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.
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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