Millennium Café

While organic chemists are good at synthesizing a variety of small molecules, we fall short of replicating the synthetic precision and fidelity demonstrated by natural enzymes.  Nature is truly the best synthetic chemist out there and we draw upon this inspiration to design new catalysts.  I will discuss how our team has designed and investigated squishy (polymer-based) homogeneous catalysts that embrace some key design elements found in natural systems to accelerate photoredox reactions and achieve precise bond formation.

Nanoscale lithography, the ability to pattern 700 billion transistors on 300 mm wafers at sub-10 nm features with no defects is a marvel of modern engineering This high density of transistors is central to the digital revolution that allows us to exchange information within the blink of an eye. Our lab leverages lithographic pattering, namely directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers, to fabricate extended surface electrocatalyst and nanostructure polymer electrolytes for hydrogen fuel cells and water electrolyzers – technologies that are central to decarbonizing the global economy. DSA has revealed how the mesostructure of electrochemical materials govern ion transport, ion activity, and electrochemical reactivity.

Measles virus remains a significant source of vaccine preventable disease in sub-Saharan Africa. The recent proliferation of rapid diagnostic testing presents a new tool in the fight to eliminate measles. Point-of-care rapid diagnostics present an opportunity to scale up, and speed up, diagnostic confirmation of suspected measles cases in settings with limited laboratory capacity. We are working on a new project with Gavi, the Alliance for Vaccines to develop strategies for deployment of rapid diagnostic testing for measles virus to support areas with limited diagnostic infrastructure. 

Speaker: Matthew Ferrari  |  Biology

EMS Graduate Student Brass Quintet

The EMS Graduate Student Brass Quintet was recently formed as an excuse for a few brass-playing graduate students to get together and play music. We are excited to performance at  the Millennium Café!  Our program consists of some jazzy arrangements of many holiday classics including Let it Snow and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, offering a departure from "traditional" brass quintet repertoire.

The Penn State Center for Nanoscale Science, a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, will be holding a Seed proposal competition for high-risk, high-reward research ideas that could redirect the efforts of our existing interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs) or even spark new IRGs. In this Cafe I will outline the goals of the Seed program and convey a sense of what constitutes a successful Seed proposal.

I will discuss the multiple seed grant initiatives in the Materials Research Institute (MRI), that aim at seeding new and multi-unit collaborations. In particular, the special focus of these opportunities is to expand productive research collaborations across OSVPR, by promoting partnerships across the institutes. A second focus is to advance Penn State’s strategic goal in stimulating and enhancing international research collaborations by seeding joint research opportunities with international partnering institutions.