Prof. Jarek Drelich attended the XVIth International Conference on Surface Forces that took place this year in Kazan, Russia. He delivered a keynote address entitled Direct Measurements of Liquid Adhesion with Solids: Gateway to a Multi-Faceted Understanding of Contact Angles. He also presented a poster prepared by Georgia Hurchalla and entitled Water-Repellent Legs of Water Insects.
The meeting covered new scientific developments in the area of colloid and surface science from chemistry to physics and engineering with the emphasis on the fundamentals of surface interactions including wetting. This series of meetings was initiated in 1960 by famous Russian scientist academician B.V. Derjaguin.
The Conference program included seven keynote lectures, four days of oral presentations, and two poster sessions. The meeting took place in a center of tourist downtown of Kazan, and program included a tour to Sviyazhsk island.
Beside strong scientific program, attractive location, this meeting solidified a collaboration between SURFI and Russian Academy of Sciences.
Keynote Address
SI Volume 6 Issue 4-5
We are glad to share with you the content of the last issue of 2018 of Surface Innovations with two impressive Invited Feature Articles, two Innovation Letters, and eight original Research Articles.
Georgia Hurchalla – MS Defense
Congratulations to Georgia Hurchalla for successfully defending her MS Thesis on Effect of Hierarchical Structure and Orientation on Water – Repellant Legs of Water-Walking Insects! Georgia will leave SURFI team in August heading to industry.
Jeff Brookins – MS Defense
Congratulations to Jeff Brookins for successfully defending his MS Thesis on Development and Characterization of Biodegradable Zinc Vascular Ligation Clips! Jeff leaves us this week to start his PhD program at the University of Tennessee.
Top-Cited in Surface Innovations
Papers on contact angle measurements and physics of superhydrophoobic and superhydrophilic surfaces remain as top two all time most-cited papers published in Surface Innovations. One of our newest publication, on contact angle terminology, published in 2017, climbed quickly to the 4th spot. See entire list.
Top 1% in Materials Science
The review papers entitled Hydrophilic and Superhydrophilic Surfaces and Materials, published in Soft Matter in 2011, was marked again this year as Highly Cited Paper by Thomson Reuters in its Web of Science. This highly cited paper received enough citations third year in a raw to place it in the top 1% of the academic field of Materials Science based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year.
Also one of our newest publication: Evaluation of Wrought Zn-Al alloys (1, 3, and 5 wt% Al) Through Mechanical and In Vivo Corrosion Testing for Stent Applications, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part B – Applied Biomaterials 106B(1)(2018)245-258, was placed under this top 1% category in the field of Materials Science.
Postdoc from Poland
Surface Innovations Team welcomes a new member, Dr. Malgorzata Sikora-Jasinska. Dr. Sikora-Jasinska received her double PhD degree at Politecnico de Milano in Italy (Department of Mechanical Engineering) and University Laval, Canada (Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering). Her doctoral research program was on development of Fe-based composites by powder metallurgy for cardiovascular implant applications. She also contributed to development and testing of Zn-based bioalloys during her PhD program. Dr. Sikora-Jasinska will help us to develop new Mg and Zn-based alloys and to improve the methods of corrosion evaluation of biodegradable metals by assessing biologically and microbiologically induced degradation properties.
Distinguished Professor Title
Prof. Drelich has been recognized by the Michigan Tech with the Distinguished Professor title. This new title recognizes outstanding faculty members who have made substantial contributions to the University as well as their discipline but are not presently recognized through an endowed position or faculty fellowship. Only five faculty received this recognition. Full story.
Fish Skin
Natural materials and the structures they form, developed and perfected through millions of years of evolution, have long inspired researchers for innovations in science and engineering. One example, fish scales, are notable for their strength, toughness, flexibility, and lightweight. These properties are the result of collagen fibrils and hydroxyapatite crystals that have been arranged into three-layer structures through mechanical locking and chemical bonds, via a process that is still poorly understood. In this new review entitled Fish Skin: A Natural Inspiration for Innovation published in Advanced Biosystems, we aim to compile the established knowledge on the composition, structure, and surface/interfacial features of fish scales. Using mainly Arapaima gigas as a focus, published information and supplementary data acquired through imaging, analytical techniques, and tensiometry are combined. This is done to take a closer look at the surfaces and interfaces of fish scales to identify their unique features, and begin to overcome some of the limited understanding of surface functionalities that are created by nature.
Best Paper Award
The paper entitled “Contact Angles and Wettability: Towards Common and Accurate Terminology” by A. Marmur, C.Della Volpe, S. Siboni, A. Amirfazli, and J.W. Drelich and published in Surface Innovations 5(1)(2017)3-8 has been awarded the Surface Innovations Prize (Journal Prize for best paper) by ICE Publishing.