Keynote Speakers
Mihail C. Roco
Mihail C. Roco, Ph.D., is the founding chair of the National Science and Technology Council's subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET), and is the Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation (NSF). He also coordinated the programs on academic liaison with industry (GOALI). Prior to joining National Science Foundation, he was Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky (1981-1995), and held visiting professorships at the California Institute of Technology (1988-89), Johns Hopkins University (1993-1995), Tohoku University (1989), and Delft University of Technology (1997-98). Dr. Roco is credited with thirteen inventions, contributed over two hundred articles and sixteen books including "Particulate Two-phase Flow" (Butterworth, 1993), "Nanostructure Science and Technology" (1999), "Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology" (2001 and 2006), and more recently "Managing Nano-Bio-Info-Cognition Innovations" (2007) and "Mapping Nanotechnology Knowledge and Innovation: Global and Longitudinal Patent and Literature Analysis" (2008). Dr. Roco was a researcher in multiphase systems, visualization techniques, computer simulations, nanoparticles and nanosystems.
Gheorghe Popa
Professor Gheorghe Popa, Ph.D., is the Vice-Rector for Research at the Alexandru Iona Cuza University, Iasi Romania and he is Professor of Physics with a specialization in Optics and Spectroscopy. Prof Popa has published over 200 scientific papers, 3 books, established 9 patents that spans the spectrum of the field of plasma physics and its applications. He is the past State Secretary for Research in the Ministry of Education and Research for Romania. He has received many honors during his illustrative research career. For instance, Prof Popa received: the "C.Minculescu" prize of the Romanian Academy for the year 1989; the Officier des Palmes Academique (Ministere de l'Education Nationale, de l'Enseignement Superieur et de la Recherche de France) in 1996; the Order "Crucea Moldava" of the Mitropoly of Molodova nad Bucowine in 1997; he was Professor honoris causa of the Augsburg Universty, Germany in 1999; he received the Diploma of excelence "Vasile Pogor" of the Iasi townhall in 1999; the Diploma and medal of University of Freiburg, Germany, 2000; the National order "Steaua Romaniei" grade officer of Romanian Patriarchy in 2005; and received the Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Balti, Republic of Moldavia in 2006. Prof Popa will review the promises inherent in investigations of plasma physics at the nanoscale.
Luis Echegoyen
Luis Echegoyen, Ph.D., is Director of the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Echegoyen earned B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, in 1971 and 1974, respectively. He spent a number of years at Union Carbide in New Jersey before entering academia as an assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico. He's gone on to hold faculty positions at the University of Maryland and the University of Miami, as well as completing a stint at the NSF as a program officer prior to assuming his current position in 2002. Dr. Echegoyen maintains an active research program with interests including Fullerene electrochemistry, monolayer films, supramolecular chemistry, and spectroscopy; endohedral Fullerene chemistry and electrochemistry; carbon nanoonions, synthesis, derivatization and fractionation; and chemical and active cation transport through membranes. He has published numerous research papers and books.
Marius Andruh
Marius Andruh, Ph.D., is the Head of Inorganic Chemistry Department at the Faculty of Chemistry from the Bucharest University. He is a Corresponding Member of the Romanian Academy since 2001. He co-authored more than 160 papers in the domains of synthesis strategies of homo and hetero - polynuclear complexes with high and low nuclearity, hetero-polynuclear oxalates, hetero- polynuclear cyanides and molecular magnets, supramolecular architectures homo and hetero - polymetallic systems 3d-4f; 3d-3d'-4f; 2p-3d-4f. Prof. Andruh is a member in the Board of Directors for the European Institute of Molecular Magnetism.
Speakers
Alexandru Stancu, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Applied Research in Physics and Advanced Technologies (CARPATH) at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Romania. Professor Stancu is recognized for his achievements in the field of magnetism, and his main domain of expertise is in the area of studies of switching and general hysteresis. He is the author of 180 ISI papers and these papers have been cited more than 250 times and he has presented more than 300 papers at international conferences. He is also the director for the Integrated Platform for Advanced Studies in Molecular Nanotechnologies Interdisciplinary Platform (AMON). He has coordinated more than 30 national and international projects in the last 10 years with more than 3 million EUROs of support.
James J. Hickman, Ph.D., is the Professor of Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida and he also is the founding director of the NanoScience Technology Center , an interdisciplinary group of over 20 faculty members. Dr. Hickman has been performing research in the field of nanoscience for over 15 years within the convergence of the fields of material science/ physics, surface chemistry and biology and he work has had major applications in the field of biology from basic biology to drug discovery and genomics. The primary application for Dr. Hickman's research is the creation of new test-beds of functional cellular systems to investigate spinal cord repair, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer's disease.
