As part of the third annual Waterloo Nanotechnology Conference (WNC), the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) presents a Distinguished Lecture by Professor Joanna Aizenberg, Professor of Materials Science, Chemistry, and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Lecture:
2:00-3:00pm
New bio-inspired materials: When nanotechnology meets chemistry, optics and surface science
Living systems sense, respond to, and harvest energy from the changing environment by interweaving chemistry, mechanics, optics, electronics, and fluid dynamics across time and length scales. In this lecture, materials chemist Joanna Aizenberg will give us a taste of how the inspiration from nature teaches us to break barriers between these fields in the synthetic realm and leads to fascinating new concepts in materials design. She will look at a deep sea sponge and envision a green, illuminated skyscraper that harvests energy from the wind. The brittle star’s intricate skeleton will inspire dynamic optical systems that can collect light. She will present cilia-inspired adaptive hairy surfaces that alter their wetting, optical, and adhesive behavior via chemomechanical reconfiguration of tiny nanostructures. Creating liquid-sensing “noses” from chemically patterned photonic crystals inspired by butterflies, or ultra-slippery, antifouling surfaces with self-tuning transparency inspired by pitcher plant and cacti – these are just the beginning of the multifunctional, dynamic materials possibilities waiting to be explored at the interdisciplinary border between nanotechnology, biology, chemistry, and physics.
Professor Joanna Aizenberg
Joanna
Aizenberg,
Amy
Smith
Berylson
Professor
of
Materials
Science
and
Professor
of
Chemistry
and
Chemical
Biology
at
Harvard
University,
pursues
a
broad
range
of
research
interests
that
include
biomimetics,
self-assembly,
smart
materials,
bio-nano
interfaces,
crystal
engineering,
surface
chemistry,
nanofabrication,
biomineralization,
biomechanics
and
biooptics.
She
received
the
B.S.
degree
in
Chemistry
in
1981,
the
M.S.
degree
in
Physical
Chemistry
in
1984
from
Moscow
State
University,
and
the
Ph.D.
degree
in
Structural
Biology
from
the
Weizmann
Institute
of
Science
in
1996.
Joanna is the Director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology and Platform Leader in the Wyss Institute for Bioinspired Engineering at Harvard University. She has served at the Board of Directors of the Materials Research Society and at the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. She served on the Advisory Board of Langmuir and Chemistry of Materials, on Board of Reviewing Editors of Science Magazine, and is an Editorial Board Member of Advanced Materials.
Aizenberg is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science; and she is a Fellow of American Physical Society and Materials Research Society. Dr. Aizenberg received numerous awards from the American Chemical Society and Materials Research Society, including Fred Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience, Ronald Breslow Award for the Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry, Arthur K. Doolittle Award in Polymeric Materials, ACS Industrial Innovation Award, and was recognized with two R&D 100 Awards for best innovations in 2012 and 2013 for the invention of a novel class of omniphobic materials and watermark ink technologies.