What’s Happening in Phases Research Lab at Penn State
Nov. 5, 2009	Manjeera Mantina (PhD, 2008) gave birth to her son Prahalada today. Congratulations.
Nov. 2, 2009	We had a great time at MS & T 2009 with 3 research associates/postdoc, 10 graduate students, and 4 undergraduate students from our group presented at the meeting, giving total 19 presentations. Photo albums will be up soon. We also met our alumni Raymundo Arroyave and Bill Golumbfskie.
Oct. 16, 2009	Laura Jean Lucca on the cover of ASM International member journal, Vol. 167, No. 10
Oct. 4, 2009	Dr. Liu met Dongwon Shin at the USAMP project meeting in Detroit. Dongwon has received the Weinberg fellowship at ORNL and will join ORNL in the near future.
Sept. 28, 2009	Dr. Liu visited Carpenter Technology where Jingxian Zhang is working.
Sept. 16, 2009	Both Guang Sheng and Chelsey Zacherl receive honorable mention award in 2009-2010 EMS Graduate student poster exhibition
July 22, 2009	The SEEMS group advised by Sung Hoon Lee won the first place this year.
July 16, 2009	Laura Jean received the TMS Light Metals Division Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to full-time students majoring in materials science and engineering with an emphasis on traditional and emerging light metals. Laura Jean will be traveling to Seattle in February to be presented with the award.
July 15, 2009	Laura Jean received the George A. Roberts Scholarship through the ASM Foundation. This award will be presented at the ASM Luncheon at the MS&T Conference in Pittsburgh in October.
June 19, 2009	Weiming Feng successfully defended her PhD thesis on “Phase-field models of microstructure evolution and new numerical strategies”.
June 1, 2009	Laura Jean received the Charles W. Finkl Fund Scholarship. This award is given through the Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation.
April 22, 2009	Jingxian Zhang (PhD, 2007) has accepted a position at Carpenter Technology in Reading, PA.
April 20, 2009	The Phases Research Lab poster, designed by James Saal and Chelsey Zacherl, wins the first place in graduate research poster competition.
April 12, 2009	Laura Jean Lucca received the ASM Philadelphia Liberty Bell Chapter's Scholarship for the third time and will be awarded in May at their monthly dinner.
April 3, 2009	Congratulations to Taeyi Choi and Dong Eung Kim for their son, David, born last night.
April 2, 2009	Bill Golumbfskie (PhD, 2005) now works at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, West Bethesda, Maryland.
April 1, 2009	Congratulations to Yan Li and Jingxian Zhang (PhD, 2007) for their daughter, Chloe (), born today.
March 27, 2009	Guang Sheng passes his comprehensive exam.
March 25, 2009	Both Swetha Ganeshan and Guang Sheng receive the Kennametal Fellowship Award.
March 22, 2009	Laura Jean Lucca is awarded with the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Ellen Steidle Achievement Award for Juniors. This award is given to a Junior student who has been particularly active in advancing the welfare and improvement of the College and its student body.
March 9, 2009	James Saal receives a grant from the Stiftelse för tillämpad termodynamik (Foundation for Applied Thermodynamics) to participate in the CALPHAD-conference in Prague in May 2009
March 6, 2009	Zhi-Gang Mei successfully passed the candidacy exam.
March 5, 2009	Hui Zhang and Guang Sheng will get married in April 2009.
March 3, 2009	Laura Jean Lucca receives the Charles and Sharon Bell Scholarship for Citizenship and Leadership. This is a Penn State award that recognizes students who give leadership and citizenship to the community.
January 29, 2009	James Saal receives the CALPHAD Scholarship for attending the CALPHAD meeting in Prague in May 2009.
January 17, 2009	PRL alumna, Mei Yang (MS, 2006), will start her PhD program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with Prof. Sisson.
January 10, 2009	Sung Hoon Lee is getting married this month.
December 11, 2008	Guang Sheng receives the TMS student travel grant for attending the TMS 2009 Annual Meeting at San Francisco.
December 8, 2008	Carl Brubaker (MS, 2002) now works at Stork Materials Technology, Newtown, PA
November, 24, 2008	James Saal receives the Bayer International Travel Grant for attending the CALPHAD meeting in Prague in May 2009.
November 10, 2008	Laura Jean Lucca is elected to the 2008/2009 Undergraduate Research Fellows in the department.
October 15, 2008	Guang Sheng receives a Graduate Excellence in Materials Science (GEMS) sapphire award at the Materials Science and Technology 2008 Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, given by the Basic Science Division of the American Ceramic Society.