Mihai Girtu, Ph.D., is the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Physics, Chemistry and Petroleum Technology at the Ovidius University, Constanta, Romania. He is co-author of 29 ISI papers, 2 review chapters in Magnetic Nanostructures, published by American Scientific Publishers, Los Angeles, USA and many other publications at national and international conferences. As a continuation of the research performed in USA at the Ohio State University, Columbus, during his Ph.D. stage, Prof. Girtu is working mainly in the domain of the physics of hybrid organic-inorganic nanostructured materials (i) Magnetic ordering in molecular magnets, in systems with disorder and competing interactions; ii) Electronic properties of organic and inorganic materials for solar cells; iii) Quantum chemical calculations of molecular magnetic materials and organic electronics materials). He was recently appointed as Vice-president on the Romanian National Council for Scientific Research in Universities.
Dan Marinescu, Ph.D., is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Central Florida and is also a native Romanian. He is also an adjunct professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing. From 1984 until August 2001 he was a Professor of Computer Science and (by courtesy) of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. Before coming to Purdue, Dr. Marinescu was an associate professor of EECS at the Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest and a senior researcher at the Institute for Atomic Physics of the Romanian Academy of Science, the Joint Nuclear Research Institute at Dubna, and G.S.I. Darmstadt. He was a visiting professor at: IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York (1985); Institute of Information Sciences, Beijing (1992); Scalable Systems Division of Intel Corporation (1993); Deutsche Telecom (1996); and INRIA Paris (1998, 2000, 2005, 2006). His research interests cover parallel and distributed systems, Petri Nets, scientific computing, and quantum computing and quantum information theory. He has published more than 180 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings in these areas.
In early 1980s Dr. Marinescu was the chief architect of a real-time data acquisition and analysis system used in experiments leading to the discovery of the superheavy elements. Since late 1980s he is leading a project in computational biology focused on the development of parallel algorithms and methods for the 3-D atomic structure determination of large macromolecules like viruses. He leads an effort to design a Virtual Laboratory for Computational Structural Biology. He is the author of Internet-Based Workflow Management: Towards a Semantic Web published by Wiley in April 2002 and of Approaching Quantum Computing published by Prentice Hall in September 2004. He co-edited the book Process Coordination and Ubiquitous Computing published by CRC Press in October 2002. Dr. Marinescu will be speaking during the nanoelectronics session and will discuss probable future developments in the rapidly evolving field.
Tudor Luchian, Ph.D., is Professor of Physics/Biophysics and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics and Medical Physics, Department of Physics ('Alexandru I. Cuza' University - Iasi, Romania). The focus of our lab revolves around the cutting-edge fields of lipid membrane biophysics, single-molecule recordings and fluorescence spectroscopy. Our motivation to making contributions to these areas of science stems from the reality that a more reliable comprehension of ways in which biological cells perform is ensured by multi-disciplinary approaches to unravel various levels of sophistication of biological membranes. Consequently, elucidating the influence exerted by membrane lipids on the mechanisms of interaction between water-soluble peptides and proteins and biological membranes represents the target of considerable interest in today's forefront membrane biophysics and pharmaceutical research. Professor Luchian completed a Ph. D. in Physics at 'Karl-Franzens' University of Graz (Austria) and two post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) and Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas, USA).
Bob Reedy, M.B.A., is Director of the Solar Energy Division at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) at the University of Central Florida. Prior to joining FSEC, he spent four years with the Georgia Transmission Corp. as Research Manager and as Manager of Transmission Line Design. He has also served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the North American subsidiary of Turbec AB, a Swedish manufacturer of microturbine combined heat and power systems. Other experience includes Marketing Manager of The Energy Authority, Inc. and 13 years with the Lakeland Department of Electric and Water Utilities as Manager of Wholesale and Renewable Energy Businesses and as Director of their engineering and operations group. This earlier work has given him extensive experience in the utility industry and in the field of distributed power systems, with a specialty in energy marketing, financing and business planning. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Florida and Georgia.
At the systems level, Mr. Reedy is involved with advancing the control and protection of grid-interactive PV inverters. His prime interests in cell and module development involve optimization of optical and thermal designs, and thermoelectric-photovoltaic combinations.
Mr. Reedy has more than 20 years experience in the field of commercially-viable renewable energy. He received a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree and a Master of Science degree from Auburn and an M.B.A. from Florida Southern. Mr. Reedy will be speaking during the Energy Session concerning the impact the U.S. Economic Stimulus Program will have on the field of renewable energy.
