From left) Professors Brian Smith, Andy Marcus and Mike Raymer are helping advance UO research in quantum computing as well as the National Quantum Initiative.
UO researchers on the forefront of quantum information science continue to make major strides toward passing legislation, and last week three of them were awarded a major grant to pursue studies in quantum science.
UO physicist Michael Raymer, a Philip H. Knight professor in the Department of Physics, and two colleagues, chemistry professor Andy Marcus and physics professor Brian Smith, have been awarded a $997,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The award is part of a $31 million NSF program for fundamental quantum research that, together with $281 million in Department of Energy investment, aims to help the United States take a leading role in the fast-evolving quantum technology revolution.
Read the full article in AroundtheO
UO chemists in the Haley Lab have taken a step forward in efforts to harness organic molecules as a cheaper alternative to traditional silicon-based conductors in digital storage devices.
Read about their research discovery in AroundtheO
A nice remembrance of Professor Emeritus David Herrick ~
Jim Hutchison
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A research paper from the Guenza lab has been featured on the cover of the September 21st edition of Soft Matter. The journal, a publication of the UK’s Royal Society of Chemistry, deals with the fundamental science underlying the behavior of soft matter, with a focus on the interface between physics, materials science, biology, chemical engineering and chemistry.
The paper, titled “Coarse-graining simulation approaches for polymer melts: the effect of potential range on computational efficiency”, was authored by postdoctoral scholar Mohammadhasan Dinpajooh and Professor Marina Guenza.
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2017 SIIW Team Algotek (formerly Oble)
A team from the 2017 Sustainable Invention Immersion Week (SIIW) has taken the idea they developed at the event to market. The week-long workshop was put on by the UO’s chemistry, product design, journalism and business departments, and co-organized by UO Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty Julie Haack.
Read more in the Daily Emerald:
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is pleased to announce that Julia Widom will be joining the faculty this fall as an Assistant Professor in the physical chemistry division.
Dr. Widom performed her postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Nils Walter at the University of Michigan, using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to study how the structures that RNA molecules fold into affect their ability to regulate gene expression. Her research at UO will combine single-molecule and ultrafast spectroscopy to probe RNA structure and dynamics in complex macromolecular machines. She will also use RNA as a scaffold for chromophore arrays, developing methods that will enable rapid screening of the optical properties of a diverse library of arrays.
From AroundtheO:
Collaborative research teams examining everything from healthcare-associated infections to carbon nanotubes have been awarded funding to jump-start research projects as part of the 2018 OHSU-UO Collaborative Seed Grant program.
Ten teams were chosen as part of the program, which creates new collaborations between researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Oregon.
Ramesh Jasti‘s team will examine how nanohoops can be used for multiplexed Biological imaging, and Michael Pluth will be part of the Oregon Translational Chemical Biology working group.
Read the full article here
From AroundtheO:
UO and Oregon State University scientists were baffled. New testing of mixtures of nanoparticles had led to an 88 percent mortality rate in zebrafish embryos, after earlier testing had found the materials to be free of toxins.
Looking more extensively, they found that a new automated delivery system, meant to speed the mixing of products for testing in the fish, created a synergistic, or multiplying, effect that triggered the toxicity.
The method used to analyze what was happening, it turns out, could provide a solution that could keep the nanotechnology field moving forward, said study co-author Jim Hutchison of the UO Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
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Beginning in 2015, the University of Oregon launched the Sustainability Award Program to recognize individuals whose contributions deepen our culture of sustainability across a range of institutional activities.
The 2018 Sustainability Award recipients were announced at an awards ceremony on May 30th, 2018. Two Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty members were among the award recipients.
Julie Haack was presented with the Excellence in Teaching Award. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Teaching Engagement Program, this award recognizes faculty who have developed pedagogy and curriculum which reinforce and advance principles of sustainability through course design and instruction. Dr. Haack was selected for her national leadership in the teaching of green chemistry, her multidisciplinary partnerships across UO’s schools and colleges, and for developing courses and workshops with a focus on green chemistry and life cycle thinking, including the UO’s Sustainable Invention Immersion Week
Jim Hutchison received the Research Innovation Award, which is sponsored by the Associate Vice President for Innovation. This award recognizes University of Oregon projects whose innovations were developed in the course of UO research and are now offered as commercially available products or services that improve sustainability. DeFUNKify laundry products, which were developed as a result of research discoveries made in the Hutchison Lab, exemplify this type of innovation. Professor Hutchison also founded the first center for green nanoscience, the Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative (SNNI). The goals of SNNI are to develop new nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing approaches that offer a high level of performance, yet pose minimal harm to human health or the environment.
To learn more about the UO Sustainability Award Program, visit bit.ly/2K3habY or read about the 2018 awards in AroundtheO
