Current Issue
Vol.81 No.2, 2009
Living in a Materials World
It’s a good time to be in materials science at Ohio State University. The new multidisciplinary Institute for Materials Research debuted in April, and in early June the university announced that it would invest more than $9.7 million in the Advanced Materials Initiative. At Ohio State, materials research is crossing traditional academic boundaries, bringing together computer engineers and chemists, physicists and physicians.
Steven Ringel eagerly anticipates the return of his solar cells from outer space this autumn. These cells will have spent more than a year on the International Space Station, collecting and transforming the sun’s energy into usable power.
Getting a Jump on the Research Path
Even before he had his first college class, Frederick Crawford was engrossed in a research project at the College of Engineering.
Crawford, a chemical engineering major, arrived on campus much earlier than his classmates so he could study the effects of producing xanthan gum made from glucose and yeast. Xanthan gum is a thickening agent often found in foods, pharmaceuticals, and fuel; it is used in ice cream as an agent that prevents ice crystals from forming and as a fat substitute that adds the “mouth feel” of fat without the calories.
