WEEKLY MEMO, January 22, 2008 **************** 1. Announcements **************** 1.1: Birck Nanotechnology Center Card Reader System and Fire Panel: as of 3:00PM on Monday, 01.14.08, the card reader system is connected to the fire alarm system. When there is an active fire alarm in the building, all external doors will lock down (key access only) and internal card reader doors will unlock. This will keep unauthorized people out of the building during a fire emergency and open the inside doors to help the emergency response team to move easily inside the building. Please contact Mark Voorhis (mvoorhis@purdue.edu) should you have any questions or concerns. 1.2: Best Gen-Nano Game Competition: The Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) is accepting proposals from students on Purdue's West Lafayette campus interested in designing a storyboard for an interactive K-12 learning activity to be published within one of the learning modules of the generation-nano.org Web site, which aims to excite middle school children about science by teaching them nanotechnology concepts. The individual or team authors of the three winning storyboards will receive cash awards of up to $300. Additional prizes will be awarded to authors of activities selected for implementation. The competition is open to all students on Purdue's West Lafayette campus. The deadline for proposal submission is March 15. Storyboard proposals are accepted from individual participants or teams. The goal of the proposed activity should be to accomplish a well-defined learning objective in one of the suggested topics, including structure and properties of matter, dominant forces and self-assembly; and involve a level of challenge appropriate for middle school children. The activity may either be exploratory or competitive, require user interaction and provide appropriate feedback to the user about his or her efforts. Detailed rules, guideline documents and competition entry form are available on the competition website: http://www.generation-nano.org/competition. 1.3: RAT reservations: when requesting rooms or resources in Birck, please do not change the administrator listed on the resource. Melissa (Marris) Lane is keeping a back up calendar for us so we have most of our room reservations running through her. If you contact Annie Cheever (68327) or Deborah Starewich (43509) by phone to make a reservation, we can check the room availability and make the request to Melissa for you. Thanks for your cooperation. 1.4: Discovery Park NEW logo and templates: Birck¹s new letterhead and memo templates have been posted to the faculty resources page <http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/Resources/fac_resources.php <http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/Resources/fac_resources.php> >. Posted to the visual resources page (<http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/Resources/PPT_resources.php <http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/Resources/PPT_resources.php> <http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/Resources/PPT_resources.php > >) is an updated powerpoint template the new logos. 1.5: Wade Utility Plant To Implement Campus Heating Steam Curtailment Level-1 was implemented on Saturday, January 19, 2008. Per Physical Facilities: Due to a combination of forecasted extremely cold temperatures and limited steam production capability at the Wade Utility Plant, we are implementing campus heating steam curtailment Level-1 beginning Saturday, January 19. There is no immanent threat of a heating steam supply shortage to campus! Curtailment Level-1 is essentially an awareness alert asking the campus community to please take voluntary steps to curtail heating steam consumption to help control costs. Why the curtailment step? To meet anticipated campus heating steam needs, due to the forecasted cold weekend weather, the Utility Plant will have to operate its gas/oil Boiler No.3 at a substantially high load because one of the plant's base-load coal fired boilers is not in service due to new pollution controls installation project activities. So, any reasonable steps that may be taken to curtail unnecessary consumption of heating steam save significant expense to the University. Boiler No. 3 costs four times as much to operate than one of our other boilers. What will be happening? During heating steam curtailment periods, Physical Facilities services staff will be closely monitoring and adjusting building operating systems in order to optimize heating steam demand without significantly impacting building occupant comfort to conserve steam consumption. What are some things people can do? Make sure outside doors are not left open longer than necessary. Make sure windows are closed. Lower room thermostats if occupants have the capability to do so. If significant sunshine is available, open window shades facing south if possible to catch solar heating and close shades at sunset. How long could we be asking for voluntary steam heating curtailment steps? The current weather forecast has a return to more moderate temperatures early next week. When that time arrives, Physical Facilities will most likely return building heating controls to normal settings. ******************** 2. SEMINARS ******************** 2.1: Thursday, January 24, 2008, 2PM, EE317: ³Silicon Sprintronics,² by Ian Appelbaum. ABSTRACT: Despite Silicon¹s intrinsic advantages for spintronics, even the basic elements of spin transport had not been achieved in this semiconductor until recently.[1] I will discuss the specific challenges associated with spin injection and detection in Silicon (Si), and our unique solution, employing ballistic hot-electron transport through nano-scale ferromagnetic metal ³polarizers.² Using this technique, we have observed unprecedented coherence in spin precession measurements, and extracted very long spin lifetimes of conduction electrons traveling over macroscopic distances.[2] Whereas transistor scaling limits will soon suppress progress in microelectronics using Si, spintronics may secure this semiconductor's dominance for the future. [1] Ian Appelbaum, B.Q. Huang, and D.J. Monsma, ³Electronic measurement and control of spin transport in silicon,² Nature 447, 295 (2007); [2] B.Q. Huang, D.J. Monsma, and Ian Appelbaum, ³Coherent spin transport through a 350-micron-thick silicon wafer,² Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 177209 (2007). BIO: Ian Appelbaum obtained his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and Ph.D. in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After spending one year as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, he is currently an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Delaware. **************** 3. Opportunities **************** 3.1: Job Position at Hewlett-Packard, Corvallis, OR: Materials Science (Entry Level) Job description: This is an R&D Materials design position in HP¹s imaging and printing business with an emphasis on Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) Print head technologies. TIJ print heads have many complex materials, and design challenges. Polymers, ceramics, elastomers, multilayer films, and electronics must provide state of the art mechanical, fluidic, electrical, adhesion, thermal, chemically resistant, cost, and volume manufacturing performance. We seek an individual with a solid, foundational understanding of Material Science who can apply many different analytical techniques in order to solve complex materials development questions. This job involves the following: Application of a broad range of analytical techniques to analyze, understand, characterize, and improve upon materials used in HP¹s Thermal Inkjet Print Heads; Development of new analytical methods to probe for unknown issues, failure modes, and material reliability factors; Coordination of analytical testing between multiple labs, both external and internal; and Communication of your work at periodic intervals and at the appropriate forums. Education: Bachelors or advanced degree (preferred) in Materials Science engineering (or related science). Highly desired would be an advanced degree in Materials Science, with Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering . This skill match would best match the interesting & challenging blend of materials and mechanical design interactions in our products. Desirable skills: Demonstrated ability to summarize materials properties that can lead to a successful search and development of a material for a specific purpose; Experience in a developing and a testing materials for a given application; Experience in developing activation energies to determine the response life a material, and/or a system of materials; Experience in mechanical design and its impact on material design; Ability to broadly contribute in a fast-paced, industrial R&D environment; Excellent communication and teamwork skills; Excellent planning, organizational, and documentation skills; Ability to give clear and effective presentations to inform and persuade peers and managers. If you are interested, please send your resume to alok.sharan@hp.com <mailto:alok.sharan@hp.com> . Deborah S. Starewich Administrative Assistant to Timothy D. Sands, Director Birck Nanotechnology Center Purdue University 765-494-3509 dstarewi@ecn.purdue.edu http://www.nano.purdue.edu/