German Nanosciences Institute Director to Deliver Keynote Speech at Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Forum

The director of a nanosciences institute in Dresden, Germany, is the keynote speaker at the 13th Annual Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Forum Oct. 24 at Vanderbilt University. The Forum and NanoDay! activities are sponsored by the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Materials Science.

Oliver Schmidt, director of the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, will deliver an address – “Inorganic and hybrid nanomembranes for interdisciplinary research” – in Jacobs Believed in Me Auditorium in Featheringill Hall at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24. A reception will follow at 6 p.m. in Adams Atrium.

Schmidt’s address will cover the institute’s recent efforts to use inorganic and hybrid nanomembranes in flexible magnetoelectronics, stretchable photonics and hybrid electronics. Nanomembranes are thin, flexible and can be shaped into unique 3D geometries.

“We shape nanomembranes into tubular structures that can be used as compact energy storage devices, optofluidic components and hybrid micro-robotic motors. Integration of such components into a fully functional unit may result in powerful and ultra-compact autonomous systems in the far future,” said Schmidt, who earned a bachelor of science degree in physics from King’s College, London, and a Ph.D degree in physics from the Berlin University of Technology. Prior to his appointment at the Leibniz Institute, Schmidt served as a research associate at the University of Southern California and at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany.

NanoDay! brings together Vanderbilt scientists and engineers working in nanoscience and nanotechnology for presentations and discussions. Student poster presentation sessions are in Featheringill Hall at 2:25-3:10 and 4:10-4:50. Recognition includes one first-place award for $500; two second-place awards for $250 each; and three third-place awards for $100 each. A separate competition is being held for first-year materials science students who are creating posters about their first research rotation. The winner of that competition will receive a $100 award. Awards will be presented during the concluding reception.

NanoDay! begins at 1:10 p.m. in 101 Buttrick Hall with a welcome from Sandra Rosenthal, Jack & Pamela Egan Professor of Chemistry, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and director of VINSE.