LehighNow Volume 01, Issue 06

              LEHIGHNOW
January 31, 2001
Volume 1, Issue 6
Making water
run uphill
IN BRIEF
COMING UP
Black History
events set
Appearances by Dr.
Calvin Butts of the
Abyssinian Baptist
Church in Harlem and
the jazz group Keith
Marks and Company
head the events scheduled for Black History
Month in February.
A community service
project will be held
Saturday, Feb. 3, at a
time and place to be
announced. Marks will
perform at an open
microphone concert on
Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 6
p.m. in Lamberton Hall.
A Minority Faith
Discussion Group
Program will be held at
the Multicultural Center
in the U.C. at 7 p.m. on
Thursday, Feb. 8. On
Thursday, Feb. 15, a
potluck dinner and
discussion will be held at
5 p.m. at a location to be
announced.
A field trip to The Great
Blacks in Wax Museum in
Baltimore will begin at 9:30
a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Butts, an internationally
renowned speaker and
writer, will speak at a
celebration honoring the
Rev. Martin Luther King,
the late civil rights
leader, at 4 p.m., Sunday,
Feb. 25, at St. Peter's
Evangelical Church on
Packer Avenue.
The events are sponsored by the office of
multicultural affairs.
Info: x85973.
Photo by John Kish IV
Susan Daniel and Prof. Manoj Chaudhury used an optical
microscope and other basic equipment to make their discovery.
Ten years ago, Manoj
Chaudhury, the Dow
Corning associate professor of chemical engineering,
found a new way to make
droplets of water "creep"
against their natural
instincts.
Writing in 1992 in Science,
the nation's leading science
journal, Chaudhury said he
had coaxed a microliter of
water to "run uphill" on a
silicon surface at about 1
mm per second by varying
the degree of hydrophobic-
ity (water resistance) on
the surface.
The change in surface
properties, Chaudhury
said, created an imbalance
of surface tension forces, or
a gradient of low to high
interfacial energy, helping
to propel the water
upward on a tilted
horizontal plane.
Last week, writing in the
Jan. 26 issue of Science,
Chaudhury said he had
induced droplets of water
to move at rates of
centimeters, even a meter
or more, per second by
passing steam over a
hydrophobic surface
possessing a surface
tension gradient.
Chaudhury co-authored
the current Science article
with John Chen, dean of the
P.C. Rossin College of
Engineering and Applied
Science, and Susan Daniel,
Ph.D. candidate in chemical
engineering.
Whereas before, Chaudhury
could make the water drops
move in only one way - from
point to point - the increased
energy created by the
condensation now makes it
possible to make the drops
move radially, or out from
the center of a surface, as
well as up and down parallel
channels. These movements
can be viewed by visiting
Chaudhury's web site at
www.lehigh.edu/~mkc4/
movie l.mov.
Chaudhury says the new
phenomenon can be potentially applied to heat transfer
problems, especially those
involving systems operating
in zero or micro-gravity. In
these systems, he says, a
surface tension gradient,
performing the function that
gravity normally would,
could pump water radially
from a horizontal surface,
preventing liquid build-up
and thus improving the
efficiency of heat transfer.
Chaudhury was featured
Friday, Jan. 26, on the
Discovery TV channel.
Turanchik to
athletics
Barbara Turanchik,
executive director of the
Alumni Association for five
years, has accepted a new
appointment as director of
the Partnership Program in
the department of athletics.
Turanchik, who graduated
with Lehigh's first co-ed
class in 1975, will begin her
new position in March. She
succeeds
Craig
Anderson,
who retired
in June.
"To have
a person
with Barb's
experience,
capabilities        Turanchik
and understanding of the
university join our team is a
big win for us," said Joe
Sterrett, athletics director.
The Partnership Program
supports Lehigh's 23 men's
and women's intercollegiate
teams, their recruitment and
recognition activities, and
coach and staff development.
Turanchik said she
attended many Lehigh
sporting events while
growing up in Bethlehem.
"This new position will give
me the opportunity to build
student relationships. It is so
important to connect with
students and maintain that
connection, which will assist
us as we bring the athletics
partnership to a new level."
"Barb's championing of
alumni affairs and student
issues will leave a tremendously positive legacy," said
Ralph Albert Thomas '76,
president of the Alumni
Association board of
directors. "Herenergy,
enthusiasm and personable
style have galvanized our
alumni and transformed our
association into one of the
best in the nation."