Technical Advisory Board

Dr. Muhammad Ashraful Alam
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University
Dr. Muhammad Ashraful Alam is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University where his research and teaching focus on physics, simulation, characterization and technology of classical and novel semiconductor devices including theory of oxide reliability, nanocomposite thin film transistors and nano-bio sensors. From 1995 to 2001, he was with Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ, as a Member of Technical Staff in the Silicon ULSI Research Department. From 2001 to 2003, he was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Agere Systems, Murray Hill, NJ. He joined Purdue University in 2004.

Dr. Alam has published over 80 papers in international journals and has presented many invited and contributed talks at international conferences. He is an IEEE Fellow and received the 2006 IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award for contributions to device technology for communication systems.

Dr. Philip G. Collins
Assistant Professor, Experimental Condensed-Matter Physics, University of California, Irvine
Professor Collins received B.S. degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1998. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, and at the nanotechnology startup company Nanōmix, Inc. He joined the UCI faculty in 2002.

Dr. Robert C. Haddon
Distinguished Professor, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside
Professor Haddon spent most of his career at Bell Laboratories (AT&T, Lucent Technologies), where he was Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the Materials Chemistry Department. 1997 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the University of Kentucky, and in 1998 he became Director of the Advanced Carbon Materials Center (NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center). In 1998 he co-founded CarboLex, Inc, a company that produces and sells single-walled carbon nanotubes. In 1999, he founded Carbon Solutions, Inc, a company that is focused on the chemical processing and dissolution of carbon materials for advanced applications. In 2000, he was appointed Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical & Environmental Engineering and Director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University of California at Riverside (UCR).

His research interests have been directed toward the electronic structure and properties of molecules and materials, with particular emphasis on transport, magnetism, superconductivity, device fabrication, nanotechnology, and the discovery of new classes of electronic materials. He was named 1991 Person of the Year by Superconductor Week, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society "For work on organic electronic materials, including the prediction and discovery of superconductivity in alkali-metal-doped carbon-60."

Since entering academia, his research group has turned their attention to the study of radical conductors and carbon nanotubes. In 1998 they prepared the first soluble single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), allowing the study of carbon metals and semiconductors in solution. Both ionic and covalent solution phase chemistry were demonstrated, with concomitant modulation of the electronic band structure; in 2003 the group turned their attention to quality control in carbon nanotubes and the applications of these materials in biology, composites, sensors, spintronics and nanoelectronics.

Dr. Kristopher Pister
Co-founder & CTO Dust Networks, Inc.
The inventor of Smart Dust and a longtime leader in the academic wireless sensor networking community, Kris Pister co-founded Dust Networks in 2002 to deliver his vision of a commercially robust wireless sensor networking platform. Kris is the chief architect of Dust Networks' patent pending SmartMesh™ technology, and also provides a strong technology vision for the company and for the wireless sensing industry- Kris is a frequent invited speaker and lecturer on wireless sensor networking and related core technologies. Previously, Kris successfully commercialized or licensed micromachine technologies with Tanner Research, OMM Inc., Xactix, and Sony. Kris holds a PhD and MS in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley and a BS from UC San Diego. Currently on leave as a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley - and a father of four brilliant children - he is doing his part to continue the advancement of technology in the next generations.

Dr. Eric S. Snow
Head Nanotechnology Section, Naval Research Laboratory
The Nanotechnology Section performs growth, characterization and device development of group III-V MBE semiconductors and self-assembled nanoscale electronic materials. Dr. Snow's research focuses on the electronic and sensor applications of carbon nanotubes. Dr. Snow received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of North Carolina.

Dr. Alexander Star
Assistant Professor, Nanoscience/Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh
His education and academic training are in synthetic, polymer and physical organic chemistry, with a strong background in supramolecular chemistry, and specifically how chemistry beyond the molecule relates to carbon nanotubes. Research interests are in areas of molecular recognition at nanoscale and nanotechnology enabled molecular sensing.

Dr. Star received his Ph.D. in supramolecular chemistry from Tel Aviv University in Israel in 2000. He was a postdoctoral associate in California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. During postdoctoral work at CNSI / UCLA with Professor J. Fraser Stoddart he established supramolecular chemistry of carbon nanotubes, which advanced their applications in electronics, materials science, and life sciences. After the postdoctoral studies, Dr. Star served for three years at Nanōmix, Inc., as Senior Scientist on development of sensor applications of carbon nanotubes. He joined the Department of Chemistry at University of Pittsburgh in 2005.

Dr. Joseph Wang
Professor, Chemical and Materials Engineering, and Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University
Director, Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors, Arizona State University
Dr. Joseph Wang, Director of the Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors, has been a Full Professor of Chemical & Materials Engineering, and Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University (ASU) since 2004. He obtained his higher education at the Israel Institute of Technology and was awarded his D. Sc. in 1978. From 1978 to 1980 he served as a research associate at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and joined New Mexico State University (NMSU) at 1980. From 2001-2004, he held a Regents Professorship and a Manasse Chair position at NMSU.

Dr. Wang's research interests include electrochemical biosensors for clinical, environmental and security applications, and nanomaterials-based sensing and microfluidic devices. He has authored over 700 research papers, 9 books, 15 patents, and 25 chapters. He was the recipient of the 1994 Heyrovsky Memorial Medal (of the Czech Republic) for his contributions to voltammetry, the 1999 American Chemical Society Award for Analytical Instrumentation, the 2006 American Chemical Society Award for Electrochemistry, and the ISI 'Citation Laureate' Award for being the Most Cited Scientist in Engineering in the World (during 1991-2001). He was awarded an Honorary Professor from National University (Cordoba, Argentina) in 2003. The Westhafer Award for Research (NMSU's highest academic award) was awarded to him in 1990. He was ranked as the most cited electrochemist in the world in 1995 and is in 5th place in the ISI's list of 'Most Cited Researchers in Chemistry' for the 1995-2005 period. He is currently serving as the Chief-Editor of the international journal Electroanalysis and has been a member of the Advisory Editor Board of twelve other international journals.