Over 150 Attend the 2001 MRSEC/IGERT Symposium

The Columbia-led MRSEC and CUNY-led IGERT held a joint symposium on June 21 and 22, 2001 on Nanostructured Materials: Present Science and Future Technology. The symposium was held in the Davis Auditorium in the CEPSR building on Columbia University's Morningside campus. The symposium featured technical sessions focused on the preparation, physical characteristics, supramolecular assembly, and technological promise of organic and inorganic nanomaterials. MRSEC, IGERT, and external experts in the field presented overviews of the current status of the field, and discussed future trends in the science and increased commercial applications of these intriguing materials. This symposium was organized by Prof. Rasti Levicky (MRSEC) and Dr. Ron Brown (IGERT).

 

Major Honors to Louis Brus, George Flynn and Rasti Levicky

Three MRSEC investigators have recently been honored with prestigious national appointments and awards. Louis Brus was recognized by the American Physical Society at the March 2001 American Physical Society meeting, where he was awarded the Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics "for establishing the field of semiconductor nanocrystals through innovative synthesis, spectroscopy and theory." George Flynn was one of 72 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The academy recognizes distinguished and continuing achievements in original research and is one of the highest honors accorded to a U.S. scientist or engineer. Rasti Levicky received a 2001 Presidential Early Career Award for his research, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers who are in the early stages of establishing their research careers.


Daniel Akins Receives Presidential Mentoring Award

On September 7, 2000, Professor Daniel L. Akins, Professor of Chemistry at the City College of New York, New York and member of our MRSEC was honored by President Clinton with the 2000 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. The award is administered and funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF). Ten individual mentors and ten groups were so honored that have been leaders in encouraging minorities, women and persons with disabilities to pursue careers in scientific, engineering and technical fields. Individual mentors have demonstrated outstanding and sustained mentoring and effective guidance to a significant number of students at the K-12, undergraduate or graduate education levels. These awards are part of the Administration's commitment is to maximize the nation's pool of talented, well-educated and highly trained scientists and engineers to help achieve the major goals of Science in the National Interest. This commitment includes a demonstrated effort to produce scientists and engineers in greater quantity and quality by actively increasing the participation of talent that draws fully on all racial/cultural segments of the nation's population.

MRSEC Shared Instrument Facility Opens

In May, 2000 the MRSEC Shared Instrument Facility opened its doors. This facility is located in the Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research (CEPSR) in 10LE4 CEPSR. It is equipped with a Beaglehole spectroscopic ellipsometer, a Scintag x-ray diffractometer, and a PHI XPS/SIMS/ISS analysis system. MRSEC Shared Instrument Facility

 

Champion International Donates XPS Spectrometer to MRSEC

In March, 2000 Champion International donated a PHI 5500 ESCA (XPS)/ISS system with a secondary ion mass spectrometer to our MRSEC. It is capable of performing ESCA, ESCA mapping, ESCA depth profiling, static SIMS, and ISS, all under computer control. This instrument is located in the MRSEC Shared Laboratory and is under the supervision of Professor Jeffrey Koberstein. This donation is the beginning of increased interactions between the research efforts at Champion and our MRSEC. On May 3, 2000 the MRSEC hosted a reception in honor of Champion's generous donation. MRSEC Shared Instrument Facility