My Research- Matt Chang (senior, Electrical Engineering)

Here’s my favorite research story. In 2004, Andrew Geim and Kostya Novoselov from the University of Manchester were playing with tape. Nothing special about this tape, just the usual stuff you use to make things stick to other things. They stuck the tape to a large piece of graphite and pulled back so that layers of graphite began to come off. And they did it again. And again. And again - until the piece of graphite got so thin that it was literally one atom thick. They weren’t trying to get an atom thick piece of graphite but that’s what they found, and it was a huge surprise because an atom thick layer of graphite was supposed to be impossible. Long story made short, 6 years later (several weeks ago), Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics… for playing with tape and, essentially, pencil lead.

Don’t get me wrong, their accomplishments are deserving of a Nobel Prize. The atom thick layer of graphite, called graphene, has unbelievable properties. It is the strongest material we know of today, and has electrical properties that make your computer look like play-doh. Research does produce ground-breaking results. It is our front line as we push the boundaries of science and engineering. But the point of the graphene story is that research probably isn’t what you imagine it to be.

Let me explain. Flashback 2.5 years, and you’ll find a young enthusiastic version of myself (not that I’m not today, I’m just unbelievably modest now). I had just arrived in Gaithersburg, Maryland for my first research experience at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) which I had gotten by applying through the National Science Foundation (NSF). NIST is a government lab - they even gave us nifty pink badges that said “you have government clearance, but not really”. I was there to work on a project about a mysterious new material called graphene, which looked pretty cool. I was excited; I wanted to get into the lab, break the speed of light, create a warp gate into the future, and then build a flux capacitor. I walked on the first day, and my advisor, a fellow named Dr. David Newell, handed me scotch tape.

You can imagine my disappointment. No fame? No flux capacitor? Disgruntled, I spent my first few weeks trying to find a process to isolate graphene on tape and then see it under an optical microscope (yeah you can see an atom thick material with your eyes. How bizarre.). I played with new kinds of tape; I massaged the piece of graphite differently; at one point I sang to the graphite. And one day, EUREKA! An atom thick layer of graphite! In the next six weeks, our team produced more and more graphene. With some pieces we were able to grow (yes, grow) electrical contacts onto the graphene. We explored many properties: electron densities, electrical conductivity, optical properties etc. My personal project was to construct a Quantum Hall Device with graphene to use as a highly precise standard of electrical resistance. By the end of my 9 weeks, I got to witness the Quantum Hall Effect (a Nobel Prize winner itself) in real-time on graphene. It was surreal, and I really couldn’t appreciate the magnitude of that result. In my freshmen year, I got to work with a team of world-class scientists and engineers on one (and eventually two) Nobel Prize science experiments. Not bad.

Research can be incredible. You could be working on something that will eventually change the world, whether it’s energy, computing, medicine, robotics, fluid dynamics, or the other uncountable fields of research. The variety is huge: today I’m working with thermoelectric energy. If you’re passionate about it, there will be moments that you will remember forever because you really do have the potential to make ground-breaking accomplishments. Penn State is one of the nation’s largest research institutes. We spend over $800 million on research a year and have the results to show for it. If you’re looking for research, Penn State is one of the best places to be.

That being said, research is nothing like the classroom – in fact it’s nearly the opposite. In class, we know there’s an answer. We’re lectured on theories and findings; it’s like listening to a story. In research, we’re literally working on things that no one has tried before. No one knows the answer; there is no textbook to research. Your ideas are as good as your professor’s. It is up to you to try new things and think creatively and critically. That could be anything – even playing with scotch tape. In research, you are writing the story.

So when you consider research, think carefully. Research requires patience, creativity, and above all else, passion. You can’t be afraid to make mistakes, because making mistakes is just the next step in the research process. But if you stick it out, you may find that research is amazing. You never know what you will find, or where you will find it whether it’s in sunlight, in your cells, or in the tip of your pencil.

My Research- Katie Kirsch (senior, Mechanical Engineering)

I just started working this semester in the Advanced Multi-Phase Flow Laboratory, under Dr. Seungjin Kim in the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department. I became a part of his lab because I had expressed interest in research during my senior year to one of my professors (the EA faculty advisor!) and she put me in contact with Dr. Kim. My specific project deals with studying how pipe elbows affect flow regimes of an air-water mixture. Nuclear reactor plants contain multiple flow restrictions, such as elbows, throughout their piping systems and the effect these flow restrictions have on two-phase flow is not well understood. Understanding two-phase flow properties is essential to understanding the heat transfer capabilities the liquid-gas mixture that cools the nuclear reactor. I work in this lab for ~10-15 hours/week. More information about this lab can be found at http://www2.mne.psu.edu/AMFL/.

