M A T E R I A L S S C I E N C E A N D E N G I N E E R I N G NEWS VOLUME 10 I NUMBER 1 I SPRING 2013 EDIBLE BATTERIES: AN MSE BREAKTHROUGH STORY ON PAGE 3 www.materials.cmu.edu A NOTE FROM THE GREGORY S. ROHRER, DEPARTMENT HEAD W.W. Mullins Professor reetings to our MSE alumni! I am happy to report that the Department continues to grow and thrive. From the news items on pages 7 through 11, you will see that our alumni, students, and faculty also continue to celebrate successes in a broad range of endeavors—including technical honors, Gcareer advancement, philanthropy, and family milestones. Perhaps the biggest news for materials engineers on the Carnegie Mellon campus is the selection of our University’s new leadership. We were excited to hear that the ninth president of Carnegie Mellon will be Dr. Subra Suresh. This enthusiasm derives not just from the fact that Suresh is a materials scientist and engineer, but also from our genuine respect for his accomplishments in scholarship and leadership. Suresh served on former President Dr. Jared Cohon’s Advisory Board for Materials Science and Engineering, so he is already well-known to many in our Department. He will, of course, hold an appointment as a full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. At the same time, Carnegie Mellon also has a new Dean of Engineering, Dr. James Garrett. He has had a long history in the lead- ership of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, serving as Associate Dean, Interim Dean, and Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Our new leadership As a result, we can be sure that the College of In This Issue: “ Engineering is in good hands. means strategic planning With this new leadership, we can antici- Cover story: activities and new directions pate strategic planning activities and new 3 › Edible Batteries: directions for the University, College, and for the University, College, An MSE Breakthrough Department. This issue of MSE News also features two and Department. Department News articles about battery research, displaying the 4 › Remembering George progress that researchers in the Department Roberts are making in both very small and very large energy storage systems. At the finest › CMU’s New President scale, the research groups of Professors Christopher Bettinger and Jay Whitacre › CIT’s New Dean have created very small batteries that can be ingested, in order to power electronics within the human body. At a much larger scale, the battery company started by Faculty News Whitacre, Aquion, has received $35 million in venture funding capital. Rather than 7 › Whitacre Start-Up ingestible batteries, Aquion’s main focus is on large-scale, stationary energy storage Wins Funding systems for load-leveling applications. Aquion is making a significant regional impact, › McHenry Named as it has opened a 340,000-square-foot manufacturing facility where the company Distinguished Lecturer plans to employ several hundred workers to make aqueous hybrid ion batteries. › News Updates Finally, it is with sadness that I note the passing of Dr. George Roberts, a long-time benefactor of the University. When I attended his memorial service in March, along with Alumni News Jared Cohon and former President Robert Mehrabian, I was reminded of the signifi- 9 › Profile: Rusty Gray cance of Roberts’ legacy to the College through the creation of Roberts Engineering › News Updates Hall, as well as his contributions to our discipline through his support of ASM materi- als camps and undergraduate scholarships for education in materials science. George Student News Roberts was a huge presence in our field, and he will be dearly missed. 10 › ASM Young Members’ Night › MSE Graduate Symposium › News Updates Gregory S. Rohrer MATERIALS SCIENCE & 2 ENGINEERING NEWS COVER STORY ‹ Shown on the cover of EDIBLE BATTERIES: this edition of MSE News is a schematic of the edible AN MSE BREAKTHROUGH battery produced by Professors Bettinger and ecently an edible electronic device developed by Whitacre. This device could Assistant Professor Christopher Bettinger and be used to power a variety of electronically active bio- Associate Professor Jay Whitacre has been degradable and biocompat- R ible medical devices that can attracting a lot of attention, including coverage by the Pittsburgh media, be orally administered—such as well as international science and medical journals. This innovation is in the as sensors and drug delivery spotlight for a good reason: it has the potential to dramatically improve health vehicles. care for a wide range of patients. “Our research is focused on creating electronically active delivering care, or simply monitoring changing conditions. medical devices that can be implanted in the human body,” Devices could be customized for a wide range of func- says Bettinger, who holds a joint appointment in the Depart- tionality, including measuring biomarkers or monitoring ment of Biomedical Engineering. “For the patient, it would gastric problems. Edible batteries also power miniature be like swallowing a pill. But