Professor David Crouse, will lead the discussion at the next NSF Center for Metamaterials (CfM) Industry Advisory Board Meeting and Technical Conference to be held on April 22-23, 2013 at CUNY.

This year the Center will be inviting non-members to participate in select sessions in order to promote research collaboration and expand its industry reach.  Discussions will include the following topics of interest:

•    beam-steering,
•    conformal antennas,
•    imaging,
•    energy devices,
•    new collaborative research opportunities

If you are interested in meeting some of the top academic and industry researchers in the field of metamaterials, and participating in the discussion we look forward to hearing from you.

To Request Registration Information please click below to the event page, or send an email to Dr. David Crouse: crouse@cunycat.org

Center for Metamaterials Industry Advisory Board Meeting

To view the CfM’s current Research Thrusts please visit the CfM website at:
http://www.centerformetamaterials.org/researchprojects

As described in the report Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation, it is critical for the United States to take advantage of these emerging optical technologies for creating new industries and generating job growth. The report assesses the current state of optical science and engineering in the United States and abroad–including market trends, workforce needs, and the impact of photonics on the national economy. It identifies the technological opportunities that have arisen from recent advances in, and applications of, optical science and engineering. The report also calls for improved management of U.S. public and private research and development resources, emphasizing the need for public policy that encourages adoption of a portfolio approach to investing in the wide and diverse opportunities now available within photonics.

Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation named five grand challenges facing the nation that can be addressed with advances in optics and photonics technology.  The first is to keep up the pace of technological achievement established in previous decades.  Others include improved military surveillance and missile defense, achieving cost parity for solar power versus fossil fuel across the country’s electrical grid, reaching seamless integration of photonics and electronics at the chip level, and developing optical sources and imaging tools to support increased resolution in manufacturing.

Eight particular areas of technological application are discussed in separate chapters: communications, information processing, and data storage; defense and national security; energy; health and medicine; advanced manufacturing; advanced photonic measurements and applications; strategic materials for optics; and displays.  Each chapter reviews progress that has occurred since the 1998 National Research Council report Harnessing Light: Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century, as well as the technological opportunities that have risen from recent advances in optical science and engineering.  The report recommends actions for the development and maintenance of global leadership in photonics-driven industries, including both near-term and long-range goals, likely participants, and responsible agents of change.

A National Photonics Initiative will help manage the breadth of rapidly expanding applications of photonics technologies, the report says, allowing both government and industry to form coherent strategies for technology development and deployment.  The recommended initiative should also spearhead a collaborative effort to improve the collection and reporting of research, development, and economic data on this sector.

The full report may be downloaded as a pdf at:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13491

Established at CCNY in 1982, the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) pioneered an entire field of research. “At that time there was no such thing as photonics” said Institute founder and Distinguished Professor of Physics, Dr. Robert Alfano. While other major centers for optics research existed, the IUSL was the first research institute of its kind devoted to the study of applications for ultrafast light.  The Institute’s missions include the identification and development of emerging technologies and the development of photonic technology for the commercial marketplace.

The invention of lasers in the 1960’s preceded and made possible the field of photonics. Over the past three decades the IUSL fostered many steps in the evolution of optical spectroscopy, one of the primary subfields of photonics.

Professor Alfano’s crowning achievement was discovery of the supercontinuum. This, the ultimate white light source, enables many applications in science, biology and engineering and is the IUSL’s logo.

Alfano and other IUSL researchers were the first to invent and employ fluorescence to detect cancer in 1984. Three years later they used vibrational information from Raman scattering of light to detect cancer. They advanced the ultrafast processes used in condensed matter physics and their innovations in multiphotons in 1996 formed the basis of the multiphoton microscopes for tissues. The Institute’s optical imaging research through scattering media brought about the development of optical mammography, ballistic light and snake light.

Professor Alfano credits IUSL engineer Yury Budansky – responsible for building many of the photonic and optical devices envisaged by its physicists – as the secret weapon behind the institute’s success.

