Congratulations to Vijay and Ambika on their engagement.

An IMG journal paper, Manufacturable plastic microfluidic valves using thermal actuation, has recently been named a "Hot Article" by Lab on a Chip. Articles featured in this way have been rated as very significant by expert reviewers in the field. Congratulations to the authors, Karthik Pitchaimani, Brian Sapp, Adam Winter, Austin Gispanski, Toshikazu Nishida and Z. Hugh Fan!

Kemiao Jia will defend his dissertation, entitled "Development and applications of high fill-factor, small footprint MEMS micromirrors and micromirror arrays," on Wednesday, October 14th at 2:00pm in Larsen 234. All are welcome to attend and refreshments will be provided.

Robert Dieme will defend his dissertation on the subject of noise in piezoresistors on Friday, October 9th at 9:30am in Larsen 234. All are invited to attend and food will be served.

IMG members, including undergraduates planning to pursue a graduate education, are encouraged to apply for external graduate fellowships. For example:

• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (Deadline: November 12, 2009)
• DOD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships (Deadline: January 2010)
• Hertz Foundation Fellowship (Deadline: November 2, 2009)
• Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) (Deadline: December 15, 2009)
• Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship (Deadline: November 30, 2009)

If you have questions or need assistance in the application process, please speak with a senior graduate student or professor.

Jeremy Sells will propose his dissertation topic, "Passive Wireless Direct Shear-Stress Sensor Array," on Friday, September 25, 2009 at noon in Larsen 234. All are welcome to attend.