George Cahen's lasting impact

From SEAS E-News: Engineers learn by doing. That is the reason Professor George Cahen often gives for championing experiential learning at UVA Engineering—and it is a lesson Cahen, now retiring after 40 years at UVA, himself learned as a boy growing up in Baltimore. 

 “The value I place on experiential learning goes back to my time with my dad. He gave me a real sense of the power of engineering. I wanted to pass that on to our students.”

Together with his father, an aerospace engineer for the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed Martin), Cahen tackled a number of projects that gave him his first inkling of the satisfaction to be had from bridging the gap between idea and realization. Together, they installed central air conditioning, a rarity at the time, flew model airplanes and built go-carts and motorized bicycles. When he was 12, Cahen and his dad built a cart and wagon that he used to tow his friends around their neighborhood.

READ MORE > at SEAS E-NEWS

Robert Kelly named 2016 recipient of the H. H. Uhlig Award from ECS

Materials Science and Engineering Professor Robert Kelly has been named the 2016 recipient of the H. H. Uhlig Award from the Electrochemical Society’s Corrosion Division, another indicator of the exceptional quality of the corrosion research at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science.

BY SEAS NEWS

 “We have a 30-year history of excellence in corrosion research,” said Scully, who is co-director with Kelly of the Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering. “Rob exemplifies all the qualities that have helped build and sustain this achievement.” 

The award, recognizing excellence in corrosion research and outstanding contributions to the field, was established in 1973 and, in 1985, named for Prof. H. H. Uhlig, the founder of the field in the United States and a president of the society. Since that time, UVA Engineering has won the Uhlig Award twice, the first time in 2009 when the society presented the award to Professor John R. Scully, interim chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department.

Although corrosion lacks the visibility of such high-profile fields as computer science or medical research, it is a major challenge for the 21st century. A recent report from NACE International, a worldwide corrosion authority, cited the cost of corrosion to the U.S. economy at approximately $451 billion a year, a figure that has grown significantly as our infrastructure ages and as we require alloys for highly demanding environments.
Read more..

John Scully offers lessons from Flint in NAE's The Bridge

Each issue of the National Academy of Engineering publication The Bridge features articles by leading engineers and scholars on a chosen topic. The most recent issue addresses challenges at the interface of technology and policy. Among them is a timely article by John Scully discussing the critically aging US infrastructure, entitled "The Corrosion Crisis in Flint, Michigan: A Call for Improvements in Technology Stewardship."

One of the main lessons from the Flint calamity is that past lessons were not learned.

Scully explains that casual reliance on rote standards will likely not prevent the next crisis from escalating to calamity any more than finger pointing or passing knee-jerk legislation, but rather

Jack Snodgrass library added to CESE collection

UVA's Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering recently received a near 50 book donation from the family of Jack Snodgrass. Snodgrass worked at Reynolds aluminum company in Richmond and was a frequent collaborator with CESE.

This is the third such gift of books to the Center's library. Jerry Kruger (CHEM PhD), a world renown corrosion scientist, offered his collection to the library for use by center researchers. Rob Leggat (MSE 02) of US Steel

Inaugural Graduate Student Department Awards

On May 20, 2016 gathered to acknowledge the many accomplishments of our faculty and students.

The event not served to honor the awardees, but also to honor and thank all who were nominated as well as the many students who daily take an active role and personal ownership in the ongoing development of programmatic excellence.

Nominations for 2016's graduate student awards included some of our finest students.

The 2016 Doris Kuhlmann Wilsdorf Outstanding Graduate Student Award is intended to recognize a graduate student for outstanding scholarship. This includes both exemplary research contributions and advancement of the MSE academic mission.

The Nominees for the 2016 Doris Kuhlmann Wilsdorf Outstanding Graduate Student Award were:

Ehsan Monazami

Gopal Ramalingam

Brian Donovan

Leslie Bland

Zachary Harris

Noelle Co

The  2016 Doris Kuhlmann Wilsdorf Outstanding Graduate Student Award was tie, going to Ehsan Monazami and Gopal Ramalingam. Congratulations!

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The 2016 Fred D. Rosi Outstanding Citizen Award recognizes a graduate student for overall citizenship and contributions to the academic, educational, and outreach goals of the MSE department and for exemplary teamwork.

Nominees for the 2016 Fred D. Rosi Outstanding Citizen Award were:

Megan Wilson

Noelle Co

 Marybeth Parker

Micah Schaible

Leslie Bland

Bonnie McFarland

This year’s winner is receiving this award specifically for the breadth and depth of his service to MSE, to SEAS, and to the community at large. Congratulations and thank you to Micah Schaible!

