WEEKLY MEMO, July 7, 2008 ****************** 1. ANNOUNCEMENTS ****************** 1.1: Annie Cheever has moved from BRK 2027. We¹ve created a new secretarial work area located near the Birck/Bindley skywalk entryway. Please stop by to check out her new digs. This move was necessary due to the recent hire of a secretary for the PRISM Center now located in the BRK 2027 suite. The PRISM secretary will begin later this month. There are no changes in secretarial assignments at this time. As we have the opportunity to add support staff, secretarial assignments will be visited at those times. 1.2: COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT; ME 697W Micro and Nano Fluid Mechanics; Fall Semester, Tu/Th 12:00-1:15; Instructor: Steve Wereley, Associate Professor, ME. Microscopic flows are appearing everywhere these days. Despite their prevalence in science and engineering fields, they are not well understoodin large part because the fluid mechanics intuition developed in the study of macroscale flows frequently does not apply to microscopic flows. This class will prepare engineers and scientists to address problems they will encounter when studying the behavior of fluid flows in microscopic domains. The course will concentrate on behaviors not typically important at large length scales that become very important at small length scales, such as Van der Waals forces, surface tension, and electrostatic forces. The course will take a largely analytical approach to studying these flow phenomena although some computational modeling will also performed. Previous experience with graduate level fluid mechanics (i.e. Navier-Stokes solutions) is essential. Some computational analysis of model problems may be performed using commercial software (ANSYS or Fluent). Course Objectives: To learn how fluids behave in microscopic domains that are still large enough for continuum flow approximations to hold. To learn where the continuum assumptions are no longer valid. To learn how to treat sub-continuum fluid flows. Prerequisites by Topic: The student should be of graduate standing. The student should have had experience with graduate level fluid mechanics, in particular deriving and solving the Navier-Stokes equations. Computer Usage: The students may need to use ANSYS, Matlab, Fluent, or a comparable package, to perform some of the computations necessary for the course. Assessment Methods: Grades will be based on homework assignments, two projects, and a final exam. The relative weight of these components is 25%, 50%, and 25%, respectively. ******************** 2. TOURS/VISITORS ******************** NO TOURS SCHEDULED FOR THIS WEEK AT THIS TIME. ******************** 3. SEMINARS ******************** NO SEMINARS SCHEDULED FOR THIS WEEK AT THIS TIME. **************** 4. OPPORTUNITIES **************** 4.1: The National Science Foundation recently released a new solicitation for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP), which seeks to increase the number of students (US citizens or permanent residents) receiving associate or baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging fields within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Type 1 proposals are solicited that provide for full implementation efforts at academic institutions. Type 2 proposals are solicited that support educational research projects on associate or baccalaureate degree attainment in STEM. The request for proposals is available at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08569/nsf08569.htm <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08569/nsf08569.htm> . For this competition, Purdue may submit one Type 1 proposal as lead institution or part of a consortium (there is no limit on Type 2 proposals). Internal deadlines are as follows: Monday, July 28: Letters of Intent due to the OVPR; Monday, August 11: Preproposals due to the OVPR. Please note: Letters of intent, preproposals, and rankings to the OVPR should be e-mailed to OVPRlimited@purdue.edu. Purdue's limited submission policy and template for letters of intent may be found at http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi <http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> . For any case in which the number of internal letters of intent received is no more than the number of proposals allowed by the sponsor, the OVPR will notify the PI that an internal preproposal will be unnecessary. 4.2: The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has invited Purdue University to nominate up to five candidates for its 2009 competition for the above program, which provides clinically trained individuals with bridging support in basic biomedical, disease oriented, translational, or molecular, genetic, or pharmacological epidemiology research at North American degree granting institutions. The CAMS program provides $700,000 over five years to bridge advanced postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service. The ideal candidate, who must hold an M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., Pharm.D., or equivalent clinical degree, will be two years away from becoming an independent investigator, have at least two years or more of research experience, and have a significant publication record. Further information is available at http://www.bwfund.org/programs/CAMS/cams_apply.html <http://www.bwfund.org/programs/CAMS/cams_apply.html> . Internal deadlines are as follows: Monday, August 4: Letters of Intent due to the OVPR; Monday, August 25: Preproposals due to the OVPR. Please note: Letters of intent, preproposals, and rankings to the OVPR should be e-mailed to OVPRlimited@purdue.edu. Purdue's limited submission policy and template for letters of intent may be found at http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi <http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> . For any case in which the number of internal letters of intent received is no more than the number of proposals allowed by the sponsor, the OVPR will notify the PI that an internal preproposal will be unnecessary. 4.3: Two 3-year postdoctoral positions in Plasma Nanoscience at CSIRO, Australia (Deadline 18 July 2008). The newly established Plasma Nanoscience Centre Australia based at CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Lindfield (Sydney), NSW, AUSTRALIA is now recruiting three highly-productive, ambitious researchers (2 Post doctoral fellows are among them) with a range of complementary experimental, theoretical, and computational skills to contribute to the project led by CEO Science Leader Professor Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov on plasma-aided fabrication of structural and functional nanomaterials, nanostructures, and nanoscale assemblies. The research programme will involve close interaction with the group led by Professor A. B. Murphy and other researchers at CMSE and other divisions of CSIRO. You will be participating in cutting-edge multidisciplinary research aimed at finding the most effective plasma-related controls and developing advanced and versatile fabrication approaches, processes and tools for the production of next-generation nanomaterials. This research will involve a large-scale international collaboration and is expected to result in a large number of publications in high-impact international journals. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to familiarise themselves with the plasma - aided nanofabrication techniques and approaches (see, e.g., K. Ostrikov and A. B. Murphy, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., v. 40, p.2223, 2007; K. Ostrikov, Rev. Mod. Phys. v. 77, p. 489, 2007, and K.Ostrikov and S. Xu, Plasma-Aided Nanofabrication: from Plasma Sources to Nanoassembly, Wiley-VCH, 2007), that will be used in this project. The positions are initially for 3 years with the possibility of further fixed-term extension(s) for up to another 2 years and even longer, subject to funds availability, performance and need. Outstanding performers may be offered permanent positions at the end of their fixed-term appointments. Salary and pension fund contributions (superannuation) are very competitive internationally. For further details about these positions, selection criteria and instructions how to apply, please refer to https://recruitment.csiro.au/asp/job_details.asp?RefNo=2008%2F669 or to CSIRO Careers Website https://recruitment.csiro.au/asp/index.asp (key in the Position Reference Number 2008/669). Applications must be uploaded through this website. If after reading the selection documentation you have any questions specifically relating to this position, please contact Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov via email: Kostya.Ostrikov@csiro.au .