Jump over the site's left-side navigation bar.

Department home pages:

People and Departments

The interdisciplinary team of faculty involved in the Nanotechnology Education and Research POE includes members from three College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) departments, the College of Applied Science & Technology (CAST), and the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMaST): from Biological Sciences, Paul Garris and John Sedbrook; from CeMaST, Karen Lind; from Chemistry, John Baur, Craig McLauchlan, and Frank Shaw; from Physics, David Marx, Shang-Fen Ren, and Epa Rosa; and from Technology, Anu Gokhale.

This team of investigators from across the ISU community works on educational activities (including development of courses for nanotechnology certificate and degree programs) and cutting-edge nanotechnology research. Some of the team members work on research projects with national and international collaborators, and many involve students in their educational and research activities. Some of those students have presented their research with faculty at the Argonne National Laboratory’s Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Brief descriptions of each faculty members' activities in the Nanotechnology Education and Research POE are given below. To learn more about any of the individuals and their projects, click on the link to their Personal Webpage. You can also use the links in the box above at the right to navigate directly to the home page of any of the academic departments represented by the faculty.

People Involved with the Program:

Program Leaders

Shang-Fen Ren

Professor, Department of Physics
PhD (1986) Physics, Texas A&M University
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Shang-Fen Ren, together with David Marx in the Department of Physics, has been collaborating with scientists at Caterpillar on investigations of thermoelectric nanomaterials. In this collaboration, Dr. Ren is carrying out theoretical modeling of electrical and thermal properties of SiGe bulk and superlattice structured materials. Ren is also collaborating with Wei Cheng, visiting researcher in the Department of Physics, on the computer simulations of semiconductor nanomaterials that are important to Caterpillar’s applications of transferring waste heat into electric energy. Drs. Ren, Marx, and Lind wrote a proposal entitled, “Workforce Development in Nanotechnology Education and Research”, which was included in the ISU Federal Initiative for 2007.

David Marx.

David T. Marx

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics
PhD (1991) Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
David Marx has been working on careful examination of the crystal structure of boron carbide as part of the collaboration with Caterpillar. The work involves the use of a unique technique, available only at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab. One of Dr. Marx's research goals is to measure the thermal conductivity of thin films and superlattices and compare them with predictions. The initial project involves work with undergraduate students and Dr. Kelly Roos at Bradley University, using an ultrahigh vacuum electron beam film deposition system, in which electrons vaporize materials for deposition onto a substrate within the system. As of this time, the system has been completed along with calibrations for silicon and germanium deposition to form a superlattice.

Team Members

John E. Baur

Professor, Department of Chemistry
PhD (1990) Chemistry, Indiana University
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Dr. Baur's research is aimed at combining into a single instrument for imaging chemical activity at dynamic surfaces, the powerful tools of chemical nanosensors and microsensors. These tools have active sensing elements between 100 nm and 10 µm (about 1/1000 to 1/10 the diameter a hair), and can measure very small changes in concentration in real time with very high spatial resolution. We are developing new instrumentation, sensors, and software techniques so that topographical imaging and chemically-selective imaging can take place simultaneously, and allow structure-function relationships of the surfaces to be studied.

Paul A. Garris

Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
PhD (1990) Physiology and Biophysics, Indiana University
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Coming soon...

Anu Gokhale.

Anu Gokhale

Professor, Department of Technology
PhD Industrial Education and Technology, Iowa State University
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Anu Gokhale has been using simulation techniques and tools on the nanoscale level for applications and approaches with focus on advanced materials design and nanoscale engineering for nanoelectronic devices. In particular, Gohkale has been working on classical molecular dynamics simulations of simple nanosystems and computer-assisted materials designs. She is interested in developing nanotechnology course modules that can be integrated into existing courses to introduce nanoscience to students as part of the education efforts of this program.

Karen K. Lind

Director, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMaST)

Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Karen Lind with CeMaST has provided coordination of activities and hosted meetings for the Nanotechnology Initiative during 2005 and 2006. Lind has been active in leading the outreach effort in this program to bring the ideas and potential of nanotechnology to the general public, high school students, researchers and state legislators. CeMaST is currently organizing a summer program called Nano-High, which will focus on current nanoscale research aimed at high school students and the public.

Craig C. McLauchlan

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
PhD (2000) Chemistry, Northwestern University
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Craig McLauchlan's research interests lie with vanadium coordination chemistry, with one project focused on materials and catalysis and another involving bio-mimetic activity of V complexes. Dr. McLauchlan uses a variety of synthetic and characterization techniques

Epaminondas Rosa, Jr.

Associate Professor, Department of Physics
PhD (1993) Physics, University of Minnesota
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Coming soon...

John C. Sedbrook

Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
PhD (1997) Biology, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
John Sedbrook in the Department of Biological Sciences leads the POE on Energy Science. He has been involved in efforts with the Nanotechnolgoy POE team to create a joint program on research and education on renewable energy.

C. Frank Shaw III

Professor, Department of Chemistry
PhD (1970) Chemistry, Northwestern University
Email
Personal Webpage

Program Activities:
Frank Shaw and his collaborators in the chemistry department are interested in determining the role of macrophages, neutrophils and related immune cells on the metabolism of nanoparticles and quantum dots. The emphasis is on metallic species, such as gold and silver nanoparticles and platinum black, a finely divided form used in catalysts; and quantum dots containing cadmium, nickel, arsenic or selenium, all of which are toxic elements.