Emilio Peña spoke with President Martinelli, President of Panama, about the National Corrosion Center at a special UTMB/ University of Panama accord signing on October 28, 2009. Pictured from left to right: Emilio Peña, President Martinelli, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and Houston City Councilmember Mike Sullivan.
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Scientists at The National Corrosion Center have unveiled a one-of-a-kind microscope that lets them zoom in for the closest look anyone has ever gotten of corrosion in action.
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| TOMMY LAVERGNE | |
| Dr. Rolf Arvidson, left, and Dr. Andreas Lüttge demonstrate the new ZeMapper interferometer. |
“There is no other instrument like this in the world,” said NCC director Andreas Lüttge at the Oct. 14 Rice University open house for the center’s new interferometry laboratory. “With this interferometer we can measure corrosion quantitatively before most techniques can even see it,” said Lüttge, professor of Earth science and of chemistry. [click to continue…]
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Dr. Ken Nealson, Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences, spoke to the National Corrosion Center Advisory Board on September 18, 2009. Dr. Nealson reviewed his pioneering work with geobiology, Shewanella oneidensis, and the tie in to corrosion (via electromicrobiology).
From the USC faculty profile:
Professor Nealson is one of the pioneers of the field of modern geobiology – an area of science that tackles the still largely unexplored domain where the processes and chemistry of life intersect with the planet’s mineral and metal chemistry. In his early work as a marine microbiologist, Nealson discovered quorum sensing, the phenomenon in which microbial communities create light. As one of the first to recognize the importance of microorganisms in catalyzing redox reactions in the environment, he has led the development of tools to study these organisms. Nealson’s techniques, used to study microbial populations through genetic identification, are now considered standard in analyzing microbes found in biofilms. On a much larger scale, Nealson has studied the cycling of such minerals as iron and manganese, revealing the key role of microorganisms in these biogeochemical processes. More recently, he has turned to the understanding of how life can function in extreme environments, and he is directing efforts at NASA to search for life and evidence of ancient life in the solar system. Recent work has involved the systems biology and comparative genomics of a group of organisms in the genus Shewanella, as well as adapting his laboratory work to the application of using microbes to produce energy from waste materials in microbial fuel cells.
Dr. Nealson’s awards include:
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