Knox and George to serve on ACerS Presidents Council

Graduate student Victoria Knox is the 2009 Council Chair of the American Ceramic Society's growing student-led group called the President's Council of Student Advisors (PCSA). PCSA's mission is to engage students as active and long-term leaders in the ceramics community and to increase participation in ACerS at the local and national levels.

The Council was established after meetings in January 2008 which brought together a select group of ACerS members and a handful of undergraduate and graduate students from various universities across the country. PCSA's first-year goals included

• Coordinate student-focused ceramic programming at technical meetings
• Develop and implement ceramics focused outreach activities
• Facilitate industry-student relations
• Promote ceramic science and engineering at the university and local levels
• Provide a way for students and young professionals to become and remain actively engaged as leaders in the ceramic materials community

In 2008, Knox (as programming Chair) was instrumental in organizing events at MS&T including lab demonstrations and a tour of McDanel Advanced Ceramic Technologies (Beaver Falls, PA) facilities. At ICACC (aka "Cocoa Beach") meeting, PCSA organized a new "Schott" drop competition, displayed materials at its own booth and helped monitor sessions during the technical meeting.

As Council Chair, Knox and the PSCA officers will work toward expanded goals:

• Expand PCSA membership
• Continue raising sponsorships
• Strengthen and solidify the student-professional connection within the ceramics community
• Create a ceramics-oriented demonstration kit for K-12 students
• Create more ceramics-focused content for the materials student community
• Promote research and encourage PCSA involvement at conferences

Jaime George (senior, BMES) is also a PCSA delegate. She is active in the Programming Committee which is currently working to create a ceramics-focused demo kit for K-12 students.

Engineering Week 2009

National Engineering Week (February 16-20, 2009) at Alfred University is full of fun activities for engineers and others to exercise their creative and problem solving skills to meet new challenges. In addition, it's almost the coldest week of the year, adding to the challenge of coming out from hibernation to do anything in the evening!

The full range of activities included a Rube Goldberg Competition, Mousetrap Powered Car races, a MacGyver Competition, Pinewood Derby Car racing, and an Egg-drop Challenge from the top of the Davis Memorial Carillon. The week culminated in a (mercifully indoor) BBQ in the Powell Campus Center Knight Club.

Congratulations to our stalwart competitors - here's hoping for warmer weather next year!

Anatoly Kishinevski, GES senior, has been awarded Alfred University's Harry J. Odink Memorial Award “skills and enthusiasm for research and engineering in a laboratory setting” for his contributions to technical and scientific glassblowing.

Kishinevski is president of the Alfred Technical Glass Club. He is well known for his enthusiastic and skilled contributions to the Engineering Materials Science Day Program where his demonstrations of technique draw interested crowds of future scientists and engineers.

Says Kishinevski, "I have been working as a scientific glassblower since my senior year of high school ... since coming to Alfred [University] I have embraced the world of scientific glassblowing."

Engineer-Athletes win top honors

Two outstanding engineer-athletes have recently been recognized at the state or national level in their sport.

Alfred University's men's swim team won its third straight Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association (UNYSCSA) and Empire 8 titles, dominating the Empire 8 all-star team selections. At the UNYSCS/Empire 8 championship meet, diver Kameron Chambliss (junior MSE) won both the 1-meter and 3-meter Empire 8 diving titles to claim First Team all-conference and Diver of the Meet honors!

Skier Lauren Pfeifer (junior MSE), has been named a United States Collegiate Ski Association (USCSA) All-American.

Pfeifer was named a Second Team All-American after finishing 12th in the combined individual standings at the USCSA National Championships, held March 4-7, in Winter Park, CO. Pfeifer placed 23rd in the giant slalom and 16th in the slalom to earn 12th place in the combined.

It marks the third year Pfeifer has been named an All-American skier.

Multi-talented Pfeifer is also a strong competitor off the slopes, riding for the AU Western Equestrian Team. Pfeifer was high-point rider in the February 14th competition at Cazenovia College after taking second in open reining.

Congratulations to all our winners for Aids Education!

On March 21, 2009, the Alfred University Men's Soccer team hosted a charity 3 x 3 "lose the shoes" soccer tournament for the benefit of Grassroot Soccer. Among the 25+ teams were numerous undergraduate engineers and graduate students (we can't name them all), at least one faculty member, Dr. Herbert Giesche (2nd row, just in from the left), and dedicated soccer players from the Alfred NY area schools and soccer leagues. The event raised over $1700!

Grassroot Soccer was established by Ethan Zohn, winner of "Survivor: Africa," who used most of his $1M winnings to jumpstart Grassroot Soccer, a nonprofit organization that is fighting the AIDS pandemic in Africa with professional soccer players which it trains to be HIV/AIDS educators.

Alumni in the news ...

Sehirlioglu '00 wins ITTC award

Dr. Alp Sehirlioglu (MS CE 2000), currently a Research Scientist affiliated with Case Western Reserve University working at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH, has won the prestigious Lucks award from the International Thermal Conductivity Conference (August 29 - September 2, 2009, Pittsburgh, PA USA).

"The Lucks Award" is given at the International Thermal Conductivity Conference / International Thermal Expansion Symposium (ITTC/ITES) in the memory of Charles F. Lucks, to a young scientist who has entered the field of thermophysics within maximum three years, for outstanding contributions in the field of thermophysics, including thermal expansion (as well as other related properties).

As an award winner, Sehirlioglu will give the keynote lecture and the plenary lecture during ITTC. His talk is entitled:

“Crystal physics and macroscopic symmetry revealed by thermal expansion measurements”

The International Thermal Conductivity Conference (ITCC) and the International Thermal Expansion Symposium (ITES) are held concurrently every two years to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas, advancement of the science, training of new professionals, and discussions of the state-of-the-art in thermophysics.

Winters '67 honored by ASTM for outstanding technical leadership

Nicholas Winters (BS CE 1967), consultant, has been recognized with the ASTM International Award of Merit and accompanying title of fellow. The Award of Merit is the highest organizational recognition for individual contributions to ASTM standards activities.

Winters, member of ASTM International since 1978 and past chair of Committee F02was cited “for outstanding leadership, guidance and technical contributions to ASTM International Committee F02 on Flexible Barrier Packaging in developing and publishing global standards in support of the flexible packaging industry.”

Winters works on several F02 subcommittees and task groups and is chair of Subcommittee F02.40 on Package Integrity. Previously, Winters received awards of appreciation from F02 in 2001 and 2006; he also serves on Committee D10 on Packaging.

Miller '87 tapped by Harper International

Charles W. Miller (BS CE 1987) has been appointed by Harper International, a global provider of advanced thermal processing systems, to the position of President.

Miller joined Harper in 1995 and has performed in progressive management positions, most recently as Vice President of International Business. Miller is recognized as a major contributor in establishing Harper International as a premier international supplier of comprehensive systems for continuous thermal processing of materials.

The Board of Directors stated, “We are confident that the selection of Mr. Miller as President assures the continued successful growth of Harper International. We look forward to leveraging his knowledge and experience in the thermal processing industry. This coupled with his demonstrated accomplishments and leadership will yield value for the shareholders, clients, and employees.”