Naomi Halas
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Naomi Halas is the Stanley C. Moore professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor in Chemistry at Rice University. Her current work focuses on nanoshells which her nanotechnology group is developing at Rice University. In 1987, she was part of a team that developed a "dark pulse" soliton while working for IBM.
Early Career
Halas graduated from her Bachelor's degree at La Salle College in 1980. She obtained her Masters degree from Bryn Mawr in 1984 and her doctorate from Bryn Mawr in 1986.
She was working for IBM in 1987 when she developed a "dark pulse" soliton with Dieter Kroekel, Giampiero Giuliani and Daniel Grischkowsky. A "dark pulse" soliton is a standing wave that propagates through an optical fibre without spreading and which consists of a short interruption of a light pulse.
Nanoshells
Halas was recruited to Rice University by the mid-1990's where she now heads the Nanoenginering Unit bearing her name. Her work in the 21st century focusses on noble metal nanoshells covering semiconducting or insulating cores. A nanoshell is a 100 nanometer spherical shell of metal (often gold) surrounding a core of silicon dioxide atoms.
Halas's unit is investigating the special properties of nanoshells including:
- a potential treatment for cancer similar to chemotherapy but without the toxic side-effects;
- inexpensive, quick analysis of "samples as small as a single molecule.
Halas has received a "Cancer Innovator" from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs of the US Department of Department. The Department of Defence granted Halas and Dr Jennifer West $3 million to conduct research into the potential of this treatment. Nanotechnology Now awarded Halas and West the award for Best Discovery of 2003.
Further Reference
- Naomi Halas Rice webpage (http://www-old.ece.rice.edu/ece/faculty/Halas.html/)
- Nanotechnology Now article of Best Discovery Award (http://www.nanotech-now.com/2003-Awards/Best-Discoveries-2003.htm/)
- Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans eds History of Science and Technology Houghton Mifflin, 2004. 1987 entry (http://www.answers.com/topic/1987/)
- Texas Nanotechnology Initiative, Sweating the Small Stuff: Nanotechnology and Texas' Economic Future, 2003 (http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:S776GTcHGKUJ:www.princomm.com/TNIWhitePaper.pdf+%22Naomi+Halas%22+soliton&hl=en&client=firefox-a/)
- PBS NOVA ScienceNow Profile (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3209/03.html)