The Chateaubriand Fellowship is a highly prestigious and merit-based doctoral grant provided by the Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in the United States. Its goal is to "initiate or reinforce collaborations, partnerships or joint projects by encouraging exchange." Braden will be collaborating with Dr. Elizabeth Guazzelli at Aix-Marseille University in Marseille France, studying the behavior of particulate suspensions. In France, Braden will be performing experiments complimentary to his numerical work at the University of Florida with Dr. Jason Butler. This opportunity will enable Braden to expand the scope of his research while simultaneously attaining an international professional experience.

Dr. Weaver and his former doctoral students, Sunil Devarajan and Jose Hinojosa, Jr., were recently recognized for publishing a “Top Cited” article in the journal Surface Science. Their paper is in the top 25 among all Surface Science papers published from 2007 to 2012 for the number of citations received. The paper is titled, “STM study of high-coverage structures of atomic oxygen on Pt(111): p(2x1) and Pt oxide chain structures” and was published in 2008. Dr. Weaver also received a Top Cited article recognition in 2010 for a Surface Science paper about the oxidation of Pt(111) that was published in 2005.

Carmen J. Gil was awarded The Buick Achievers National Scholarship. This scholarship is a very competitive award which is based on academic performance and community service throughout high school and college. There are thousands of applicants and only 100 students are awarded the National Scholarship of up to $25,000 every year for up to a 5 year engineering degree. Congratulations Carmen!

Fan Ren is a Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering. He received a B.S. degree in Applied Chemistry in 1975 from Feng Chia University, a M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering in 1978 from National Cheng Kung University, a M.S. degree in Polymer Science and Engineering and a Ph.D. degree in Inorganic Chemistry in 1985 and 1991, respectively, from Brooklyn Polytechnic, Brooklyn, NY. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering as well as Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Florida. Prior to this, he worked for Bell Laboratories, AT&T at Murray Hill, for 13 years in the areas of GaAs based high electron mobility transistors, heterojunction bipolar transistors and metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors. His current research is on wide energy bandgap semiconductor based sensors, 3D semiconductor chip integration, UV laser drilling, InGaAs based MSM detectors and reliability of field effect transistors. He has published more than 801 journal papers, edited 4 books and 20 conference Proceedings Volumes, contributed to 18 book chapters, and holds 31 US and European patents. He is a Fellow of the American Physics Society, American Vacuum Science Society, Electrochemical Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Materials Research Society and Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers.