Mentions

2024

July

Congratulations to the 2024 faculty award winners who represent six departments across the College of Engineering. The recipients were recognized for their achievements as researchers and educators. The winners include: Benjamin Richard Teare Teaching Award: Jon Peha (EPP); David P. Casasent Outstanding Research Award: Gregory Lowry (CEE); Distinguished Professor of Engineering: Lorenz Biegler (ChemE); George Tallman Ladd Research Award: Amanda Krause (MSE) and Akshitha Sriraman (ECE); Outstanding Mentoring Award: Alan McGaughey (MechE); Outstanding Service Award: Jonathan Malen (MechE); and Steven J. Fenves Award for Systems Research: Carl Laird (ChemE).

Seven Engineering faculty awarded grants from Scott Institute
Carnegie Mellon University

Seven faculty from the College of Engineering received funding from this year’s Scott Institute Seed Grants to pursue projects advancing dacarbonization research and energy equity. This year’s winners include: CEE’s Gerald Wang, researching plastics decarbonization; MSE’s Paul Salvador and Mohammad Islam, researching carbon dioxide air capture with aerogels; EPP’s Ramteen Sioshansi and Granger Morgan, researching mitigating electric supply disruptions; ChemE/EPP’s Neil Donahue, upgrading an equipment’s ability to detect particles at low temperatures; and MSE’s Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, repairing an induction furnace melter to study the effects of hydrogen on metal alloys.

Taheri-Mousavi receives Scott Institute Seed Grant
Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation

MSE’s Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi was featured by the Scott Institute for research that was awarded one of this year’s Scott Institute Seed Grants. She will study the interactions between hydrogen atoms with high-strength metallic alloys; these interactions are called hydrogen embrittlement and they reduce the service life of the alloys. “This research is important because the production of metals contributes a significant portion of CO₂ emissions, e.g., about 28% of industrial emissions just come from steels and aluminum productions,” said Taheri-Mousavi. “Even if we optimized everything in the production process, we still wouldn’t be able to hit the 2050 CO₂ goal. The only way to achieve this goal is by reducing metal production, and H embrittlement is a hurdle as it is the most critical life limiting factor of high-strength metals.”

Whitacre featured for entrepreneurial endeavors
NPR

MSE’s Jay Whitacre was featured on “Midwest Moxie” on NPR affiliate WUWM 89.7, as he spoke about his entrepreneurial endeavors, most recently with Stratus Materials.

Whitacre’s start-up reaches notable milestone
Green Car Congress

The company announced that its LXMO-containing pouch cells surpassed 1,000 full depth-of-discharge cycles while maintaining greater than 80% of their initial capacity, a common goal across the EV battery industry. “The Stratus team looks forward to building upon these strong technical results as we improve, commercialize, and scale production in the coming quarters,” said Whitacre.

June

Bockstaller speaks about developments in plastics recycling
American Recycler

MSE’s Michael Bockstaller spoke with American Recycler about his lab’s research into improving plastic recycling by addressing complications due to the pastics’ chemistry. “‘Recycling’ as sub-category to the broader theme of ‘sustainable polymer engineering’ has become the topic of national academic center-scale research efforts and focus of industrial efforts,” he said. “My group is pursuing yet another strategy: the development of polymers that can ‘heal’ themselves,” Bockstaller said. “The idea is to design materials that can recover their structure and properties after damage events—thus reducing the amount of material that is discarded due to malfunction.”

Pistorius weighs in on a new, green method of producing steel
Canary Media

MSE’s Chris Pistorius spoke with Canary Media about a new method of preparing iron using electricity rather than with fossil fuels. This method is being developed by Form Energy, which is also trying to develop batteries that store clean energy using similar technology. “[The method is] efficient both from the point of view of energy use and cost,” Pistorius said. But Form Energy may run into challenges when it comes to making their method cheap due to the cost of electricity. “The main electricity consumption is breaking the bonds between iron and oxygen. That’s a fixed baseline that you can’t get below.”

Three MSE faculty win Scott Institute grants
Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation

MSE’s Mohammad Islam, Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, and Paul Salvador have received seed grants from Carnegie Mellon’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. These grants support cutting-edge research in sustainable energy solutions, and these faculty members are three of seven university-wide awardees who are together being granted almost $400,000.

Kurchin discusses research retractions and blame
MIT Technology Review

MSE’s Rachel Kurchin spoke with the MIT Technology Review concerning a number of retractions made by physics journals. Kurchin commented on the question of who should be blamed for the problematic articles that are published.

May

Kurchin selected as MoISSI Faculty Fellow
MoISSI

MSE’s Rachel Kurchin has been selected to participate in the inaugural class of Molecular Sciences Software Institute (MolSSI) Faculty Fellows. MolSSI is a multi-university collaboration designed to serve and enhance the software-development efforts of the field of computational molecular science.

April

Dickey researches a new class of metal nanoparticles
Mellon College of Science

MSE Head Elizabeth Dickey is researching a new class of metal nanoparticles. She will obtain high-resolution images of metal nanoclusters and their assemblies, with the aim of developing nanoclusters that contain multiple elements and have a precise atomic count and composition. Dickey is collaborating with Chemistry’s Linda Peteanu and Rongchao Jin, who recently received a New Initiatives research grant from the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation.

