Nanotechnology: Impact and Implications
Post date: Sep 8, 2009 6:59:47 PM
Attention Faculty, Post-docs, and Graduate Students:
The GSA is pleased to announce the first lecture in a new lecture series sponsored jointly by the GSA and
Valhalla. The Cross-Disciplinary Lecture Series (CDLS) aims to pair scholars from different departments
and schools within Rice to address a common theme for the education of the Rice community at-large.
"Nanotechnology: Impact and Implications"
I. Engineering at the Nanoscale
Dr. Pulickel Ajayan
II. Novel Nanomaterials: Maximizing the Benefits, Managing the Risks
Dr. Kristen Kulinowski
Thursday September 10th at 4:00 PM in Keck 100.
This two-part talk will feature two outstanding researchers in their fields: Dr. Pulickel Ajayan of Mechanical
Engineering & Materials Science will explain the top-down vs. bottom-up approach in the engineering of novel
nanomaterials, and Dr. Kristen Kulinowski of Chemistry and the Center for Biological and Environmental
Nanotechnology (CBEN) will discuss her crucial work in environmental policy and safety in the application of
nanotechnology.
All faculty, students, and staff campus-wide are encouraged to attend, and all are invited to a reception following
the event in the Keck courtyard just outside the lecture hall.
More information on the CDLS and our speakers below, and on our website at
In keeping with our desire to embrace new technologies, the event will be recorded and available for download sometime
in the week after the event. A blog with space for comments and discussion will be hosted on our website as well.
The GSA Cross-Disciplinary Lecture Series:
This lecture series aims to pair top scholars from different departments and schools within Rice to address a common theme or idea for the education of the Rice community at-large. The target audience consists of fellow Rice faculty as well as interested students and postdoctoral researchers. With this design, we hope to fill the gap between the very general memorial lectures and highly-technical department colloquia, neither of which are aimed at a highly-educated, yet diverse audience. By offering more substantial insights to the educated listener, this cross-disciplinary design is intended not only to offer a forum for the community to learn first-hand about some of the cutting-edge work done here at Rice, but to also provide a venue for the sharing of ideas amongst students and faculty alike and to encourage future collaborations.
The structure of the event consists of a 20-minute presentation by each speaker after a short introduction by the GSA representative from the speaker's home department. There will be 5 - 10 minutes for questions following each talk, a brief presentation of a certificate and $100 honorarium for each speaker, and a reception immediately following outside of Valhalla in the interest of sparking interdisciplinary discussion and brainstorming; we will encourage and expect a large attendance from a variety of fields of study. Graduate students wishing to nominate a faculty speaker may email the lecture coordinators Eileen Meyer and Brent Carey at meyer@rice.edu and bcarey@rice.edu, respectively.
Dr. Kristen Kulinowski
Kristen Kulinowski is Director for External Affairs for the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) and a Faculty Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Rice University in Houston. She also serves as the Director of the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON), a multistakeholder initiative developed to assess, communicate and reduce the environmental and health risks of nanotechnology while maximizing its societal value. She has experience as a chemical researcher, educator, curriculum developer, administrator, outreach coordinator and policy fellow.
Dr. Pulickel Ajayan
Pulickel Ajayan joined the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science department of Rice university in July 2007. Professor Ajayan's research interests include synthesis and structure-property relations of nanostructures and nanocomposites, materials science and applications of nanomaterials and phase stability in nanoscale systems. He is one of the pioneers in the field of carbon nanotubes and was involved in the early work on the topic along with the NEC group.