CAT INDUSTRY SHOWCASE WEBINAR

“Novel Approaches to the Fabrication of Polymer Materials with Robust Superhydrophobic Properties”

Alan M. Lyons, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry, College of Staten Island and Graduate School, The City University of New York

Date: Thursday April 5, 2012

TO VIEW A VIDEO OF THIS FREE WEBINAR, Click Here,
or copy this address into your browser:  http://www.totalwebcasting.com/live/cunycat

Superhydrophobic Mesh Template

ABSTRACT:

Superhydrophobic surfaces with high water contact angles and low slip angles exhibit many interesting properties, such as self-cleaning and anti-icing, because droplets of aqueous fluids roll easily across the surface.  Applications for such materials could span different industries including food processing (e.g. food washing equipment and storage tanks) and outdoor infrastructure (e.g. wind turbine blades and stadium roofing). Although many natural and synthetic processes have been described, the fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces in large areas that lead to mechanically robust and chemically stable materials remains a challenge.

In this presentation, I’ll discuss how the processing advantages of polymeric materials can be used to fabricate a wide variety of novel and robust superhydrophobic surfaces.  For example, commercially available multi-jet modeling machines can be used to create three dimensional polymer objects with superhydrophobic properties.  To enhance control of the material and printing parameters, a robotic printing apparatus was constructed, enabling the fabrication of surfaces with unique properties such as anisotropic slip behavior similar to behavior observed on butterfly wings.  To fabricate larger quantities of superhydrophobic surfaces, lamination technologies have been developed.  Using such techniques, mechanically robust surfaces have been fabricated that exhibit icephobicity and the highest abrasion resistance reported to date.  These methods are environmental friendly, and may provide an economically viable path to manufacture large areas of mechanically robust superhydrophobic surfaces from inexpensive polymers.

To learn more about the CUNYCAT “Industry Showcase” initiative, please see our EVENTS page, or contact Dr. Myron Wecker at 212-650-7578, or by email at: mwecker@cunycat.org.

The state received numerous success stories from the CATs, RTDCs and CoEs.  Of these, Phoebus Optoelectronics LLC was among the twenty New York companies that were selected to be spotlighted by the White House.

Phoebus, spun out of the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York, is an early stage nanotechnology company developing next-generation optical materials for application to solar cells and digital imaging sensors.  The company has raised over $5 million in seed funding from industry and government sources and, over the past twelve months, has increased its personnel by hiring two Ph.D. engineers, one Masters-level engineer, and one part-time administrative assistant.  In addition, Phoebus fully funds four Ph.D. engineering students and one full-time Research Associate at CCNY.

This recognition for Phoebus, a CAT-supported start-up, showcases the type of technology assistance that the CUNY CAT is providing to companies throughout the state.

We are pleased to announce that CUNY is the lead institution of this new multi-site IUCRC. To date, the CfM includes three other universities and 15 member companies. “This Center will deepen CCNY’s and CUNY’s industry/university cooperative research and development and complement the now well-performing Center for Advanced Technology (CAT). Now that we have the award and the Center, we will pursue several other supplemental funding opportunities that are typically associated with IUCRCs,” explained Professor David Crouse, Director of the CUNY CAT.

The CfM will involve metamaterials, photonics, and optical researchers at CCNY, CUNY and the other universities and industrial members. For more information, please visit the Center for Metamaterials.

Shortly before his graduation, a team from Corning started a joint research program with City College and had already identified him as a post-doctoral candidate. Two years later, this post-doctoral journey culminated with Etienne’s being offered a full-time position at Sullivan Park, Corning’s main research center in upstate New York, where he is a research scientist in the Optical Physics & Network Technology department.

“It’s a really exciting job,” he says. “About 50 percent of my time is spent with fibers, and the other 50 percent is devoted to LCD-TV display. I’m working on things that people will not see for five to 10 years.”

Etienne is one of several students who have benefited from the unique collaboration of City College, CUNY CAT and Corning.

