News & Events

BSAC Seminar: Animating the Inorganic in Architecture: Making Thermobimetals Behave

April 16, 2013
Prof. Doris Kim Sung School of Architecture, dO|Su Studio Architecture, University of Southern California April 16, 2013 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room Host: Luke Lee

Like human skin, a building’s skin should be the first line of defense when considering cost-effective methods of internal temperature regulation. Reducing buildings’ reliance on mechanical cooling and energy use can have a tremendous impact on containing global warming, reducing heat island effects and decreasing fossil fuel consumption. Using smart materials...

BSAC Seminar: Microfluidic Devices for Direct Separation and Analysis of Cells Mediated by Transient Molecular Interactions

April 9, 2013
Prof. Rohit Karnik Department of Mechanical Engineering, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics Research Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology April 9, 2013 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room Host: Luke Lee

Multiple sample-processing steps present a challenge for the development of low-complexity devices for laboratory or point-of-care separation and analysis of cells. In this presentation, I will discuss a new approach that can directly separate, enrich, or analyze cells with minimal or no sample processing requirements. We show...

BSAC Seminar: Next Generation Microfluidic Circuitry via Optofluidic Lithography

April 23, 2013
Dr. Ryan Sochol Director, Micro Mechanical Methods for Biology (M3B) Lab BSAC Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley April 23, 2013 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room Host: Liwei Lin

Similar to the way in which integrated circuits revolutionized electronics, the advent of integrated microfluidic circuitry could significantly impact both chemical and biological fields. The introduction of an externally-controlled, multi-layer elastomeric microfluidic valve – often referred to as the Quake valve...

BSAC Seminar: Micromechanical Sample Testing

April 29, 2013
Dr. Simon Muntwyler FemtoTools, Switzerland April 29, 2013 | 01:30 to 06:00 | 400 Cory Hall, Hughes Room Host: Niels Quack

A FemtoTools FT-RS1000 micromechanical testing system will be available to test your samples. The tests will provide insight into the micromechanical properties of your sample such as stiffness, linearity, hysteresis, deflection range, etc. The measurement results will be given to you at the end of the demonstration. To ensure a successful test, prior discussion of each sample is required. If you are interested in the micromechanical...

BSAC Seminar: Modular Micromechanical Testing Based on MEMS-Based Capacitive Microforce Sensing

April 29, 2013
Dr. Simon Muntwyler FemtoTools, Switzerland April 29, 2013 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: Niels Quack

The micromechanical investigation of microscopic samples can provide valuable insight into their structure or functionality and plays an important role in many areas such as material science, biological research or the development of MEMS/NEMS. Based on the results of more than 10 years of research at ETH Zurich, a MEMS-based microforce sensing technology has evolved that allows for a new level of accurate, truly quantitative...

BSAC Seminar: Overview of MEMS and Microsystems at Sandia National Laboratories

April 30, 2013
Dr. Keith Ortiz Manager, MEMS Technologies Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque April 30, 2013 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room Host: John Huggins

Sandia National Laboratories has conducted research and development in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and other microsystem technologies since the mid-1990's. It is well known for its surface micromachining capability, in particular, the SUMMiT V™ process with which it can make rotating gears and machines. This presentation will be a brief overview of current...

BSAC Seminar: Energy Autonomous Systems and Wireless Sensors on Flexible Substrates

May 7, 2013
Dr. Helmut Seidel Microsystems Department Head, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrüken, Germany May 7, 2013 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room Host: Richard Muller

Example Project: Energy autonomous systems are highly attractive for obtaining signals from remote locations with difficult accessibility. A system intended for health monitoring in civil aircraft is presented. It was developed together with industrial partners and includes energy harvesters for thermoelectric power conversion and for...

BSAC Seminar: MEMS Characterization Devices for Nano Science and Medicine

July 11, 2013
Prof. Hiroyuki Fujita Center for International Research on Micronano Mechatronics (CIRMM), University of Tokyo July 11, 2013 | 11:00 to 12:00 | 105 Stanley Hall Host: Luke Lee

In order to enhance scientific knowledge and engineering capability in nano scale, it is crucial to develop manipulation tools (e.g., nano hands) for handling an individual nano object or molecule, as well as to establish an advanced characterization method with single atomic or molecular level sensitivity and with simultaneous imaging capability (e.g...

BSAC Seminar: Low Noise Signal Generation and Verification Techniques

September 10, 2013
Mike Driscoll IEEE Distinguished Lectureer in the UFFC Society for 2012-2013 September 10, 2013 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: Clark Nguyen

The need for improved signal detection capability in Communications and Radar System Performance has resulted in requirements for extremely low noise in the signal generation portion of the hardware. Depending on the complexity of the signal generator, the signal path circuitry often includes a cascade of a very large number of non-oscillator as well as oscillator-included components such as...

BSAC Seminar: A Piezo-Resistive, Temperature Compensated, MEMS-Based Frequency Synthesizer

September 24, 2013
Joost van Beek Senior Principal Scientist, NXP Semiconductors September 24, 2013 | 12:30 to 01:30 | 521 Cory Hall, Hogan Room Host: John Huggins

After a brief introduction on NXP Semiconductors, this presentation will describe a frequency synthesizer using a MEMS resonator as the frequency referencing element. Uniquely, the piezo-resistive properties of silicon are exploited to read out the resonator, resulting in low impedance levels at resonance frequencies up to several 100MHz. A 55MHz MEMS oscillator with a phase noise of...