School Notes: School of Engineering & Applied Science
November/December 2011

Engineering faculty to lead center

Several Yale Engineering faculty members will play leadership roles in the new Center of Excellence for Materials Research and Innovation that is being created with Yale’s recent award of a $13 million six-year National Science Foundation grant. The center’s research will impact technologies spanning computation, communication, energy, and medical applications.

Mechanical engineering professor Charles Ahn will direct the center, and two interdisciplinary groups will lead the center’s research efforts to address grand challenges in the discovery and development of novel engineered materials. Eric Altman, professor of chemical and environmental engineering, will lead the atomic scale design, control, and characterization of oxide structures interdisciplinary research group, and Jan Schroers, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, will lead the multi-scale surface engineering with metallic glasses interdisciplinary research group.

“The seamless and collaborative nature of Yale University is ideal for materials research,” said SEAS dean Kyle Vanderlick, “and this substantial investment by NSF in our research and outreach activities will help ensure that the next generation of engineers and scientists will be fully engaged in the development and processing of new materials. The awarding of this grant,” she added, “aligns perfectly with the strategic vision of SEAS in which materials research plays a central role.”

From senior project to storefront

After spending the summer at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute developing a business plan based on his senior project, 2011 Yale Engineering graduate Zachary Rotholz opened a retail business in New Haven in September. The shop, Chairigami, sells Rotholz’s unique brand of affordable modular furniture, which he describes as “cardboard furniture for the urban nomad.” The line includes chairs, coffee tables, dining tables, and a standing desk. Rotholz designed and constructed his first piece of cardboard furniture in a mechanical engineering class last year as part of his senior project. Rotholz says he wants his products to “encourage people to rethink furniture and to think about how they can engineer their own space.” Featherweight and completely recyclable, the furniture, priced from $70 to $100, is sold in flat packs with simple folding instructions for at-home (or in-dorm) assembly.