| |||||||||
Home
 Group Leader
Blog
Teaching
Research
Publications
Members
Alumni
Collaborators
Sponsors
News
Contact
|
|---|
 |
|
VPD Group News
Spring 2009
Dr. Tao Sun with his lovely wife, Wei Zhang, taking a break from the graduation festivities in Cook Hall.
(June 2009)
Seungbum Hong presents "Piezoelectric Force Microscopy"
Ben Murphy Walks the Walk!
She had how many Acceptance Letters? 8!
Kathy Ku, the VPD Group internship student from Maine Township High School East, finally decided! She plans to attend Harvard this fall.
Argonne National Laboratory Scientist Visits!
Prad Prabhumirashi Returns to Visit!
Another Ph.D. Produced from the VPD Group!
Congratulations to Tao for his successful defense for his PhD thesis, entitled "Structural characterization of sol-gel derived oxide nanostructures using synchrotron x-ray techniques."
He Does It Again! Congratulations, Stan!
Shihyao Chou, a participant in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Scholarship and Fellowship Program, has been awarded an extension of the Department of Homeland Security award through the 2009-2010 academic year.
Perhaps not the break from studies and
research everyone would have liked but
great satisfaction of a job well done!
Dr. Robert F. Klie, Nanoscale Physics Group, University of Illinois at Chicago, pictured after his talk, "Atomic-Scale Studies of Complex Oxide Interfaces using Aberration Corrected Z-Contrast Imaging and EELS."
Congratulations Jonathan on being one of the 15 students to be selected for the CCNE REU summer program. Over 200 applications were received.
Bin Liu, Mengchun Pan and Aiming Yan won scholarships to attend CHREM Winter School at Arizona State University!
Professor Dravid presented keynote lecture at the 12th
annual SANKEN symposium in Osaka, Japan.
Professor Dravid participates as an International Speaker at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Science City, Ahmedabad, India.
The Richard and Barbara Silverman Hall for Molecular Therapeutics will will be home to more than a dozen research groups as well as several shared core facilities for the imaging and manipulation of biological molecules. The official move of our soft sub-group is planned for Fall 2009.
Michael Radler, Ph.D.
Scientist at Dow Chemical Company,
Dr. Robert H. Grubbs, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry visited campus.
The VPD Group welcomed a group of professors and executives affiliated with Jinan University, located in Guangzhou and selected in 1996 as one of 100 key universities in China 
We would like to welcome our three
New Graduate students to the VPD
group.
Arun Aneja, Ph.D., Chief Science & Technology
Officer at Reliance Industries, Ltd., INDIA visits!
Tao Sun continues the rich tradition of winning coveted research award by VPD group members. He was recently selected to receive the NSEC Outstanding Researcher award. Hearty congratulations!!
The W.M. Keck Foundation has approved a compelling proposal, Inorganic Signature of Life (ISL), by Tom O'Halloran, Teresa Woodruff and Vinayak P. Dravid, to understand the role of inorganic signal pathway (esp. Zn) during the earliest time of "life", i.e., the fertilization of female egg! The key hypothesis is the role of Zn in signal pathway, which will require highest sensitivity technique for mapping Zn in Oocytes. Professor Dravid proposed a unique dual EDS detector design, which will be built by Hitachi Corp., on their HD-2300 STEM platform, with two EDS detectors by Thermo Scientific, with unprecedented 0.8 Sr. collection angle, allowing arguably the highest sensitivity EDS in the world!
Dr. Jiaqing He joins the VPD group as a research associate. Jiaqing comes to NU from Brookhaven National Lab. He will also be working with Prof. Mercouri Kanatzidis in Chemistry. Jiaqing has extensive experience in advanced S/TEM, which he will put to good use in thermoelectric and multiferroic research problems.
Ann Snyder won the McCormick STAR award for outstanding service. She was nominated by Professor Dravid for her planning and execution of the NU-JNC workshop (and general helpful attitude to the group and others¡). Her picture is featured on the McCormick website.