October 7, 2008	Following alumni were at the MS & T meeting: Raymundo Arroyave, Melissa Marshall, Dongwon Shin, Shengjun Zhang, along with many from Penn State.
October 7, 2008	Brad Hasek is awarded a FeMET Scholarship from AISI for his active academic achievements and interest in the iron and steel industry.
October 6, 2008	Laura Jean Lucca is awarded the John M. Haniak Scholarship at MS&T 2008, which is given to an outstanding undergraduate member of ASM International at the junior or senior level who demonstrates exemplary academic and personal achievements, as well as interest in metallurgy or materials science and engineering.
August 25, 2008	Chelsey Zacherl is awarded the 2008/2009 Anne C. Wilson Graduate Student Fellowship from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, which recognizes outstanding students enrolled in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
July 10, 2008	Manjeera Mantina successfully defended her PhD thesis on “First-principles Methodology for Diffusion Coefficients in Pure Metals and Dilute Alloys”
June 23, 2008	James Saal receives the NASA Space Grant Fellowship for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 academic years from the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium.
June 2, 2008	Laura Jean Lucca receives the ASM International Philadelphia Liberty Bell Chapter Scholarship and the Charles W. Finkl Fund Scholarship.
April 27, 2008	Yan (Anne) Ling and Laura Jean Lucca are elected to the 2007/2008 Undergraduate Research Fellows in the department, http://www.matse.psu.edu/UG/cur/ugCur.htm (scroll to the bottom), http://www.phases.psu.edu/gallery/album03/2008_URFs
April 26, 2008	Zi-Kui Liu receives the Wilson Award for Excellence in Research, College of Earth and Mineral Science, Pennsylvania State University. http://www.ems.psu.edu/research/Research/wilsonresearch.htm, http://www.matse.psu.edu/news/stories/Wilson%20Awards%202008.html, http://www.matse.psu.edu/news/docs/2008%20Wilson%20Program.pdf
April 26, 2008	Laura Jean Lucca receives the Charles and Sharon Bell Scholarship for Citizen and Leadership Award, a University wide award at Penn State.
April 14, 2008	Manjeera Mantina led our first paper accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters: LC11234: First principles calculations of self-diffusion coefficients. Vol. 100, 2008, 215901, http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.215901
April 13, 2008	Soon Il Lee received The American Ceramic Society Spriggs Phase Equilibria Award for the paper “Modified Phase Diagram for the Barium Oxide-Titanium Dioxide System for the Ferroelectric Barium Titanate” published in the Journal of The American Ceramic Society 90 [8] 2589-2594 (2007). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-2916.2007.01794.x
April 12, 2008	First Phases Research Lab Retreat at Toftrees, http://www.phases.psu.edu/gallery/album57
April 11, 2008	Matt Benzio joined Rolls Royce Energy Systems in Mt. Vernon, OH. The facility manufactures and packages power turbines and compressors for natural gas pipelines. Matt worked for his BS in our lab in 2004. We wish him good luck in the new position.
April 11, 2008	Hui Zhang successfully passed her comprehensive exam today.
April 3, 2008	Jingxian Zhang received the Academic Excellence Award of the Intercollege Graduate Program in MatSE.
March 28, 2008	Zi-Kui Liu visited Raymundo Arroyave at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A & M University. Raymundo was with us from April 2004 to July 2006.
March 17, 2008	Hui Zhang received the Kennametal Fellow award, http://www.matse.psu.edu/news/stories/Kennametal%202008.html
March 14, 2008	Following alumni were at the TMS meeting: Raymundo Arroyave, Chao Jiang, Tao Wang, Jingxian Zhang, Shengjun Zhang, along with Yi Wang and Swetha Ganeshan from Penn State, http://www.phases.psu.edu/gallery/album56
March 12, 2008	Zi-Kui Liu became a member of the TMS Board of Directors, http://www.tms.org/Society/government/board/Liu.html
March 7, 2008	Dong Eung Kim successfully passed the Candidacy Exam.
March 1, 2008	Zi-Kui Liu is elected as a Chang Jiang Chair Professor of Central South University by China Ministry of Education, http://www.cksp.edu.cn/news/6/6-20080220-218.htm, http://www.matse.psu.edu/news/stories/Chang%20Jiang%20Chair.html
February 10, 2008	Shunli Shang received the Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award (http://www.gradsch.psu.edu/current/funding/programs/roymatres/roymatresrecipients.cfm)