 Previous Awardees:

Doris Kuhlmann Wilsdorf Award previous winners include :

2010 Chris Petz

2012 Ryan Comes

2013 Eric Schindelholz

2014 Lok-Kun Tsui

2015 Bradley Richards and Rebecca Schaller



Previous award recipients of the for Fred D. Rosi Award:

2010 Matt Steiner

2012 Kathleen Shugart

2013 Bradley Richards

2014 Andrew King and Matthew Schneider

2015 Mary Lyn Lim 

Engineering Science Student Receives Truman Award for Solar Energy Research

University of Virginia undergraduate student Jill Ferguson has been named a Truman Scholar and will receive $30,000 toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development to help prepare her 

for a career in public service leadership.

Read more in UVA TODAY 

U.Va graduate students net four top spots at NACE International Corrosion 2016 conference

This March, CORROSION 2016 conference was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. The world’s largest corrosion conference and exposition, CORROSION offers students the opportunity to enter posters in one of three categories: (1) the Marcel Pourbaix category for the field of corrosion science; (2) the Mars Fontana category for the field of corrosion engineering; and (3) the Harvey Herro category for the field of applied corrosion technology. U.Va students won 4 of the possible 9 awards given in three categories.

Marybeth Parker - 2nd place, Harvey Herro
Noelle Co - 1st place Marcel Pourbaix Category (Corrosion Science)
RJ Santucci - 2nd place Marcel Pourbaix

Piyush Khullar - 1st place, Harvey Herro Category (Corrosion Technology)

Regarding all the U.Va student poster presentations Rob Kelly remarked, "I cannot count the number of positive remarks I heard about each one."

NACE International, The Worldwide Corrosion Authority, serves nearly 36,000+ members in 130 countries and is recognized globally as the premier authority for corrosion control solutions. - See more at: http://www.nace.org/About-NACE/#sthash.yYRfWhMD.dpuf

NACE International, The Worldwide Corrosion Authority, serves nearly 36,000+ members in 130 countries and is recognized globally as the premier authority for corrosion control solutions. - See more at: http://www.nace.org/About-NACE/#sthash.yYRfWhMD.dpuf

NACE International, The Worldwide Corrosion Authority, serves nearly 36,000+ members in 130 countries and is recognized globally as the premier authority for corrosion control solutions. - See more at: http://www.nace.org/About-NACE/#sthash.yYRfWhMD.dpuf

NACE International, The Worldwide Corrosion Authority, serves nearly 36,000+ members in 130 countries and is recognized globally as the premier authority for corrosion control solutions. - See more at: http://www.nace.org/About-NACE/#sthash.yYRfWhMD.dpuf

Corrosion the culprit: key papers on water crisis in Flint, MI made publicly accessible

John Scully, Technical Editor in Chief of the journal CORROSION,  recently published a special editorial section covering the centrality of corrosion in Flint's water crisis. Additionally, in his capacity as technical editor, he choose to make public via open access the full texts (see below) of many of key scientific papers, including several of Marc Edwards, professor at Va Tech. Well known within the field, the articles detail the technical understanding regarding galvanic coupling of copper and lead, the leachability of lead into water, and the corrosion factors needed to mitigate and passivate lead.  

In addition to a broad overview of the science, Scully's editorial also offers some context on lessons to be learned from this tragedy, one common when "corrosion immunity is often tragically assumed."

Alumni Chip Blankenship elected NAE

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced today that it has elected UVA Engineering alumnus Charles P. “Chip” Blankenship, Jr., as an academy member, among the most prestigious and important professional distinctions for an engineer. Election to membership is among the highest professional honors accorded an engineer.

Blankenship is president and chief executive officer of GE Appliances & Lighting. He joined GE in 1992 after earning his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. Blankenship has remained a strong supporter of U.Va. Engineering; in 2012, he and his wife established the Belinda and Chip Blankenship Scholarship Fund benefiting Materials Science and Engineering students.

“This is truly an honor,” Blankenship said. “I am grateful to the U.Va School of Engineering graduate program and the Materials Science and Engineering Department for the fine experience. I had great professors as mentors, and their expectations on performance were very high. I appreciate all that my U.Va experience has done for me and my career.”

Blankenship is among 80 new members and 22 new foreign members. The academy’s total U.S. membership is 2,275, and the number of foreign members is 232.

In its announcement, the academy cited Blankenship’s contributions to the incorporation of new technology in consumer products and aircraft engines.

“Chip Blankenship is an outstanding engineering leader and strong supporter of the next generation of engineers,” said U.Va. Engineering Dean Craig Benson, who also is a member of the academy. “He is a credit to the academy, to U.Va., and to the School of Engineering.”

According to the academy’s announcement, membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

James Burns recieves Air Force (YIP) Young Investigators Research Program Award

According to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the YIP awards intend "to foster creative basic research in science and engineering, enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators, and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize the Air Force mission and the related challenges in science and engineering." The awards program is competitive. The Air Force received more than 265 applications this year. Burns was among 55 scientists and engineers to receive a total of $20.6 million in grants from the program.
  

The Burns Research Group researches at the intersection of metallurgy, solid mechanics and chemistry. The area of professor Burn's work which garnered the award is focused is fatigue of aerospace aluminum alloys, specifically the effect of high altitude environments on the dislocation structure evolution during fatigue cracking.