Welcome baby Brandon!!!
Pictured: Top row: Vinayak Dravid, Siddartha Shah (IIT Bombay), Stan Gutiontov, Jonathan Lin
We had quite a few graduates this year! Suresh and Zixiao traveled from east and west coasts to attend the hooding ceremony, while Amrbose was able to take time off from packing (for Harvard!) to join the festivities. Rachel was stuck in Barcelona for a year!
Professor C.N.R. Rao, president of JNCASR, Bangalore, India, received an honorary degree from NU at the commencement ceremony on June 20, 2008. He was nominated by Professor Dravid.
1st place:
Tao Sun won first place at the International Materials Research Conference in Chongqing, China held June 9-12, 2008.
After many trials and tribulations, the RF system has finally been installed in VPD lab. This unique capability will allow non-invasive thermal activation for multitude of our research programs, from Alzheimer¡¯s therapy to killing of pediatric brain tumor (targeted thermal activation!). We are looking forward to important nano-bio-medical advances with the RF system!
Professor Dravid has won yet another award! This time the "Richard M. Fulrath" Award from the American Ceramics Society, for enhancing US-Japan bilateral scientific interactions. He will receive this honor at the MS&T meeting in October 2008 and deliver a keynote address in the Award session.
After couple years of research internship in VPD group, Sam Nayak secured admission a number of lame(?!) institutions such as Stanford and CalTech/UCSD.. Hearty congrats, and best wishes, Sam! (April 2008)
Atsushi Muto, visiting engineer from Hitachi High Technologies America completed his visit here at Northwestern and the NUANCE Center. He spent the past few months helping users on the SEMs and training users on the capabilities of the SEM 5500 that we received as a loaner from Hitachi. We will surely miss his expertise and smiling face.
(April 2008)
Congratulations Ambrose and Ken!!! Ambrose was accepted to the Statistics graduate program at Harvard University and Ken was accepted to the PhD program in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. Ken also received the esteemed Ryan Scholarship which is giving to exceptional students in Nanotechnolog y. Congrats to both!!! (April 2008)
Zixiao and Tao¡¯s Images were chosen to be showcased in McCormick materials and on the NSF image of the day!!!
Zixiao and Tao were asked by the McCormick marketing department to provide images of their work from the SEM and from the FIB. These images will be used in McCormick publications and on the McCormick website. Their images have also been submitted to the NSF image of the day on www.livescience.com. (March 2008)
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has selected Stan to receive the coveted U.S. Department of Homeland Security Fellowship. He will get the unique opportunity to intern in important national labs on homeland security matters during some of the next couple summers.
Ben Murphy a BS/MS student in Mechanical Engineering has joined the VPD group to work with Stan Chou on MOSFET sensors.
Zixiao has defended her PhD thesis and will be leaving us for the warmer climes of the Bay Area. She has taken a position with Exponent Consulting in Menlo Park, CA. We will miss you a ton!!
(March 2008)
Welcome Dr. Sujing Xie!!
We have purchased with the help of NSEC and State of Illinois funds a Veeco bioscope. This instrument will enables AFM imaging under a broad range of dynamic and biologically relevant conditions. (February 2008)
Congratulations to Arvind ¨C VPD group Senior Research Associate on the birth of his son Tanav (wt. 7.5lb, 20inches) at 11.52pm on 26th of Jan.
Tao Sun has been awarded one of only three "Graduate Excellence in Materials Science (GEMS)" Diamond awards by the Basic Science Division of the American Ceramic Society.
Aslam's article is on the most cited list in Crystal Growth and Design from January – March 2007.
Aslam, Zixiao and Shuyou worked together to obtain an image of zinc oxide using an ESEM. The petals are ZnO single crystal clusters nucleated and grown from lithography-defined seeded ZnO areas, by means of a room temperature chemical process. This image was also selected as the holiday card image for the NUANCE Center from many wonderful and creative entries.
Dr. Hrushikesh Joshi arrived in December 2007 as our new post doc. He comes from the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune, India. He will continue in the area of synthesis of magnetic and functional nanostructures.
