2011 INNOVATION Workshop Presenters
H. Randy Applegate, Technical Education Instructor at Gloucester High School and
Summer 2010 participant in the CDE-sponsored Research Experience for Teachers
Program. Mr. Applegate teaches grades 9-12, Technical Drawing, AutoCAD,
Architectural Drawing, Engineering Drawing and Project Lead the Way. Through
his RET summer research, he developed a series of lessons on nanotechnology,
which he has presented to the Gloucester School Board and at the VAST Annual
Conference held in November 2010. He is currently preparing an article about his
experience for the Spring Issue of the Virginia Journal of Science Education.
James Aylor, PhD, Dean & Louis T. Rader Professor of Electrical Engineering. He was
appointed associate dean of academic programs in September 2003. In 2004 Dr.
Aylor was appointed interim dean and promoted to dean in July 2005. He served as
department chair from 1996-2003. Over the years, he has been an active researcher in
the area of complex computer system design including computer technology for
persons with disabilities. His most significant accomplishments include participating
in the development of the VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL), the
development of a new "mixed-level" modeling technology to support the early
phases of the computer systems design process, and the development and
implementation of automatic test pattern generation techniques.
Rosalyn Berne, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the UVA Department of Science,
Technology and Society. Professor Berne previously served as Head of Tandem
Friends School in Charlottesville, Executive Director of Olsson Center for Applied
Ethics for UVA’s Darden School of Business, and Assistant UVA Vice President for
Administration. Her research focuses on the ethical, cultural, and societal
implications of the emergence and convergence of nanotechnology, bio-technology,
information technology and cognitive sciences. These themes are explored in her
books Nanotalk: Conversations with Scientists and Engineers about Ethics, Meaning
and Belief in the Development of Nanotechnology (2005) and Science Fiction, NanoEthics and the Moral Imagination (2008).
Harry C. Dorn, Ph.d., Professor of Chemistry, Director of Carbonaceous and
Radiolabeled Carbonaceous Nanomaterials Centers at Virginia Tech. Professor
Dorn joined the faculty at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (VT) in
1974. In the mid-1980's, the Dorn laboratory began researching electron
paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). These later
studies provided new insight toward understanding fundamental nuclear/electron
interactions. In the early 1990's, the Dorn laboratory also began a new area of
research involving the synthesis, separation and functionalization of the newly
discovered carbonaceous nanomaterials, nanotubes, fullerenes and metalencapsulated fullerenes (endohedral metallofullerenes). In 2009, the Dorn
laboratory (in collaboration with scientists at Medical College of Virginia [MCV])
reported a remotely new class of radiolabeled fullerenes, extensively reported in the
news.
Lisa Friedersdorf, Ph.D., Managing Director of the UVA Institute for Nanoscale and
Quantum Scientific and Technological Advanced Research (nanoSTAR) and a
Research Program Manager in the Office of the Vice President for Research and
Graduate Studies at the University of Virginia. She has been involved in
nanotechnology research and development for more than fifteen years. In her role as
Research Program Manager, Lisa is actively engaged with several state-wide
research and development activities and organizations including the Virginia
Research and Technology Advisory Commission (VRTAC) and the Virginia
Coastal Energy Research Consortium.
Jerry Floro, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of UVA Materials Science &
Engineering. Professor Floro joined the UVA faculty in 2006, and from 1994-2006
he worked at Sandia National Labs. His research engages many aspects of thin film
growth, with a current focus on self-assembly at the nanoscale. His research also
investigates the growth and manipulation of nanoparticles, and their use to study a
variety of fundamental issues in nanoscience. He also serves as coordinator of the
annual NanoDays outreach event for the public. NanoDays is a nationwide public
outreach event organized by NISE, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education
Network. UVA, the NanoDays open house each March consists of videos and slide
shows, posters, laboratory tours, and several hands-on demonstrations.
Eileen Malick is a Computer Science Teacher at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville,
VA. She teachers grades 9-12 in courses such as Visual Basic, C++, Java
Programming, and IT for a Global Society. She also serves as an Engineering Camp
Director for Elementary and Middle School students, sponsor for the FIRST Robotics
Team 1599, and Video Game Programming Camp director. She is a MathScience
Innovation Center (MSiC) 21st Century Fellow of both the Nanotechnology and the
Fractals Program. She was a participant of the April, 2010 UVA Innovation
Workshop.
Pamela Norris, PhD, is the Frederick Tracy Morse Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace
Engineering. She joined UVA in the Fall of 1994. She is the founder and director of
the U.Va Microscale Heat Transfer Laboratory and the Aerogel Research Lab. Her
research interests include: sensors for biological warfare detection, optical
measurement techniques, microscale heat transfer, thin-film thermophysical
properties, advancement of aerogel technology. The Aerogel Research Lab is active
in aerogel production and material modification techniques, flow characterization
studies, acoustic studies, and in the development of biological warfare sensors.
Brooks Pate, PhD., William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Chemistry at UVA. The Pate
laboratory studies vibrational dynamics and the spectroscopy of highly excited
molecules. Professor Pate studies the kinetics of energy flow in isolated molecules
and molecules in solution. He has developed a new type of molecular spectroscopy
called dynamic rotational spectroscopy to study isomerization reactions of isolated
molecules. The lab group’s second area of research is the vibrational dynamics of
molecules in dilute solution. The goal for solution phase studies is to understand how
solvent molecules modify the dynamics and reactivity of the isolated molecule.
Nathan Swami, Ph.D., Graduate Program Director and Associate Professor of UVA
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He joined the UVA faculty in
2004, after a having served as the director of the statewide nanotechnology initiative.
At UVA he teaches courses in semiconductor devices, directs the ECE graduate
program, and conducts research in the area of molecular and bioelectric devices. His
research group aims to develop molecular and bioelectric devices for guided selfassembly, signal transduction, sensing, and modulation of magnetic moments or
charge. These paradigms may be applied within implantable biomaterials,
microfluidic biomolecular devices, and nanoelectronic devices for purposes of tissue
regeneration and molecular or environmental sensing.