Before I became a part of Dr. Kim’s lab, I worked under Dr. Mirna Urquidi-Macdonald in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department. I became involved with Dr. Macdonald my second semester freshman year through the Women in Science and Engineering Research (WISER) program. Dr. Macdonald and I worked with artificial neural networks, specifically Kohonen Maps, as they applied to the material selection and material design processes. Artificial neural networks are able to organize large amounts of data by clustering the data by similarities and differences. We looked at specific metal alloys in various environments and were able to understand which metal alloys performed best in which environments, in terms of corrosion rates, through the use of artificial neural networks. I worked with Dr. Macdonald for ~5-10 hours/week.

My Research- Stephen Pishney (senior, Chemical Engineering)

During my sophomore year, I was very interested in the possibility of going to graduate school. What are graduate schools looking for? Undergraduate research experience. Therefore, I applied for a fellowship through the Department of Chemical Engineering at Penn State. Several weeks later, I heard back with good news! I spent my summer after sophomore year (June-August, 2009) in State College working 40 hours/week with my research project. The research project was with Dr. Janik’s group.

I decided to continue research throughout my junior year. This time, I was working on a completely different project. My new project involved the analysis of Lithium conduction in the crystalline polymer, LiClO₄ PEO. Polymer electrolytes are very useful because of their conductivity potential in rechargeable, Lithium-ion batteries. In order to analyze the movement, different stability energies and transition state energies needed to be calculated. This research was very heavily computational, using external nodes (computers) to process the data. The picture below shows the computer modeling of my project:Throughout the school year itself, I spent approximately 10-12 hours/week with regard to research. This number includes the time spent in lab as well as the time spent in group and individual meetings. I highly recommend getting involved with undergraduate research if you are at all interested. It allowed me to be more involved with my major as well as get to know the faculty and students better. In addition, it helped me make up my mind as to whether or not I wanted to go to graduate school.

What is Your Favorite Class?- Kylie Sheplock (junior, Agricultural & Biological Engineering)

At Penn State there is a wide variety of classes that are offered and choosing the right ones for you maybe a bit challenging. But if you take the time to ask upper-level mates and professors in your department they will be more than willing to help. That is exactly what I did when I was looking for a general education class to take. These classes don’t necessarily need to apply to your major; however it is more enjoyable to take a class that sparks some of your interests. Which most of the time it will end up being something related to your major. I’m personally very interested in structures, so I decided to ask a couple seniors in civil engineering if they could recommend any general education. I was lucky enough for a senior to mention to me that a new class was starting in the spring, taught by a retired civil engineering professor. I jumped at the opportunity and found the class was called Structures throughout Society. I took the class and loved every minute of it we explored many different aspects of structures. We also received a better understand of why certain structures we constructed. It was a great class and gave me a new perspective on the way I think about structures.

TEDxPSU- Chris Golecki (junior, Mechanical Engineering)

Penn State recently had the opportunity to host a TED event on campus on 10/10/10. I was lucky enough to be able to attend. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. At a TED seminar, these three sectors come together to share “Ideas Worth Spreading.” During a TED seminar, experts in their respective fields, talk about designs and developments or anything new and interesting in that industry. There are also musicians who perform their new and innovative music.

Sunday October 10, 2010 was nothing less than an epic day for me, as well as many in attendance at the TED talks given in Schwab auditorium. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from these TED talks. I had watched countless hours of video casts on the TED website but had never been to a live TED talk. The entire day blew my mind. Talks ranging from new innovative designs, to ideas about mortality, to a jazz ensemble, to economic theory gave great scope to the entire day, allowing each member of the audience to personally relate to a topic.

Every one of the TED speakers flooded the stage with passion for their topics and allowed the audience to share in this passion. However, I was really caught off guard by one of the presenters. Chris Calkins was one of the first speakers to say his piece at the event. He began talking about economics and the huge amount of debt facing the citizens of the United States, a topic I didn’t focus on as an engineering student. However, I remained attentive, and he steered his talk into another direction, one that I was not prepared for.

After explaining that he had been a hospital administrator and listing some statistics about mortality and the amount of money spent on hospitalization and treatments, he very frankly asked the audience, “How do you want to die?”