We would like to welcome our five new graduate students to the VPD group. Front: Mengchun Pan (L) from National Tsinghua in Taiwan.Back: Bin Liu (L) from Peking University in China.
Dr. RA Mashlekar, former director of CSIR, India, and a celebrated scientist/manager of Indian science and technology, visited Northwestern in November 2007. Dr. Mashelkar gave two seminars about nanoscience and globalization.
High ranking officials from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India, visited VPD and the NUANCE center, to discuss innovation in nanotechnology and models for
characterization centers.
Pictured from Left to Right are: Dr. Phadke (RILC), Dr. P Veera (RRTC), VPD and Dr. S. Borde (RILC).
Congratulations Rachel and Ambrose!! Rachel Frey completed her senior thesis and graduated in December. She is taking some time off to relax and travel to Argentina before joining workforce. We will miss your smiling face. Ambrose Lin has completed his senior thesis and is working with the VPD group for the next two quarters before he is on his way to graduate school.
Congratulations Sam, on Intel Talent Recognition!! Sam Nayak, our high school intern, was declared a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. Well done!!
FIVE New Research Projects Funded!
VPD group has achieved 100% batting average with 5 out of 5 recent major research proposals funded! These will help to boost our fall 2007 recruiting needs, substantiate our industrial collaborations, enhance our international outreach and uplift our research initiatives in constrained nano-bio structures and microscopy. The specific funded proposals are related to:
Atsushi Muto from Hitachi High Technology America will be working with the VPD group and the NUANCE Center to enlighten us with innovative SEM techniques. Mr Muto will be at Northwestern University from October'07 through January 2008. We are excited for this special visit and hope to learn from his expertise.
Kanhu Chanan Barick, a graduate student from the Indian Institute for Technology Bombay (IITB) Mumbai is working with the VPD group for the next three months.
NSEC REU Jesse Hall's paper from the work he did with Zixiao Pan was featured on the cover of the latest edition of Nanoscape. Great job Jesse!!
Suresh is one of the five students chosen for the top-level named graduate student awards to be presented at the 2007 AVS International Conference, Seattle, Washington.
Arvind (second from right) won the coveted and competitive NSEC distinguished researcher award, which he received at the NSEC annual meeting. Arvind's NanoNose® software development and gas sensing research was highlighted.
Aslam was recently hired as an Assistant Professor in the department of Physics at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) Mumbai. He will be leaving us in by end of Fall 2007! We will miss you but best wishes from all of us!! (August 2007)
VPD to represent US delegation to South Africa
Professor Dravid will represent the US delegation at the joint meeting between University of Zululand and the International Center for Materials Research (ICMR), in July 2007. In addition to presenting research work in nanostructures, Professor Dravid will discuss role of science and technology in developing world along with Professor Tony Cheetham of UCSB, Professor Harry Kroto (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1996), Professor Paul Braun (Manchester) and others from Jackson State University, MS.
A beautiful baby girl - Ameena born on July 25, 2007 9:15 AM (July 2007) 20 inches 6 lbs 7 oz. Congrats Shagufta and Aslam from all of us!!
Tao Sun presented at ACA 2007 annual meeting in Salt Lake City
Presentation topic: In situ real-time investigation of kinetics of nucleation and growth of sol-gel derived functional oxide thin films
Zixiao was invited to GE Global Research Technology and Innovation Day
Zixiao was invited to GE Global Research Technology and Innovation Day at GE Global Research Center (Niskayuna, NY) (Pictures in GE are on their way here)
Professor Dravid has been invited to serve on a special panel - Nanotechnology Beyond the Moore's Law - at the pan-IIT 2007 Global Conference to be held in Santa Clara, CA, July 2007. Check: http://www.iit2007.org/prog_day2.html#lbt1 Highlighted by plenary lectures by Senator Hillary Clinton, GE CE Jeffrey Immelt and Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, the pan-IIT 2007 (http://www.iit2007.org) is proving to be a high-profile event covering technical, business and entrepreneurship driven by influential IIT alumni.