that pill actually contains a devices that stimulate damaged tissue or deliver targeted tiny power source, which enables an encapsulated medical drug therapy for certain types of cancer. “There’s so much device to track conditions or deliver care inside the gastro- we can accomplish with this novel approach to medical intestinal tract.” devices,” says Bettinger. Because the battery uses only materials found in the Last year, Bettinger received the National Academy of average diet, it is entirely safe for human consumption— Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research for his innovative while providing the same type of electric current as a typi- work on advanced materials for next-generation implanted cal battery. “Our unique battery design includes fl exible medical devices (see MSE News, Summer 2012). In 2011, polymer electrodes and a sodium ion electrochemical cell,” Bettinger was selected to Technology Review magazine’s explains Bettinger. “By folding the mechanism into an edible TR35 list, which honors top innovators under the age of pill that encapsulates a fully functional device, we’ve 35. He was also invited to attend the prestigious National created a powerful tech- Academy of Engineer- nology that can be easily ing’s 17th annual U.S. swallowed and ingested Frontiers of Engineer- by patients.” ing Symposium, which Once connected to a brings together excep- miniature power source, tional researchers in groundbreaking edible industry, academia, devices could be pro- and government. grammed and deployed in the gastrointestinal tract or the small intes- tine, depending upon packaging. Once the device is in place, medi- ‹ In April, a crew from cal professionals could KDKA-TV visited MSE activate the battery and for a story about the start performing tests, new edible batteries. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 3 DEPARTMENT NEWS MSE COMMUNITY LOSES FRIEND AND BENEfacTOR George A. Roberts Dies at Age 93 While it has been over 70 years since George A. Roberts (B.S. 1939, M.S. 1941, Ph.D. 1942) graduated from MSE, he maintained a life-long relationship with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. This close relationship, and his generous spirit, led him to endow the George A. Roberts Engineering Hall, which has played a critical role in elevating the George A. Roberts stature of the College of Engineering throughout the world. It was with sadness that the Department learned of the passing of George Roberts on February 15 at the age of 93. “It’s impossible to express the magnitude of the impact that George Roberts had on our Department and on the entire College of Engineering,” says MSE Department Head Gregory S. Rohrer. “Roberts Engineering Hall, along with the J. Earle and Mary Roberts Materials Characterization Laboratory—which is located on the first floor of the building and named for George’s parents—have had a transformative effect on the MSE Department. First and foremost, these state-of-the-art facilities have enabled research not otherwise possible. The characterization facilities have been used by students and faculty to make breakthroughs in the study of electronic materials, magnetic materials, and metallic and ceramic microstructures. Second, the modern, well-appointed building has been a factor in attracting the best students and faculty to MSE.” “Equally important was the warm friendship and regard George had for so many of us in the Department,” continues Rohrer. “He will be missed by generations of MSE faculty, students, and staff members.” FROM ENGINEER TO corporation along with his ENTREPRENEUR close friend Henry Singleton. George Roberts was born in Teledyne was a pioneer Point Marion, Pennsylvania, on in producing high-precision February 18, 1919. He stud- alloys and specialty metals ied at the United States Naval for aerospace applications. Academy before arriving at the The company was so suc- MSE Department—then the cessful in engineering these Department of Metallurgy— high-temperature, high- to earn three degrees. stress materials that annual Roberts worked under sales grew to $3.5 billion former Professor and Depart- in 1984. ment Head Robert F. Mehl, with whom he enjoyed a close friendship. In fact, the Roberts A LIFETIME OF PHILANTHROPY Engineering Hall includes the books and important papers of In his long and successful career, George Roberts won vir- Mehl, a stipulation that Roberts made in funding the building. tually every accolade and award in our industry—including These archives can be found in the Dilks Room, along with serving as the youngest president of ASM International, at Roberts’ own book collection. the age of just 36. But he will also be remembered for his Following his graduation from Carnegie Mellon, Roberts amazing philanthropy. worked as a metallurgist for Vanadium Alloys Steel Corpora- In addition to his generous gifts to Carnegie Mellon, tion in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, eventually becoming its Presi- Roberts endowed nearly 100 ASM scholarships, with the dent in 1961.