Nicoleta Sorloaica-Hickman, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment at the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida , as well as the NanoScience Technology Center. Dr. Sorloaica-Hickman's major research interest is in photovoltaic and thermoelectric materials, devices and testing. She performs research at the leading edge of advances in electronic, thermal and optical materials (nanostructures, thin film and bulk), and devices for applications in photovoltaic, thermoelectric, and solar energy integrated systems. The interdisciplinary philosophy of research within her lab combines the disciplines of physics, materials science, chemistry and electrical engineering.
Andre J. Gesquiere, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment at the NanoScience Technology Center at the University of Central Florida, as well as within the department of Chemistry. Dr. Gesquiere has a keen interest in nanophotonics with focal explorations in: nanoscale optoelectric materials development for efficient energy conversion in photovoltaic devices; as well as nanobiology studies utilizing single molecular or nanoparticle explorations. He is a 2008 NSF CAREER awardee.
Saiful I. Khondaker, Ph.D.
Dr. Khondaker's research is in the fabrication and electron transport properties of nanoscale devices. His current research interests are (i) nano-manufacturing of carbon nanotube based electronic devices and their quantum transport properties (ii) fabrication and characterization of organic/inorganic hybrid photovoltaic devices, (iii) electronic properties of bio-templated nanowire devices, and (iv) quantum transport through individual nano-molecular devices. Dr. Khondaker is a recipient of NSF CAREER Award. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge (UK), and he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas, Austin. He will be speaking about the challenges and opportunities in the field of nano and molecular electronics.
Michael Leuenberger, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment at the NanoScience Technology Center at the University of Central Florida, as well as within the department of Physics. Dr. Leuenberger received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Basel, Switzerland and then completed three postdoctoral fellowships. The first postdoc was at the University of Basel, the second at the University of Iowa, and the third at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Leuenberger is exploring a number of fascinating projects covering the spectrum from the utilization of quantum information to increase the security of computer links over long distances such as between earth-based and space based satellites and exploring the utility of quantum teleportation. He received a DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2008 and has received funding from NSF to model photonic crystals hosting a quantum network made of single spins in quantum dots that interact via single photons. Dr. Leuenberger will be speaking during the nanoelectronics session and will comment on the implications of quantum theory which made lead to breakthroughs in quantum information science.
Artëm Masunov, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment at the NanoScience Technology Center at the University of Central Florida, as well as within the department of Chemistry. Dr. Masunov received his Ph.D. from the City University of New York and completed two postodoctoral fellowships, one from the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Sergei Tretiak and another at the City College of New York under the tutorship of Dr. Themis Lazaridis. Dr. Masunov has a wide variety of interests across nanoscience inc including Biochemistry and Materials Science, Biology and Physics, Computers and Device Engineering. He is engaged in a wide variety of Computational Chemistry research projects such as computer-assisted design of nonlinear optical materials (for bioimaging and photodynamic therapy), catalytic effects of ceria nanoparticles (to slow down biological aging), control over growth of carbon nanotubes (for microelectronics applications) and amyloid fibrils (Parkinson's disease treatment), development of polarizable force fields to describe clathrates (hydrogen storage materials) and protein/ligand interactions (computational drug design), methodological developments of density functional theory (for description of strongly correlated systems) and implicit solvation models (for more accurate simulations of soft condensed matter). Dr. Masunov will speak during the nanobio session concerning the contribution of computational modeling in future developments in nanoscience.
Swadeshmukul Santra, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment at the NanoScience Technology Center at the University of Central Florida, as well as within the department of Chemistry. Dr. Santra received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India and completed a Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida under the mentorship of Prof. Brij Moudgil. Dr. Santra is exploring a wide group of applications all under the main topic of nanobio imaging utilizing nanoparticles and quantum dots. This includes cancer imaging and diagnostics, stroke biomarker detection, stem cell tracking, drug delivery, pathogen detection, as well as nanotoxicity evaluation. Projects are focused on the design and synthesis of various nanoparticle based contrast agents such as fluorescent nanoparticles, radio-opaque nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, multimodal (e.g. fluorescent, radio-opaque and paramagnetic) nanoparticles, biocompatible and biodegradable multifunctional (e.g. imaging and therapeutic) nanoparticles, nanoparticle sensors for probing gene expression, stem cell differentiation and other cellular functions both in vitro and in vivo. Dr. Santra will be speaking during the nanobio session and will review the opportunites and challenges in the field of nanobio imaging.