Zixiao's mom visited NU and her daughter and was given a top-quality NUANCE lab tour this June from the boss himself.
More sleepless nights at Argonne!!!
Tao and Zixiao's application for beamtime was approved by DOE. GISAXS experiment will be performed at 8-ID-E beamline of Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory. Collaborators: Dr. Jin Wang and Dr. Michael Sprung at APS.
Welcome REU Students!!!!
As part of NSEC and MRSEC, we have the
opportunity to host undergraduate students from around the country to learn
more about our research and contribute in our lab. We have five students with
us this summer.
Nasim successfully defended her PhD in January 2007. Nasim and Jay have decided to take some well-deserved time off in Minnesota before moving to the Northeast!
Soo-Hyun Tark of Northwestern University captured the Student Poster Award at the CNM Users Meeting, for his poster titled "An Electronic Detection Platform for On-chip Bio-chem Sensing and Diagnostics Using MOSFET-Embedded Microcantilever Array" (poster C-015). The award was announced at the CNM Banquet and Mr. Tark will receive a cash award and certificate. See news highlights here. Pictured from left: Paul Evans (CNM UEC Chair); Soo-Hyun Tark, Student Poster Prize winner (Northwestern University); and Eric Isaacs (CNM Director)
VPD will present our group's nano-biomedical research on the "Academic Day" event at CMH and CMRC on April 6, 2007. This will be an opportunity for the group to interact with clinical physicians and practitioners about role of magnetic nanostructures in MR imaging and therapeutics.
Office for Research CenterPiece Live ¨C scheduled for May 7, 2007
A new initiative by NU's office for research (OR) will have an inaugural event called CenterPiece Live, to showcase NU centers and facilities. VPD will present on behalf of the NUANCE center.
Suresh won the Graduate Student Silver Award at MRS Spring 2007 meeting in San Francisco, California. We are proud of you!! Great job!
Suresh Donthu won first place in the "Science as Art" competition at the MRS Spring 2007 convention. Great job Suresh!!!
Beamtime Approved at Advanced Photon Source, ANL
Tao and Zixiao's application for beamtime was approved by DOE. X-ray nanodiffraction experiment will be performed at 2-ID-D beamline of Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory.
Suresh Donthu and Zixiao Pan presented a poster related to VPD group technology development, which received the first place at the Applied Research Day organized by InNUvation, a student group with a grant from the Murphy Society and the Graduate School in February 2007. InNUvation is Northwestern University¡¯s only interdisciplinary entrepreneurship and innovation forum. http://www.innuvation.org/joomla/
VPD group's CCNE collaborator, Professor Jinwoo Cheon will visit NU and deliver a seminar on February 12, 2007. He is actively involved in our cancer center research related to MRI imaging.
VPD will represent the US delegation at the US-India forum on Nanostructures, in February 22-26, to be held in New Delhi, India. This will help enhance the ongoing research and educational interactions between US and Indian institutes, specifically with Northwestern University.
Vinayak P. Dravid - Invited Waters Annual Symposium Speaker
Professor Dravid was invited to give a talk at the Eighteenth James L. Waters Annual Symposium "Scanning Probe Microscopies — STM, AFM, SNFUH" at the PITTCON 2007 conference at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. This symposium explores the origin, development, implementation, and commercialization of scientific instrumentation of established and major significance. The objective is to recognize pioneers in the development of instrumentation by preserving the early history of the important contributions as well as the cooperation between inventors, scientists, engineering, entrepreneurs, and marketing organizations. www.pittcon.org
nanofabrication facility at ANL
Zixiao and Tao's application for nanofabrication facility was approved by Center for Nanoscale Materials in Argonne National Laboratory.
Zixiao also won the Everly Fellowship (Terminal Year Fellowship), Northwestern University, 2006. Congrats!!
Zixiao is a Graduate Student Silver Award winner at the Materials Research Society, 2006. Congratulations!