In his case, the Corning connection was forged when the company started financing City College Prof. Roger Dorsinville’s research on quantum computing, communications and imaging.
“I already had been involved with CUNY CAT,” Dorsinville says. “When I got the money from Corning, I got matching money from CUNY CAT. The CUNY CAT money made my work go faster. Most of the research money I get goes to support students like Michael Etienne.”

By the time he was in his second year of post-doc work, Etienne was splitting his time between Corning’s Sullivan Park and City College, working closely with the research Fellow who would become his boss at Corning.

The collaboration with Dorsinville was so successful that Corning began offering internships to City College students. “Every summer, we have three to four students going to Corning,” Dorsinville says. “It’s one of our larger contingents of paid internships. It’s a great addition to their resumes. And several of our undergrad and PhD students like Michael have gotten full-time jobs there.”

The relationship is a prime example of the mutually beneficial industry partnerships CUNY CAT cultivates.
“The CUNY CAT/CCNY collaboration has proven to be a rich technical talent and research pipeline for Corning’s technology community,” says Mark D. Vaughn, manager of technical talent pipelining for the technology community, Corning. “After laying the groundwork for a mutually beneficial relationship, the return has been remarkable. Not only have we benefited from valuable contributions made by CCNY interns, many of whom are now full-time Corning employees, but the collaborative technical exchange has resulted in sustained engagement at the highest technical levels of our organization.”

The exchange also has opened doors for Corning employees. After working with Dorsinville’s team, Andru J. Prescod, who has been a research scientist at Corning for more than a decade, decided to get his doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. “The experience sparked my interest in electrical engineering,” he says. “That’s why I chose it as my degree.”

At Corning, Etienne has the opportunity to work on a variety of exploratory projects. “My getting to do post-doc work for Corning was great,” he says. “And getting the job at Corning was even greater. Working for Corning prepared me for life after college.”

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The Center for Metamaterials, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, will be a one-stop shop for the design, fabrication and testing of a range of metamaterials for use in spectral regions ranging from the microwave to the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Metamaterials, patterned composite materials in which light behaves in unusual ways, are being used to develop new or higher-performing optical and electronics devices.

“Metamaterials have great potential for improving the performance of today’s optical and electronic devices and providing new capabilities important for the future,” says Myron Wecker, Ph.D., deputy director of the CUNY CAT. “Already, industry is developing new applications for them in energy harvesting, imaging, plasmonic circuits, cloaking materials, biological and chemical sensors, compact optical systems and enhanced radio frequency technologies.”

CUNY will be the lead institution at the Center for Metamaterials, which also includes, as university partners, Clarkson University’s Center for Advanced Materials Processing; the University of North Carolina-Charlotte’s Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications; and Western Carolina University’s Center for Rapid Product Realization.

“This is the first time that the CUNY CAT has set up a center to develop a formal collaboration with groups at other universities,” says Wecker, “and the active participation of industry ensures that we address real-world applications for the research we engage in.”

The Center for Metamaterials recently was awarded a planning grant from the National Science Foundation. The center will be sponsored by the foundation’s Industry/University Cooperative Research program and by member companies and government agencies, each of which pays a $40,000 annual membership fee. The members, which have access to researchers and resources from all four universities, will define the research projects.

“We will meet with members once or twice a year to set the research agenda and review results,” Wecker says. “These investigations are pre-competitive; the companies and agencies share the research results and intellectual capital, although each can then choose to fund proprietary, follow-on enhancement projects with individual center researchers and labs. Each university will have a minimum of four industry members, so for only $40,000 per year, each company reaps the benefits of the membership fees paid by all the members at all the universities. One or more members can provide additional funding to increase research on an existing project or an additional project that interests them. And once a project gets to the point where the results can be applied to product development, that IP can be protected to benefit the sponsoring member(s).”

The Center for Metamaterials, one of more than 50 National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers, will distinguish itself by focusing on fundamental research areas that have, up to now, limited the development of high-performing, practical devices.

“We’re interested in, among other things, loss mitigation; high-quality, low-cost fabrication; increasing bandwidth; and novel fabrication techniques,” Wecker says.

