November 14, 2006

Lincoln University Awarded $500,000 Grant From DOE

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA. - President Ivory V. Nelson has announced that Lincoln University has been awarded a three-year grant for $500,000 from the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

The project is titled, “Enhancing Physics and Engineering at Lincoln University: Characterization of Piezoelectric and Other Materials,” and will build on previous work with the material lab at Penn State University.

An outgrowth of the grant will be the implementation of a physics scholar program, where students will be prepared and motivated to pursue graduate and professional school in a variety of careers.  Some of them include medicine, law, engineering, computational physics, biophysics, chemical physics and traditional physics.

“This is another example of our commitment to provide a rich and rewarding educational experience for our students,” President Nelson said.

The study of piezoelectric – piezoelectric is a material that generates an electric charge when mechanically deformed - and related ceramic materials is significant for its wide-range of applications as smart materials that can sense environmental changes and make informed adjustments to some aspects of its physical properties.

These so-called smart materials have found applications in a wide variety of circumstances, such as high-tech automobile applications, medical system for the treatment of diabetes, and urine analysis system for home toilet systems.

Dr. Willie Williams, professor of physics, will serve as the principal investigator.  “The grant will enable us to attract very talented students and give them hands-on research opportunities,” he said.

Founded in 1854, Lincoln University is a premier, Historically Black University that combines the best elements of a liberal arts and sciences-based undergraduate core curriculum and selected graduate programs to meet the needs of students living in a highly technological and global society.  The university is nationally recognized as a major producer of African Americans with undergraduate degrees in the physical sciences.