Suresh has won the 2006 IEEE Sensors Council President's award presented at 2006 IEEE sensors conference held in Daegu, South Korea. Keep up the great work!
Professor Dravid was one of a handful of US representatives at the opening of the Yonsei University¡¯s Center for Nano-Bio Structures in October 2006
Professor Dravid has been invited to participate in the Purdue Birck Nanotechnology Center workshop on SPM. The presentation related to Ultrasound Holography will be available online at the conference site: http://www.inac.purdue.edu/workshops/spm06
Professor Dravid will deliver an invited talk at the famed Intel Corporation's R&D center in Hillsboro, Oregon, related to Ultrasound Holography. Anchored by an unrestricted gift of $100,000 by Intel, we have developing the innovative non-destructive imaging technique based on ultrasound holography. He will also meet several of our VPD group alumni who are at this Intel site, including: Xiwei Lin, Kevin Johnson, Nazir Poonawala and Weida Qin.
Zixiao won Roland B. Snow Award, the American Ceramic Society annual conference, 2006!
VPD appointed as the "Global Czar" for McCormick international collaborative initiatives
Professor Dravid has been appointed as the coordinator for McCormick global engagement initiatives and serves as an advisor to Dean Julio Ottino on all matters related to McCormick's international collaborative initiatives, spanning UG and graduate education, outreach and research activities.
Professor Dravid will serve as the MC at the MoU signing ceremony between NU McCormick and IIT Bombay, in September 2006. Professor Dravid has been the chief architect and champion to enhance scholarly ties between NU and IITB.
Professor Dravid will represent the US contingent at the Nano-2006 global conference in Bangalore, India, Aug. 21-24, 2006. Held every 2 years since 2000, the Nano-2006 meeting is one of the largest global meeting of its kind. Professor Dravid will deliver an invited talk on our group's work related to "Nanopatterning of Inorganics"
|
|
CopyRight© 2002-2007 VPD Group, Northwestern University. All Rights Reserved |
| Designed by Dr. Shuyou Li, Email:syli@northwestern.edu |
A materials scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, he received the Young Investigator Outstanding Achievement Award from the International Symposium on Integrated Ferroelectrics, a prize that recognizes his contributions to the study of a class of materials that could shape the frontier of information technology.
The Program Director of the Office of International Science and Engineering, John Tongas, and Shireen Yousef, visited to discuss the NSF Global Initiatives Program.
Stan Chou wins the Homeland Security Fellowship!!
Ben Murphy Joins the VPD group!
Tao is officially a "GEMS"!
Citation Recognition for Aslam's paper!
"Lotus in Pond" selected as a finalist in "Science as Art": 2007 MRS Fall Meeting
Congratulations Dr. Suresh!!
Welcome Dr. Hrushikesh Joshi!!
Welcome new members of the VPD group!!
Visitors to the VPD group
Reliance visitors to NUANCE and VPD:
Welcome Mr. Muto!
Welcome Kanhu Barick!
Cover Art!
Suresh earns another distinction!
Outstanding Researcher Award to Arvind!
Congratulations Professor Aslam!!!
A "Bundle of Joy" delivered to the Aslam Family!!
VPD to serve on "nanotechnology" panel at pan-IIT 2007 Global Meeting
Welcome Zixiao's mom!!!
Nasim Alem graduates with a PhD!
Soo-Hyun Wins CNM Student Poster Prize!
VPD to present on "Academic Day" at Children's Memorial Hospital and Research Center
Congratulations Suresh!
First Place! Blue Ribbon!
Suresh and Zixiao win top award!
VPD to represent US at the US-India forum workshop in New Delhi, India
Silver Award winner
Another outstanding award for the VPD group!!
Professor Dravid represents Northwestern in South Korea
VPD to present invited talk at SPM workshop, Purdue University, IN
VPD to present invited talk at Intel Corporation, Oregon
Zixiao won Roland B. Snow Award
NU-McC and IIT Bombay MoU Signing Ceremony
VPD to represent US delegation at Nano-2006, Bangalore, India