Green Inventions

Richard E. Riman ENG’80, professor of materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering, was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame at the organization’s annual awards dinner. Riman received the Hall of Fame’s Inventor of the Year award for his “distinguished patented work  related to systems and methods  for carbon capture and sequestration utilizing novel concrete products.” He holds 10 U.S. patents  and patents pending for the “low-temperature solidification” process, many shared with former student Vahit Atakan GSNB’06, who undertook his doctoral studies with Riman.

The patents are being commercially developed by Solidia Technologies, a company Riman founded to provide green manufacturing methods and construction materials for building and infrastructure applications. Atakan is Solidia’s director of research and development.

Top Guns

Two Rutgers professors were recently named fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the esteemed national organization that selects fellows for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

Andrew Baker and Robert Bartynski join six other professors in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences who have received  the distinction. Baker is an  astrophysicist who uses radio telescopes to probe how galaxies evolve in the nearby and distant universe. Bartynski is an experimental condensed matter physicist who studies the electronic properties of materials that can be used for computer chips, energy storage, and capturing solar energy. — Carl Blesch

Overseas Scholarship

Seven Rutgers professors recently received Fulbright Scholar grants to conduct research and teach abroad this year at institutions in Austria, Brazil, Iceland, and India, joining 1,100 faculty and professionals nationwide who have received the award. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, which operates in more than 155 nations, is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government to increase international collaboration.

Federico Sesti of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

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Federico Sesti, an associate professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is one of the seven professors to receive a Fulbright Scholar grant this year.

Photography: 
Steve Hockstein

The scholars are: neuroscience and cell biology associate professor Federico Sesti of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; African studies and history associate professor Kim Butler NCAS’83 and philosophy associate professor Martin Lin of the School of Arts and Sciences; professor Eric Lam and associate professor Daniel Hoffman of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; law professor Mark Weiner of the School of Law–Newark; and biology professor Daniel Shain in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University–Camden. 

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program is part of the Fulbright Program, which since 1946 has allowed more than 318,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, scientists, and other professionals to study, teach, and conduct research in an effort to find solutions to shared international concerns. Rutgers has also hosted 77 Fulbright scholars from overseas institutions since 2010, with eight coming in 2015.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which provides grants to graduating seniors and young professionals, gave 26 grants to Rutgers students and alumni in 2013–2014, a record for the university and one that ties Rutgers for third among research universities nationwide. — Carl Blesch and Carissa Sestito RC’06, SCILS’06

A Helping Hand

Marian Nowak, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing–Camden, was named a national nurse of the year by Nurse.com. Nowak, one of six national recipients of the National Giving Excellence Meaning (GEM) Award, was recognized in the category of volunteerism and service for her 39-year nursing career helping disadvantaged people.