The CUNY CAT, in addition to providing research facilities and personnel, will administer the center and be the point of contact for the four university partners.

Wecker says the Center for Metamaterials is a winning proposition for all participants.

“This is an interesting opportunity for the CUNY CAT and for industry,” he says. “Researchers get insight into what companies see as challenges, and companies steer research thrusts into areas of interest, gain networking opportunities and can attend workshops and short courses. Plus, they get access to faculty and get to know highly qualified graduate and undergraduate students and post-docs starting out in their careers. Companies and government agencies have told us they have a keen interest in the students because this is how they will find their future scientists and engineers. And all participants get the benefit of National Science Foundation oversight and the chance to make breakthroughs in this exciting and vital field.”

Sociology Prof. Andrew A. Beveridge got a grant from CUNY CAT to help get his numbers research up and running.

For example, when the 2010 earthquake put Haiti on the international map, it was reported matter-of-factly by various sources that that country’s population was a little more than 9 million and that the United States has more than 776,000 residents of Haitian ancestry, 29 percent of whom are concentrated in New York City and Miami.

Beveridge’s recitation of these facts and figures is as dry as the Mojave Desert. That is, until he calls up Social Explorer, the award-winning online research tool he helped create. There, color maps of the United States illustrate and illuminate the numbers, painting a clear picture that makes his point arrestingly unforgettable.

“There are lots of demographic data like this thrown around every day,” the Queens College and Graduate Center professor says. “But it’s difficult for the average person to understand or use it in a meaningful way. The goal of Social Explorer is to get the data into the hands of the people by making it super easy to access and understand.”

Social Explorer was founded in 2003 by Beveridge and business partner Ahmed Lacevic, a Queens College graduate who has a bachelor’s degree in computer science. It grew out of a project started at CUNY in the early 1990s. At that time, Beveridge and some of his students started mapping U.S. Census data. “Nobody else was really doing it then,” he says.

Today, the site features 39 billion data points, 200,000 variables and 15,000 interactive maps. It includes data from every U.S. Census from 1790 to 2000, the annual updates from the American Community Survey to 2008, original U.S. Census tract-level estimates for 2006 and 2007, the Religious Congregations and Membership Study from 1980 to 2000 plus 2002 carbon data emissions from the Vulcan project. Data from the 2010 U.S. Census will be added next year.

“In the Census alone, the data are collected at billions of dollars of cost, yet it’s difficult for the average person to use the data,” he says. “With SocialExplorer.com, users can customize, save, print and e-mail maps and reports and export them to other programs and statistical packages for further analysis.”

Social Explorer, which was named a 2010 American Library Association/Reference and User Service Association Outstanding Reference Source, works with a number of institutions and has exclusive licensing agreements with The New York Times, Oxford University Press and Pearson publishing. It has received much of its funding from the National Science Foundation.

“The myriad ways in which Social Explorer translates data and statistics into vivid, pragmatic images offer an exciting glimpse into the digital future of researchers, scholars and students across the social sciences,” says Niko Pfund, vice president and publisher of Academic Research at Oxford.

Subjects like Haiti are serious, indeed, but Social Explorer often digs up demographic data on pop culture to engage the general public. One project traced the changes in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn since the filming of Spike Lee’s 1989 “Do the Right Thing.” In the wake of the “Twilight” vampire series, another blog post tracked the number of Romanians in Washington State, where some of the filming was done.

“We’re doing fun things, including adding color schemes like Pink Panther, Forest Fire and even Picasso, which, of course, is blue,” Beveridge says.

Visualization is the key to Social Explorer’s continued success, Beveridge says, and to speed development of state-of-the-art graphics, the company has turned to the CUNY Center for Advanced Technology.

“The CUNY CAT has helped us tremendously,” says Beveridge. “We got a grant for a camera-like device that is helping us scan hundreds of maps, and CAT is funding the use of the equipment.”

To date, Social Explorer has created 3 million maps for some 125,000 individual and institutional users. “I want us to have millions of users,” Beveridge says. “It’s an incredibly successful academic project, and I want it also be an incredibly successful commercial project.”