12/15/09 · PostDoc Haimin Yao and Christine Ortiz file Provisional Patent App. M0925.70273US00, "Structures for resisting mechanical loads and related methods." PDF

12/10/09 · Christine Ortiz presents Curie Lecture at University of Florida, Gainesville in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.

12/08/09 · David Dolev and Christine Ortiz release the Annual MIT-Israel Program report for AY 2008-2009. Christine Ortiz is the Founding and Current Faculty Director of the MIT-Israel Program, which offers students the opportunity to live and work in Israel (in companies and universities) for extended periods of time, all expenses paid. Click to view PDF of the annual report.

11/13/09 · Christine Ortiz attends Minority Engineering Student Mentoring Workshop, November 13-14, 2009 in Baltimore, MD sponsored by the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The QEM Engineering Mentoring Workshop has two major goals: (1) to provide information, resources, and strategies to assist faculty in mentoring and supporting the professional development of engineering students; and (2) to provide students with information and other resources that can assist in their retention in engineering as they move through their undergraduate/graduate years and/or pursue professional engineering careers upon graduation.

09/28/09 · Bo Bae Lee and Lin Han's paper accepted for publication to the Journal of Biomechanics, "Dynamic Mechanical Properties of the Tissue-Engineered Matrix of Individual Chondrocytes." PDF

09/07/09 · Members of the Ortiz research group are featured in "The Future of....COMBAT," airing at 9pm this evening on The Science Channel. This program is part of Popular Science's weekly "Future of...." series, which explores breakthrough research in various science disciplines. Download a MOV file of the movie clip here (60 MB), or an AVI version of the movie clip here (32 MB).

09/03/09 · Members of the Ortiz research group will give 8 presentations at the Fall 2009 Materials Research Society Meeting. The full schedule can be seen here. To view abstracts for each presentation, click here.

08/25/09 · Ortiz group postdoc Dr. Haimin Yao spends a week at Asylum Research, Inc. in Santa Barbara, CA carrying out experiments with Scientist Dr. Alejandro Bonilla using the Molecular force probe instrumented indenter. Click photo below for larger image.

08/17/09 · The Ortiz Group was filmed for the PBS WGBH/NOVA television show "Stuff" produced by Powderhouse Productions which will focus on the history of, current research in, and future applications of strong materials and will air in 2010. The filiming included the arrival of 5 rather huge live Cryptochiton stellari (the largest species of the chitons, molluscs which contain articulating natural armor plates) which subsequently rolled into balls in our hands. Click on the photos below for larger versions.

08/10/09 · Christine Ortiz participates as a mentor in the "Future Faculty Workshop: Diverse Leaders of Tomorrow" at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. This 3 day workshop seeks to provide mentorship to aspiring underrepresented minority students with ambitions to become independent academic researchers in the areas of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Materials Science as it relates to Polymer Science, Materials Chemistry and Physics, Nanoscience, and Supramolecular Science. Other faculty participants include: Rick McCullough (Vice President for Research, Professor of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University), Tim Swager (Professor and Department Head Chemistry, MIT), Greg Tew (Professor, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, UMass Amherst), Mallika Jeffries-El (Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Iowa State University), and LaShandra Korley (Assistant Professor, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western University), Miguel Garcia-Garabay (Professor of Chemistry, UCLA). Click on photos below for larger versions.

08/01/09 · Graduate student Bo Bae Lee successfully defends her thesis, "Time-dependent mechanical behavior of the newly developing matrix of primary and mesenchymal stem cell-derived chondrocytes." Congratulations! Click on photos below for larger versions.

06/30/09 · Graduate student Juha Song, Postdoc Haimin Yao, Professors Christine Ortiz and Mary Boyce are filmed for the Popular Science Discovery Channel show "The Future of ....(Combat)," to air this Fall 2009. Click on photos below for higher resolution images.

06/30/09 · Professors Mary Boyce and Christine Ortiz visit and tour Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu, Hawaii during an NSF-CMMI grantees conference and handle a variety of species of sea urchins including the unique shield or helmet urchin, Colobocentrotus atratus. Click on photos below for higher resolution images.

05/11/09 · Congratulations to Ortiz Lab Ph.D. student Fei Liang, who was awarded the Chyn Duog Shiah Fellowhip for the academic year 2009-10. The fellowship will cover full tuition, student health insurance and 9-month stipend. Nice work!

02/24/09 · The Ortiz group was among the first applicants to be awarded funding for the inaugural 2008-2009 MISTI Global Seed Funds, on the topic "Nanotechnological Studies of Stem Cell-Based Engineered Tissues for Intervertebral Disc Regeneration." This research is in collaboration with Professor Alan Grodzinsky (MIT EECS-BE-MECHE) and Professor Dan Gazit (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel). Funds will be used to cover international travel to facilitate the collaborative project. MISTI will provide cultural preparation for participating students before their departure. Read the full MIT news article here.

02/05/09 · Christine Ortiz receives the MIT Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership award in recognition of service that reflects the late civil rights leader's ideals and vision. The award was presented to her by Chancellor Phillip Clay at a dinner on 02/04/09 at the MIT faculty club with the Committee on Race and Diversity. She was also acknowledged the following morning 02/05/09 by Chancellor Clay at the 35th Annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast Celebration, held in Morss Hall of Walker Memorial. To read the MIT news article click here.