NEWS OF THE WEEK
BIG PRIZE FOR SMALL DOTS AWARDS: Columbia University’s Louis Brus wins Welch Award for developing nanodots and other nanomaterials
COLUMBIA U
S Brus
MALL THINGS sometimes have big conse-
quences. Such is the case with nanodots—semiconducting colloidal nanocrystals that are being exploited for a range of molecular electronics and other applications. These tiny dots, also called quantum dots, not only have had a big impact in the field of chemistry but have now led to a big prize for the researcher who first developed them. Louis E. Brus, Samuel Latham Mitchill Professor of Chemistry and professor of chemical engineering at Columbia University, is being honored with the 2013 Welch Award in Chemistry for developing nanodots and pioneering the semiconductor nanomaterials field. The annual prize includes $300,000 and a gold medallion. Nanodots are used today to design solar cells, as bio-
YOUNG SCIENTISTS AWARDS EXPAND HONORS: Blavatnik Awards program to support young science faculty members goes national
A
PROGRAM TO IDENTIFY and support the most
promising young science faculty from a variety of institutions is expanding. The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) are going nationwide with their annual Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists competition. Under the expanded program, three of the U.S.’s most innovative researchers who are 42 years of age or younger will each be awarded an unrestricted cash prize of $250,000. The honorees will be selected from the fields of chemistry, life sciences, and physical sciences and engineering. Launched in 2007, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists competition initially recognized only those scientists who worked in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut. The Blavatnik Family Foundation has provided some $30 million to support expansion of the program. “Our goal is to celebrate America’s exceptional young scientists and showcase their achievements to inspire MICHAEL IAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Blavatnik (left) and Rubinstein attend last year’s Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists ceremony.
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logical tags for imaging, and in other advanced molecular electronics devices. Brus’s group devised nanodots and helped establish the field of nanochemistry by developing “the basic models, mechanisms, and methods for nanocrystal synthesis, processing, and characterization,” the Welch Foundation notes. Brus’s group currently uses microscopy and Raman spectroscopy to study the optical and electronic properties of nanocrystals, carbon nanotubes, and graphene to further advance these technologies. Brus did undergraduate work at Rice University and was commissioned as a U.S. Navy ensign. Afterward, he earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Columbia. After conducting research for four years at the Naval Research Laboratory and a subsequent 23 years at Bell Labs, he returned to Columbia in 1996. His previous honors include the Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics, the ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials, and the inaugural Kavli Prize in Nanoscience. “Lou Brus has the incredible distinction of having invented a new field of chemistry,” Ronald Breslow, scientific codirector of the Columbia Nanocenter, tells C&EN. “His discovery of quantum dots was critical in getting us all to realize that nanoscience is not just small but also novel and exciting.”—STU BORMAN
the next generation of scientists,” says Leonard Blavatnik, head of the foundation and founder and chairman of Access Industries, which includes LyondellBasell Industries. The Blavatnik Family Foundation “is committed to supporting groundbreaking work in science and technology to address society’s most pressing global problems.” Nominations from leading research universities, independent research institutions, and academic medical centers for the first national awards competition will be accepted from September to December. Nominations may also come from a scientific advisory council made up of past Blavatnik Awards recipients and renowned scientists, including many prominent chemists. Eligibility rules and other award information are available at http://www.nyas.org/awards/blavatnik.aspx. Applications will be judged by a panel composed of more than 60 of the nation’s most distinguished scientists, including chemists Ronald Breslow of Columbia University; Joseph DeSimone of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Harry B. Gray of California Institute of Technology; Peter G. Schultz of Scripps Research Institute California; and biochemist Robert Tjian of Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The panel will select recipients on the basis of the quality, novelty, and impact of each scientist’s research program. Winners will be honored at an awards ceremony in September 2014. The long-term goal of the awards is to create a pipeline of support for young science faculty who will then go on to mentor the next generation, says Ellis Rubinstein, president and chief executive officer of NYAS.— SUSAN AINSWORTH
JUNE 3, 2013
