
Tippawan Markmaitree, newly elected member, PhD candidate;
Vincent Palumbo, current Chapter President;
James Bosse, newly elected member, senior MSE major;
Prof. Harold Brody, chapter advisor;
Erica Marcinek, newly elected member, junior MSE major;
Keith Grayeb, newly elected member, senior MSE major;
Joseph Rajan, newly elected member, junior MSE major.
Also participating in the induction ceremony, but not pictured, were
Ellen Lavorato, Chapter Vice-President, J
oseph Koplar, member, senior MSE major.
Also elected to membership, but unable to attend the ASM meeting were
Yan-Ling Hu, PhD candidate, and S
hawn Fonseca, junior MSE and ME major.
The main technical program for the ASM meeting was 15 minute research presentations three University of Connecticut graduate students.
Speaker 1 Bio: Satyesh Kumar Yadav Undergraduate school: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (2004-2008), in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. Graduate School: University of Connecticut (Fall 2008), in materials science. Area of research: Ab initio study of II-VI semiconductors.
Abstract: Although Zn based II-VI semiconductors are abundant, stable, and environmentally benign, their band gap energies are too large for optimal photovoltaic efficiency. If band gap can be engineered to desired level they can be excellent materials for photovoltaic application; especially in form of core/shell nanowire (that could improve the carrier collection in solar cells by reducing the excitation recombination rate). One way to engineer band gap is through strain. By using pseudopotential density functional theory calculations, we systematically study how the band gap, optical absorption of Zn based II-VI semiconductors changes with strain. We find that by suitably straining, band gap can be engineered to desired level. ZnO/ZnS core/shell nanowire with band gap of 2.07 eV matches with Shockley-Quiesser efficiency limit of 23%.
Speaker 2 Bio: Xuefei Wan Xuefei received a bachelor and master degrees from Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Tianjin University, China, She entered the University of Connecticut in Aug. 2006 and then joined Prof. Leon Shaw‚s group in Jan.2007 to study the hydrogen storage materials.
Abstract: Currently, lithium borohydride (LiBH4) has been studied extensively as a reversible hydrogen storage materials for onboard energy carrier applications because of its high gravimetric hydrogen density (18.5 wt% H2). However, to date, LiBH4 has always been dehydrogenated/rehydrogenated at the high temperature because of its high temperature stability. Our study is focusing on destabilizing the LiBH4 system and decreasing its dehydrogenated/rehydrogenated temperature through nanoengineering and mechanical activation. Speaker 3 Bio: Arif Mubarok Arif received a BS in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering (MME) from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh in November 2004. He enrolled as a PhD student in University of Connecticut in August 2006. In January 2007, he became a Research Assistant in Nano-structured Metallic Materials‰ group. His supervising faculty is Prof Rainer Hebert. Abstract: Bulk metallic glasses currently attract significant attention in the field of materials science with many unique and desirable properties, such as high strength, good hardness, good wear resistance etc. Thermal expansion behavior is very important but very few studies were done to elucidate the factors affecting the true thermal expansion of bulk metallic glass. Several factors affect the thermal expansion of amorphous alloy such as structural relaxation, viscosity, crystallization, heat-treatment condition etc and they are considered as non-reversible factors. We have synthesized a new Cu50Hf41.5 Al8.5 bulk glassy alloy in our lab and we used a new approach i.e. temperature modulated TMA to separate the true thermal expansion from other non-reversible affects.
Photo from left to right:
Asst. Prof. Rainer Hebert, Arif Mubarok, Xuefei Wan, Satyesh Kumar Yadav, Dr. Sam Christy, Welding and Joining Discipline Chief, Global Services Engineering (Pratt and Whitney)
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