Peter Singer, editor-in-chief, Small Times and ElectroIQ.com

May 9, 2011 — ElectroIQ’s chief editor Peter Singer recently toured the Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. The Center is largely focused on the synthesis and processing of advanced materials. The following video interviews with researchers and professors cover nanotechnology in aerospace technology, cleanrooms, illumination, and energy technologies, among other topics.

A tour of Clarkson U’s research labs

Ratneshwar Jha, Clarkson University, shows us his laboratory at the school, describing the research they perform. Professor Jha explained how, in the Smart Structures laboratory, they are using a scanning laser vibrometer and a synthetic jet actuator — which has a very small (10-30mm) piezoelectric membrane — to develop new techniques for active flow control. "That kind of active flow control can energize flow, reduce drag and increase lift which could be really useful for airplanes," he said.

Other work involves carbon fiber plates. "We are looking into finding defects in that plate based on the propagation of lamb waves (detected by laser vibrometer)," he said. 

Biotechnology lab tour

Professor Evgeny Katz shows us the bioelectronics and biotechnology lab at Clarkson University, where they research biocomputing (similar to biosensing) and other fields using bio-chemical reactions. Professor Katz explained that in the biotechnology lab, they are working on biocomputing: "We are trying to process by chemical means different biochemical signals. It’s similar to biosensing but we are processing multiple signals to make logical conclusions, not using computers but biochemical reactions." This could be very useful for monitoring health conditions.

One research project presently underway, funded by the DoD, has a goal of giving wounded soldiers immediate assistance. "It might be possible in the near future to analyze biomedical conditions with our system and give a signal to a chemical actuator to process and inject the appropriate drug," he said.

Particle engineering for better medicine

Richard Partch, a senior professor at Clarkson University, discusses the breadth of chemistry, and goes in-depth of medicinal apps. Partch talked about the medicinal chemistry aspect of their work, which is focused on making micro-emulsions that can bind to commonly overdosed drugs so that can be quickly inactivated. Future antidotes for overdoses are in the works. Other work includes attaching DNA to particles for security applications.

View videos from Clarkson University on semiconductor technologies

View Clarkson videos on photovoltaics technologies

Clarkson U research on particle transport

Goodarz Ahmadi, Dean of Engineering at Clarkson University (with the university for 30 years, Ahmadi has served as a dean for the past 5), discusses his research interests: particle transport in various environments, including particulate contamination in semiconductor manufacturing.

Ahmadi says: "We look at how particles are transported in various environments, such as in a room or in human respiratory systems. Also, we look a lot of industrial applications. I’ve done work with IBM, Xerox, Kodak, Corning and other companies, looking at issues that they had with particulate transport in various applications from copier machines to contamination of chip manufacturing systems. We’ve also done work for the NSF, NASA and the DoE related to energy issues."

CMP work at Clarkson U

S.V. Babu (also with the school for 30 years) discusses particle synthesis and chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) research taking place at Clarkson University. Babu has studied CMP for 15 years.

Babu says: "We have leveraged the expertise of CAMP in colloidal science and thin film processing. A lot of our students who have graduated are now running the CMP operations at IBM, Intel and Micron."

Bio-compatible ultra-bright fluorescent nanoparticle research

Igor Sokolov, Physics and Chemistry Professor at Clarkson University, shares info on ultra-bright nanoparticles that are substantially brighter than quantum dots.

Acoustics in engineering materials

Cetin Cetinkaya, Professor of mechanical engineering at Clarkson University, researches acoustics. Acoustic waves can be used to characterize drug function and effectiveness. Semiconductor nanoparticle removal can also be accomplished with acoustic waves.

Airborne particles and industry

Suresh Dhaniyala, Clarkson University, discusses airborne particles. These can be contaminants in the semiconductor fab. He shows us Clarkson U’s instruments to study particles.

Nanostructured thin films for energy apps, biomed

Sitaraman Krishnan, assistant professor in the chemical engineering department at Clarkson University, discusses his research on nanostructured thin films for bio/life sciences and energy (solar cells and fuel cells).

The visit was arranged by Tim Dunn, VP, marketing and business development, Mohawk Valley EDGE and the Marcy NanoCenter in Rome, NY and Mike Novakowski, director of business development, CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, NY’s Creative Core in Syracuse, NY.  This was part of a tour of various prestigious universities in upstate New York (including Cornell University, Syracuse University and Binghamton University, as well the Syracuse Center of Excellence), with an eye on how well they could help businesses that decide to locate there.

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