May 6, 2010
By Robin Donovan

Celebrating new members, grants and collaborations were top items on the agenda at the annual NQPI retreat this year. Members met April 16th and 17th to discuss accomplishments and goals of the institute and relax at the Carpenter Inn and Conference Center in Carpenter, Ohio.

NQPI is currently welcoming Drs. Eric Masson and Geraldine Botte, the newest of twenty-eight Ohio University faculty members to join the institute. Director Art Smith presented their backgrounds and the overall accomplishments of NQPI, which included twenty-one grants submitted during the past year with grant income of $1.2 million during the same period. Members noted that leveraging NQPI collaborations helped win grant funding.

Smith also discussed work on the long-awaited helium liquefier, which should be operational by late spring. The equipment is nearly ready, awaiting only electrical work and connecting lines.

Because NQPI members may be geographically separated on campus, located in separate floors, buildings, or even sides of campus, retreat organizer Dr. Sergio Ulloa organized research presentations to keep NQPI members informed about recent accomplishments across departments.

Botte, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, explained the potential use of wastewater to produce the hydrogen needed for fuel cells. Ammonia can be extracted from wastewater and used to carry the hard-to-store hydrogen that powers fuel cells. Ammonia is readily available as a component of one very common wastewater: urine. Botte noted that college campuses may be an ideal site for harvesting ammonia.

Dr. Saw-Wai Hla followed Botte with an explanation of his recent, widely-discussed discovery of the world’s smallest superconductor through the use of scanning tunneling microscopy. The discovery of a superconductor at the nanoscale has implications for understanding superconductivity and possible nanotechnology based on superconducting nanowires. Hla is a member of the physics and astronomy department. His study was published in Nature Nanotechnology and featured on CBS news, among other media outlets.

An additional faculty presentation highlighted photochromism and molecular bistability, as Dr. Jeff Rack showed how shining light on certain molecules will cause them to briefly change color through photochromic isomerization. Drs. Horacio Castillo and Art Smith also discussed their research.  

Most importantly, the retreat allowed members to ask questions and brainstorm new collaborations. Dr. Savas Kaya, assistant professor of electrical engineering, is currently on sabbatical at the University of California-Davis, but attended the retreat to discuss his work with the electrochemical annodization of aluminum and microsphere lithography.

Students were not forgotten at the retreat. NQPI members considered their roles as educators, discussing the importance of weekly NanoForums to prepare students for academic careers and to teach them to communicate with scientists outside their fields. Several attendees expressed interest in a team-taught core nanoscience course that would provide an overview for students in fields represented by NQPI.

Members also said a sad farewell to Mala Braslavsky, NQPI’s special events and outreach coordinator, who is leaving the institute after almost three years of dedicated service.