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Researcher wins $400 000 award
PEOPLE & PLACES UPDATE
Nano Tech 2005 awards At the Nano Tech 2005 event in Tokyo, Fujitsu was awarded the Nano Tech Award for its development with Fujitsu Laboratories of simulation technology that plays an important role in nanotechnology research and development, and for its interconnection technology using carbon nanotubes. Massachusetts-based Evolved Nanomaterial Sciences (ENS) received the Early Stage Company Award of the Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI). “ENS is dedicated to improving the efficiency of drug discovery and development,” said Regina Valluzzi, chief scientist. “We look forward to continued scientific breakthroughs with our smart materials and chiral pharmaceuticals.” Elections to Academy The US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 74 new members and 10 foreign associates, bringing the total to 2195 members and 178 foreign associates. The new members include Arunava Majumdar, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, for contributions to nanoscale thermal engineering and molecular nanomechanics; and George M. Whitesides, professor of chemistry at Harvard University, for the development and promulgation of methods of self-assembly and soft lithography. Researcher wins $400 000 award Jee-Ching Wang, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, has received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. Wang will receive $400 000 over five years to support his project ‘MolecularBased Engineering of Nanoparticle Self-Assembly’, which involves using multiscale modeling to understand the conditions needed to get nanoparticles to bind together in a predictable, ordered way. Wang joined University of Missouri-Rolla in 2000 after receiving degrees in chemical engineering from National Taiwan University then a PhD from Pennsylvania State University.
Ying made a Young Global Leader Jackie Y. Ying, executive director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) is among 237 people chosen to participate in the World Economic Forum’s 2005 Young Global Leaders Forum. This brings together “outstanding leaders, aged 40 years or younger, who have committed to devote part of their knowledge and energy over the next five years to collectively shape a better future”. The Young Global Leaders will engage in the 2020 Initiative, which aims to “address the complex challenges of today to shape a better future for our world”. The panel members will meet for the first time at June’s Inaugural Summit in Zermatt, Switzerland, where they will assess current and future trends, risks, and opportunities. They will then develop global strategies and put forward concrete actions to “advance towards a better world in the year 2020”. Taipei-born Ying was an AT&T Bell Laboratories PhD Scholar at Princeton University, and has been on the Chemical Engineering faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1992. “My research in nanotechnology is driven towards improving health care, the quality of life, conservation of energy, and preservation of the global environment.” “One of the areas where we can make the most difference is in the exchange of information and technology,” says Ying.
Graduate research rewarded The Nanotechnology Foundation of Texas’ 2004 George Kozmetsky Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Nanotechnology has gone to two Texas students, who each receive a grant of $5000. Aaron Saunders of the University of Texas at Austin has focused his research on two areas: developing very high-quality solution-phase nanocrystal syntheses and understanding spontaneous nanocrystal self-assembly into superlattices. His work bears directly on developing a new class of materials and the processes involved in nanocrystal assembly. Balaji Sitharaman of Rice University has been rewarded for his achievements in encasing as many
as 100 Gd atoms inside fullerenes (forming ‘gadonanotubes’) to reduce Gd’s toxicity to near zero while boosting its effectiveness as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent to 100 times more than those in clinical use. Sitharaman says that he aims to use existing methods of attaching antibodies and peptides to fullerenes to create a tissue-specific contrast agent that will bind only with diseased cells, enabling single-cell MRI.
CNST awards first seed grants Rice University’s Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) has awarded the first two grants from its Smalley/Curl Fund for Innovation. The one-year, $15 000 grants aim to provide faculty with seed funds to develop novel ideas with broad potential in nanotechnology. Michael S. Wong is developing self-assembly methods for generating hollow microcapsules by mixing inert nanoparticles and polymers at room temperature. His lab has made capsules with surfaces that are ‘patchy’, enabling molecular patterning of the capsules for targeted drug delivery and encapsulation. Rebekah Drezek and Jason Hafner are studying the synthesis, functionalization, and optical properties of Au nanorods for biomedical applications. They intend to evaluate targeted nanorods as molecular probes for use in reflectance confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography techniques. The ultimate aim is to develop bright, biocompatible contrast agents.
Grant for perovskite research Marco Fornari, an assistant professor in Central Michigan University’s physics department, has received a $24 000 Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation, a private foundation that aids basic research in the physical sciences at US and Canadian colleges and universities. Fomari has been given the award for his study into ways to optimize the piezoelectric (electric voltage) properties of materials using the common mineral structure perovskite. The materials could be used to build robust, nanosize solid-state devices, such as microphones, speakers, and electric motors, for use in medicine and industry. “Some things are already known about simple perovskite oxides, and the originality of my project is to extend this approach to more complex systems,” says Fornari.
Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to [email protected]
May 2005
53
Nano Tech 2005 awards At the Nano Tech 2005 event in Tokyo, Fujitsu was awarded the Nano Tech Award for its development with Fujitsu Laboratories of simulation technology that plays an important role in nanotechnology research and development, and for its interconnection technology using carbon nanotubes. Massachusetts-based Evolved Nanomaterial Sciences (ENS) received the Early Stage Company Award of the Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI). “ENS is dedicated to improving the efficiency of drug discovery and development,” said Regina Valluzzi, chief scientist. “We look forward to continued scientific breakthroughs with our smart materials and chiral pharmaceuticals.” Elections to Academy The US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 74 new members and 10 foreign associates, bringing the total to 2195 members and 178 foreign associates. The new members include Arunava Majumdar, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, for contributions to nanoscale thermal engineering and molecular nanomechanics; and George M. Whitesides, professor of chemistry at Harvard University, for the development and promulgation of methods of self-assembly and soft lithography. Researcher wins $400 000 award Jee-Ching Wang, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, has received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. Wang will receive $400 000 over five years to support his project ‘MolecularBased Engineering of Nanoparticle Self-Assembly’, which involves using multiscale modeling to understand the conditions needed to get nanoparticles to bind together in a predictable, ordered way. Wang joined University of Missouri-Rolla in 2000 after receiving degrees in chemical engineering from National Taiwan University then a PhD from Pennsylvania State University.
Ying made a Young Global Leader Jackie Y. Ying, executive director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) is among 237 people chosen to participate in the World Economic Forum’s 2005 Young Global Leaders Forum. This brings together “outstanding leaders, aged 40 years or younger, who have committed to devote part of their knowledge and energy over the next five years to collectively shape a better future”. The Young Global Leaders will engage in the 2020 Initiative, which aims to “address the complex challenges of today to shape a better future for our world”. The panel members will meet for the first time at June’s Inaugural Summit in Zermatt, Switzerland, where they will assess current and future trends, risks, and opportunities. They will then develop global strategies and put forward concrete actions to “advance towards a better world in the year 2020”. Taipei-born Ying was an AT&T Bell Laboratories PhD Scholar at Princeton University, and has been on the Chemical Engineering faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1992. “My research in nanotechnology is driven towards improving health care, the quality of life, conservation of energy, and preservation of the global environment.” “One of the areas where we can make the most difference is in the exchange of information and technology,” says Ying.
Graduate research rewarded The Nanotechnology Foundation of Texas’ 2004 George Kozmetsky Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Nanotechnology has gone to two Texas students, who each receive a grant of $5000. Aaron Saunders of the University of Texas at Austin has focused his research on two areas: developing very high-quality solution-phase nanocrystal syntheses and understanding spontaneous nanocrystal self-assembly into superlattices. His work bears directly on developing a new class of materials and the processes involved in nanocrystal assembly. Balaji Sitharaman of Rice University has been rewarded for his achievements in encasing as many
as 100 Gd atoms inside fullerenes (forming ‘gadonanotubes’) to reduce Gd’s toxicity to near zero while boosting its effectiveness as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent to 100 times more than those in clinical use. Sitharaman says that he aims to use existing methods of attaching antibodies and peptides to fullerenes to create a tissue-specific contrast agent that will bind only with diseased cells, enabling single-cell MRI.
CNST awards first seed grants Rice University’s Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) has awarded the first two grants from its Smalley/Curl Fund for Innovation. The one-year, $15 000 grants aim to provide faculty with seed funds to develop novel ideas with broad potential in nanotechnology. Michael S. Wong is developing self-assembly methods for generating hollow microcapsules by mixing inert nanoparticles and polymers at room temperature. His lab has made capsules with surfaces that are ‘patchy’, enabling molecular patterning of the capsules for targeted drug delivery and encapsulation. Rebekah Drezek and Jason Hafner are studying the synthesis, functionalization, and optical properties of Au nanorods for biomedical applications. They intend to evaluate targeted nanorods as molecular probes for use in reflectance confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography techniques. The ultimate aim is to develop bright, biocompatible contrast agents.
Grant for perovskite research Marco Fornari, an assistant professor in Central Michigan University’s physics department, has received a $24 000 Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation, a private foundation that aids basic research in the physical sciences at US and Canadian colleges and universities. Fomari has been given the award for his study into ways to optimize the piezoelectric (electric voltage) properties of materials using the common mineral structure perovskite. The materials could be used to build robust, nanosize solid-state devices, such as microphones, speakers, and electric motors, for use in medicine and industry. “Some things are already known about simple perovskite oxides, and the originality of my project is to extend this approach to more complex systems,” says Fornari.
Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to [email protected]
May 2005
53