11/30/04· Congrats to Delphine Dean who won the 2004 Materials Research Society Fall Meeting Gold Medal! She presented her work at a Special Talk Session on Tuesday, November 30th and received her award during a Ceremony on Wednesday evening, December 1st, at 6:00 p.m. Read more about the award here.

09/10/04 · Congrats to Joonil Seog and Delphine Dean whose recent paper was accepted for publication to the Journal of Biomechanics. The full citation is : Joonil Seog, Delphine Dean, Bernd Rolauffs, Tao Wu, Jan Genzer, Anna H.K. Plaas, Alan J. Grodzinsky, & Christine Ortiz, "Nanomechanics of opposing glycosaminoglycan macromolecules." Download PDF here.

09/10/04 · Congrats to Jen Vandiver whose 2nd paper was accepted for publication to the journal Key Engineering Materials. The full citation is : J. Vandiver, N. Patel, W. Bonfield, C. Ortiz "Nanoscale Properties of Apatite Precipitated onto Synthetic Hydroxyapatite from Simulated Body Fluid." Download PDF here.

07/16/04 · Christine Ortiz gives talk to the MITE2S Program. MITE2S (Minority Introduction to Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Science) is a rigorous six-week residential, academic enrichment summer program for promising high school juniors who are interested in studying and exploring careers in science, engineering, and entrepreneurship.

07/12/04 · Laurel Ng gives a talk and poster presentation at the 2004 Proteoglycan Gordon Research Conference at Proctor Academy, Andover NH.

07/07/04 · Congrats to Jae Choi who was recently named a Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability, which is an honor society of graduate students interested in and working in areas of environment and sustainability. More information on this fellowship is here.

06/27/04 · Congrats to Jen who had a referreed abstract accepted to the following conference: J. Vandiver, N. Patel, W. Bonfield, C. Ortiz "Nanoscale Properties of Apatite Precipitated onto Synthetic Hydroxyapatite from Simulated Body Fluid," accepted for presentation to Bioceramics 17, the 17th Annual Meeting of International Society for Ceramics in Medicine (ISCM), December 8-12, 2004 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

06/21/04 · Kristin Domike (DMSE MEng Student) gives final thesis presentation! "The Impact of Improved Materials in Endotracheal Tube Design." Read PDF here.

06/04/04 · Ben Bruet (DMSE PhD Student) passes DMSE doctoral qualifying exam! Congrats!

05/31/04 · Bon Voyage Dinner at Cheers Beacon Hill for 6 departing group members. See pictures here.

05/14/04 · Ben Bruet (DMSE PhD Student), Kristin Domike (DMSE M.Eng Student), Celia Macias (DMSE undergraduate) finish M.S., M.Eng., and B.S. thesis respectively. Congrats!! See pictures here.

05/10/04 · Christine Ortiz (DMSE faculty), Kuangshin Tai, and Jen Vandiver (DMSE PhD Students) participate in K-6 teacher video project "Essential Science for Teachers - Physical Science - Session 8 -Extending the Particle Model" produced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. This program reaches 67,000 teachers or about 2/3 of all the elementary schools in the US via the Annenberg CPB Channel which is a free satellite channel for schools, colleges, libraries, public broadcasting stations, public access channels, and other community agencies. It is presented 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and airs a range of teacher professional development and instructional programs funded by Annenberg/CPB.

05/05/04 · Ben Bruet (DMSE PhD Student) will spend the summmer doing research at the Centre de Recherche de la Matiere Condensee et des Nanosciences (CRMCN) in Marseille, France.

04/27/04 · Kristin Brodie (DMSE M.Eng. Student) has accepted a PhD position in the Cavendish Physics Laboratory at Cambridge University, Cambridge UK in the Polymer and Colloids Research Group of Prof. Athene Donald here!

04/26/04 New Group Photos
· New group photos here! (taken by the resident expert photographer Jae Choi, graduate student).

04/22/04 · Hang (Jerry) Qi (Ortiz group postdoc joint with Boyce group in MIT Mechancial Engineering Dept) accepts a tenure-track faculty position at the University of Colorado, Boulder Mechanical Engineering Department
See department webpage here. Congrats!! Jerry's project in the Ortiz group is on simulations of the mechanical properties of biological composites, in particular nacre from Gastropod mollusks in conjunction with the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.

04/16/04 · Monica Rixman (Ortiz group PhD Alumni) gives Materials Unlimited Seminar.
See photos here.

04/10/04 · Congrats to Yiqun Bai! (DMSE 2nd YR ugrad) on her summer position via the MIT-China Program.

