VCU Hosts International Symposium on Clusters and Nanostructures

By Sathya Achia Abraham

Physicists, chemists, material scientists and engineers from around the world gathered in Richmond this week to discuss the role of clusters and nanostructures in solving three of the most important issues facing science and society - energy, environment and health, during the 2011 International Symposium on Clusters and Nanostructures hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University.

This year, nearly 160 scientists from 26 countries participated in the Richmond symposium held at the historic Jefferson Hotel.

“This is an important conference series – bringing esteemed scientists from around the world together  … to revolutionize our understanding of science and society, and the connection between the two,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., during the symposium’s inaugural session held earlier in the week.

“We have to pick up the pace and leverage each other’s understanding so that we can move toward clean affordable, renewable energies,” he said.

During the week, experts, including several members of the National Academies and leading researchers from around the world, discussed how to reduce costs and increase efficiency in all renewable technologies, understanding atmospheric reactions and air and water purification, learning about bio-materials, diagnostics, therapies and health hazards of nanoparticles in medicine.

Keynote speaker Mildred “Millie’ S. Dresselhaus, Ph.D., professor of physics and electrical engineering and emeritus professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presented “Carbon Clusters and the Discovery of Fullerenes and Nanotubes.” Dresselhaus, who is internationally known for her work on nanocarbons, discussed the challenges of materials physics, the current issues facing energy, health and the environment and the future of carbon nanostructures.

“The focus here has been to discuss what nanotechnology can do to help us,” said conference chair and organizer Puru Jena, Ph.D., distinguished professor with the VCU Department of Physics. “We are gathered to change the course of investigation as we see it.”

“With a fast-growing world population there is a growing demand for energy. It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s a question of ‘when’ we’ll have an energy crisis,” he said.

The symposium, founded by Jena in 1982, is held every four years in Richmond and is hosted by VCU. It brings together world scholars to address cutting-edge issues in clusters and nanoscience. Five of the past scientists invited to speak at the event have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry.

The 2011 International Symposium on Clusters and Nanostructures is supported by VCU, the US Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and Afton Chemical Corporation, and endorsed by the American Physical Society, the Material Research Society, the American Vacuum Society and the International Society for Optics and Photonics.