Message from the Director
Dear Friends,
When asked what I’m most proud of, my immediate answer is it’s the people we’ve brought together here at ACEE. I’d like to share with you a few highlights from our newest faculty members.
José Avalos, jointly appointed with ACEE and chemical and biological engineering, was recently profiled in the journal
International Innovation where he describes his work creating novel subcellular engineering methods.
Egemen Kolemen, jointly appointed with ACEE, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, implemented and tested a new adaptive control algorithm at the DIII-D fusion test facility in San Diego to suppress Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) in tokamak fusion reactors.
Forrest Meggers, jointly appointed with ACEE and architecture, continues research at his experimental pavilion "Thermoheliodome," and will soon begin uploading live data of the dome operation and infrared thermal imaging on his Cooling and Heating for Architecturally Optimized Systems (CHAOS) lab
website.
Claire White, jointly appointed with ACEE and civil and environmental engineering, recently had a paper published in
Cement and Concrete Research that revealed the difference in atomic ordering between conventional ordinary Portland cement-based concrete and new sustainable alternatives. This information, specifically the amorphous structure of certain sustainable cements, may explain why they are more prone to specific degradation pathways.
Our postdoctoral researcher jointly appointed with the Woodrow Wilson School and Psychology
Sander van der Linden will launch a new course this spring:
ENE 561/WWS 586C: The Psychology of Environmental Decision Making. The course will explore how people understand and process environmental risks and how such perceptions influence behavior and decision-making. Our Maeder graduate fellows have been busy this year as well.
Janam Jhaveri, in electrical engineering, is developing low-temperature silicon heterojunctions for high-efficiency photovoltaics using metal oxides such as TiO
2.
Jennifer Obligacion, in chemistry, has synthesized a family of cobalt catalysts that operate with high activity under mild conditions.
Each of these activities supports the goals of the Andlinger Center, and as you will read below, we are announcing opportunities for fellowships, internships, and faculty research funding to support more good work in the academic year 2015-2016. I for one can’t wait to see the innovative ideas that emerge.
─ Emily A. Carter
Founding Director