Yiqun will be working on two projects in China as follows :
1) First she will visit Qinghai University in Xi-Ning for six weeks introducing MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) to the students and faculty of the university. OCW is an online system in which MIT course materials have been posted on the internet to share with the world. The purpose of the MIT-China OCW project is to introduce distance learning to China, and to aid in the development of higher education in China’s Western provinces. She, along with four other students, will be teaching in three main areas: Biotechnology, Computer Science, and Environmental Engineering. Her role in the project will be to teach online biotechnology courses and use her Chinese language skills to interact actively with Qinghai’s faculty.
2) For a second part of the summer, she will be working for the United Nations in helping the government of China develop new initiatives to aid developing technology. The research track for China has not been keeping up with the rest of the developed countries in the world, and there are many ways that government programs, initiatives, and policies may really impact the research efforts there. Her position involves performing some research and field work on the development of biotechnology in China. They will probably have her focus on one specific area, although that has not yet been determined. She will interview people in academia as well as the professional community, comparing their research procedures, priorities, and perspectives with those of companies and professors here in the US. Then, she will write a report of recommendations for the next steps the government should take, as well as insight into the strengths of current programs as well as problems and set backs.

04/09/04 Congrats to Kristin Domike! (DMSE grad) whose research team TulipMed, whose 50K team has made the finals of the Venture Bowl in NYC.
· The Venture Bowl is the largest venture competition in the USA, with $1 million in venture funding at stake in the contest. They were one of 12 finalists (out of hundreds of entrants). On April 24, they will be giving a 15 minute business pitch in NYC to a panel of judges.The team members are Kristin Domike (an MIT graduate student in Material Science and Engineering), Reuben Domike (an MIT PhDCEP student in Chemical Engineering and currently completing the Sloan first year curriculum as part of the PhDCEP program), Steve Fox (an MIT PhDCEP student in Chemical Engineering as well as an MBA 2005) and Dr Seth Dailey (an Associate Surgeon of Otolaryngology at Brigham & Women's Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School).

03/15/04 · Ortiz Lab participates in the 2004 50th Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) March 7 - 10, 2004, San Francisco, CA.
· Kuangshin Tai (DMSE grad) presents a poster on : "Ultrastructure and nanomechanical properties of bovine cortical bone"
· Laurel Ng (BE grad) presents a talk on "Aggrecan conformation, persistence length, and stiffness depend on the nanomolecular properties of its constituent GAG chains"
· Delphine Dean (EECS grad) presents a poster on "Measurement of Nanomechanical and electrical interaction force within intact aggrecan molecules using high resolution force spectroscopy"
· Christine Ortiz (DMSE faculty) presents an invited workshop talk on "Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging and High Resolution Force Spectroscopy of the Extracellular Matrix of Musculoskeletal Tissues" in the Workshop on Molecular Nano-Mechanics of Extracellular Matrix of Musculoskeletal Tissues.

03/15/04 · Congrats to Kristin Domike's Research Team TulipMed
· TulipMed, has advanced as semi-finalists in the MIT $50K business plan competition and the Purdue Life Sciences Business Plan Competition.
· Kristin was also a finalist in the Harvard Business School's Entrepreneurial Idol Contest. She had 30 seconds to present a business plans for her potential product (endotracheal tube) and the top ten finalists continued to the final round on Friday evening. In the finals 3 slides were presented in 3 minutes.
· Kristin also was one of the six poster winners at the Eta Kappa Nu Student Project Expo last Friday ($100 prize). See some pictures that they posted online here.

03/15/04 · Celia Macias will do a Summer Internship in Singapore and Attend MIT Graduate School in Fall 2004
· Congrats to Celia Macias (DMSE ugrad) who has accepted a summer internship in Singapore at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. Celia has also been accepted to the following graduate schools : Texas A&M and Univeristy of Texas San Antonio, both in Biomedical Engineering, MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering M. Eng. and M.S. programs. Celia has decided to attend MIT.

02/20/04 · Congrats to Jen Vandiver whose 1st Paper was accepted to Biomaterials
·The paper is entitled "Nanoscale Variation in Surface Charge of Synthetic Hydroxyapatite Detected by Chemically and Spatially Specific High Resolution Force Spectroscopy." Read the full text here!

02/01/04 : Ben Bruet Will Present at Poster at the 2004 MRS Meeting
Congrats to Ben Bruet !! (DMSE grad) whose abstract was accepted to give a poster presentation at the The 2004 Spring Materials Research Society Meeting (San Francisco, CA) April 12-16th, 2004 on the topic of "Multiscale Mechanical Studies of Nacre from the Gastropod Mollusk Trochus Niloticus.

02/01/04 : Jen Vandiver Participates in the 3rd annual New England Science Symposium
Congrats to Jen Vandiver (DMSE grad) who was chosen by the Minority Faculty Development Program of the Office of Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School and the Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP) to present a poster at the 3rd annual New England Science Symposium to be held on Friday, February 27, 2004 from 8:00AM to 4:30PM at The Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Read about it here.

02/01/04 : Jen Vandiver Selected to Present a Poster at the Cambridge UK R&D Event
Jen Vandiver was selected to present a poster at the Cambridge University R&D Event: March 17th 2004, including an all-expense paid trip to the UK during spring break. Read about it here.

01/24/04 : Christine Ortiz participates in NNI (National Nanotechnology Initiative) Interagency Workshop : Instrumentation and Metrology for Nanotechnology Grand Challenge Workshop at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD. Link to Workshop homepage here. Read submitted abstract, "Nanomechanics Challenges in Biological Systems."