Bockstaller quoted on safety of food storage containers
Buy Side from WSJ

MSE’s Michael Bockstaller was quoted in Buy Side on the safety of certain brands of food storage containers. Pyrex’s containers, originally made of borosilicate glass, are now made with cheaper but similarly durable soda-lime glass; Bockstaller explained that both types of glass are safe for food storage. Regarding plastic food containers like those produced by Rubbermaid, Bockstaller said that certified BPA-free polycarbonate (PC) plastics are the best bet since they’re more resistant to high temperatures than polyethylene (PE) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

March

Kurchin interviewed about how to choose the best solar power inverters
CNET

MSE’s Rachel Kurchin weighed in on a CNET list of the best solar inverters of March 2024. A solar inverter converts energy from solar panels into electricity that appliances can use, and there are many different kinds. The best inverter to buy depends on a consumer’s particular circumstances. She says: “Residential solar installations can look really different depending on what the residence looks like. Maybe your house has a really slanted roof or maybe there are trees around that shade it for part of the day, or maybe that’s not so much of an issue. Those are the kinds of things that can make a real difference in what type of inverter solution makes the most sense.”

2023

December

Whitacre’s start-up Stratus Materials featured in The Pittsburgh Business Times
The Pittsburgh Business Times

MSE/EPP’s Jay Whitacre’s start-up company Stratus Materials was featured in The Pittsburgh Business Times for its advancement toward a Pittsburgh-based, cobalt-free cathode manufacturing plant. “This new pilot line will allow Stratus to expand the scope of its testing and sampling efforts which will include deploying its materials into large-scale battery packs and electric vehicles,” Stratus says.

November

Dickey at the 2023 American Ceramic Society Annual meeting
The American Ceramic Society

MSE Head Elizabeth Dickey attended the American Ceramic Society’s 125th Annual meeting at the Materials Science & Technology technical meeting and exhibition where she delivered the Robert B. Sosman lecture and was honored as this year’s Sosman awardee.

October

17 College of Engineering nominees for annual Andy Awards
Carnegie Mellon University

17 College of Engineering staff members were nominated for the annual Andy Awards, which recognize excellence in areas including Commitment to Excellence; Commitment to Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion; Commitment to Students; Innovative and Creative Contributions; Spirit; and Teamwork and Collaboration. Congratulations to the following staff members:

Commitment to Excellence

Neil Emmett (rookie) - Mechanical Engineering
Elizabeth Clark (veteran) - Materials Science and Engineering
Nancy Doyle (veteran) - Information Networking Institute
Matthew Moneck (veteran) - Electrical and Computer Engineering

Commitment to DEI

Leia Delabahan - Integrated Innovation Institute
Brittany Bristoll - Electrical and Computer Engineering

Commitment to Students

Heather Costello - Chemical Engineering
Deborah Kuntz - Engineering and Public Policy

Innovative and Creative Contributions

Justin Dawber - Chemical Engineering
Chris Hertz - Mechanical Engineering

Spirit

Cindy Arnett - Information Networking Institute
Lisa Cowling - Mechanical Engineering

Teamwork and Collaboration

Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Support Team - Heather Costello and Kristyn Williams
Mechanical Engineering DEI Committee Staff Team - Annie Harder, Eva Mergner, Yanika Reid, Gabriele Crytser

September

Pistorius comments on U.S. Steel sale
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MSE’s Chris Pistorius told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he hopes the new owners of U.S. Steel will continue to support the region’s universities. “If a takeover were to change the relationship with the university, that would not be something we’d be keen on,” Pistorius said.

July

Engineering faculty engage in industrial decarbonization research partnership
Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation News

MSE’s Chris Pistorius and EPP’s Valerie Karplus and Paulina Jaramillo, along with Heinz College’s Edson Severnini, joined collaborators in Germany to begin an international research partnership. “Prior to the start of the partnership, the academic collaborators and industry partners had been working in parallel towards the shared goal of finding viable decarbonization pathways,” said Karplus. “The meeting was filled with ‘aha!’ moments as we explored common interests and new research opportunities.”

McHenry breaks down superconductors
Built In

MSE’s Michael McHenry was quoted in Built In about the unique properties of superconductors, which are capable of conducting electricity without losing energy. McHenry said, in part, that paired electrons “cooperate with a material’s vibrating atoms” to boost conductivity and avoid resistance.

Dickey uses novel methods to analyze ferroelectric materials
Physics World

MSE Head Elizabeth Dickey and her team of researchers are collaborating with groups at Penn State University to study ferroelectric materials. Together, the groups are combining their skills to analyze the structure of alloyed aluminum nitride films using transmission electron microscopy.

Krause and Wang named Wimmer Faculty Fellows

CEE’s Jerry Wang and MSE’s Mandie Krause have been named Wimmer Faculty Fellows at the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation. This program is designed for junior faculty members interested in enhancing their teaching through concentrated work with an Eberly consultant.