At first, I was stunned at the way he asked this question, and then began to wonder why he asked that question. This was a talk about economics and the great sea of debt, not pain and death. Calkins did not leave the audience hanging on this question, but explained 40% of Medicare spending was spent during the last month of life. So, I asked myself, “How do I want to die?” This is a pretty tough question to answer at 20 years old, but I saw his point. Then I thought about the context of this question and realized that Chris Calkins just linked gross domestic debt to a philosophical argument. Was this true enlightenment or crazy babble? I had a tough time deciphering the quality and urgency of his message, but it made sense. It actually made a lot of sense. But was this the solution to national debt? No one will know really, but that idea turned on the light for me. I then found the true essence of TED.

The True Essence of TED According to Me

TED is not about bankable patents, it’s not about solving problems with traditional knowledge, and it is not about empty commodities. TED is a different way of thinking. TED is about changing age old ways of thinking to new, innovative and abstract ways of thinking, and then using these new methods to solve the age old problems. It was clear, now, that true enlightenment comes from a wealth of experiences, knowledge, and wisdom. All of the speakers were truly enlightened and were clearly speaking from these elements, making their presentation worthwhile.

As a young engineering student, I think that TED is not just beneficial, but essential to the mindset and problem-solving of engineers. In this fast-paced world, there is an ever-expanding sea of new problems. Engineers can most likely solve these problems using old techniques, but there is another way. TED has taught me that there always is another way.

TED’s advice through my eyes: think differently, think abstractly, challenge and enrich your mind.

-Chris Golecki

Greetings from Norway!- Kimberly Harrison (senior, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering)

When I got involved with the Ambassador program last year, NEVER did I imagine that it would bring me across the world to Oslo, Norway! Myself, along with fellow Ambassador Danielle DaSilva, are currently assisting Melissa Marshall (faculty adviser for Engineering Ambassadors) in teaching a week-long workshop on high school science outreach to 11 Norwegian students from the University of Oslo. The Prepare Project, which is based on the Penn State Engineering Ambassadors, was organized by the Simula Research Laboratory. Overall, the mission of both groups is the same: recruiting more young students, especially females, to pursue a career in the fields of science and/or engineering. So far the best way I can think to describe this experience is that it has been incredibly life-changing. I've always been proud to share my experiences as an Engineering Ambassador, but it's still unreal to me that I have an opportunity to share my experiences with such a diverse audience. Seriously...is this real life?!

After traveling between four airports within the span of 12 hours (including a sprint through the Amsterdam airport), we arrived (exhausted) in Olso, Norway on a Saturday afternoon. We spent part of the weekend exploring some of the city, including the Royal Palace and Oslofjord. The architecture is unlike anything I've seen before, and the fjords are so gorgeous in their own right. Luckily, we had amazing fall weather which just added to the beautiful scenery. But the real highlight of the trip so far has been interacting with the Prepare Mentors. These 11 women are incredibly passionate about their topics and have a genuine interest in inspiring younger students. They are currently on day two working on developing their talks as I write this blog. Some of the topics they are preparing for high school talks include nanotechnology, sound waves and acoustics, biological control, and the electrical models of the heart and brain. The most wild part, however, is the fact that English is their second language! You'd never be able to tell though. It has been quite an experience for me to not only have an opportunity to share my experiences, but to also help teach technical communication with a language "barrier." I still can't believe it. Nonetheless, I have been absolutely blown away in the short time I've spent with the Mentors. Their passion and dedication is very inspiring. I look forward to seeing their finished product at the end of the week!

-Kimberly Harrison

What Is Your Favorite Class?– Matt Chang (senior, Electrical Engineering)

I’ve been in college for over three years but I can’t really put my finger on one course and say, “that’s my absolute favorite course”! Thinking back, the courses that have most perked my interest are also the courses that have had lab components. It’s an odd thought because let’s be serious: no one’s excited to be in any one place doing work for more than two hours (unless there’s free food). In retrospect, however, these are the courses where we’ve done the coolest things; these are the courses where we get to actually apply the theory we’ve learned in the classroom and make it come to life.

Let me give you a few examples. In my basic circuitry class, we created our own sound cards. We did all the math, determined all the necessary parts, and actually soldered the parts onto the board. The sound card actually works: it has volume control, base/treble control, even an LED volume display. We took the board home and could hook it up to iPods and computers to play through the speaker. It was actually a handy portable speaker system. In digital signal processing, we used digital filters and algorithms to simulate a concert environment with echoes and reverberations. We even programmed the basics of autotune and tried it out on our own voices. Do things work perfectly (Can I rap?)? Uh, no, but that’s a (big) part of engineering. Neat connections exist between the theory we’re taught in the classroom and what that theory can do in practical systems. These are connections that we probably never knew about, but when that Eureka moment hits, it leaves us in awe at the scientists and engineers before us. Lab gives us one way to bridge that gap between theory and application, between the classroom and the real world.

-Matt Chang