Invited Speakers

Seminar title: "Synthetic DNA Nanoparticles - Reframing a Familiar Molecule"

Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Case Western Reserve University

Divita is an engineer with 12 years of STEM research experience. She is currently setting up an independent research group in the Chemistry Department at Case Western Reserve University. Her research focuses on structural DNA nanotechnology, its design and applications as a nanoscale material. Her work has led to identifying new optical and catalytic properties of other organic and inorganic materials through templated organization with DNA. She is the recipient of the NIH Pathway to Independence award, which supported her training in cell biology and led to securing a tenure-track position in Cleveland, Ohio.

Prof. Mathur earned her Bachelor in Engineering in Biotechnology from Delhi College of Engineering in India, her Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from Iowa State University, and was a postdoctoral research scientist at George Mason University and the US Naval Research Laboratory before joining Case Western. 

See more about her group's research here.

Seminar title:  “Molecular-Level Insights into Tribological Phenomena in Nanoscale Contacts”

Associate Professor in Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering at Miami University.

Prof. Ye earned his B.S. in Aerospace Power Engineering from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, his M.S. in Mechnical Engineering from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Merced. 

Learn more about his group's research here.

Assistant Professor of Material Science and Engineering at the Ohio State University.

Dr. Enam Chowdhury is an Assistant Professor of Material Science and Engineering at the Ohio State University. He also holds joint appointments at the Ohio State University's Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics departments. 

Prof. Chowdhury’s group studies materials in extreme conditions of interaction with high and ultra-high intensity lasers, by which materials may be exposed to light intensities more than 100 billion-billion times the intensity of sunlight on the earth. Under such extreme conditions, materials tend to go through rapid transformation, which has wide ranging fundamental science and future industrial applications, like development of next generation particle accelerators, cancer therapy, planetary science, astrophysics and laser micro-and nano-machining and photonic devices. 

He led the design and construction of the 400 TW SCARLET laser system at the OSU High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) Laboratory in conjunction with a team of scientists, engineers and graduate students. SCARLET was completed in 2012 and since then the team has moved into a very active phase of research using what is currently one of the most intense lasers in the world. It is part of seven founding facilities of the LaserNetUS (lasernetus.org/), a Department of Energy funded national high intensity laser user facility network.

Dr. Chowdhury received his A. B. in Physics from Wabash College, M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and PhD in Physics from University of Delaware.

See more of his group's research here.

Associate Professor of Physics at Washington & Jefferson University.

Sara Chamberlin is an associate professor of physics at Washington & Jefferson College. She is a materials scientist, mainly doing research on the growth and characterization of novel oxides with applications in photovoltaics, optoelectronics, and photocatalytics. Before coming to W&J she was most recently a visiting professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI where she taught a variety of introductory and upper-division courses and involved undergraduates in her research during the summers. Her interests outside of physics include hiking and practicing Tai Chi and Kung Fu.

Prof. Chamberlin received her B. S. in Physics from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and her PhD in Physics from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.