a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Professor of Chemistry The William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea Director, Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy Department of Chemistry University of Wisconsin-Madison It was a privilege and a great honor to serve as president of the American Chemical Society in 2012. Only two other UW-Madison faculty members have served …
Continue reading "Exhortations for Responsible Action*"
Half a century ago, a Soviet scientist was tucked away in a top-secret facility. The results of his experiments are critical to our work here the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology. Find it hard to believe? Read on!Why We Use NanodiamondsOne of the materials that we are using in our research is nano-sized diamond. We also …
Continue reading "Nuclear Proliferation & Sustainability: the History of Nanodiamonds"
When you think about a scientist, what picture pops into your head? I’ll bet you’re picturing a lone scientist with wild hair, toiling away on some world-changing problem in lab. You know the one - that classic, crazy picture of the scientist. The truth is, when you’re a scientist one of the best parts of …
Continue reading "Teamwork Wins! Why Science Is Not an Individual Sport."
A Biologist and a Chemist Walk into a Lab…then they have to share space and tools and work together…(you thought that was going to be a joke, right?) Let me preface my opinion on this matter by putting it out there: I am a biologist. I work, however, in a chemistry laboratory. I am also …
Continue reading "Science Discipline Drama – past and present"
When Luke Skywalker receives his father’s lightsaber from Obi Wan in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, he learns that it is “not as random or clumsy as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” Here at our Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, we don’t work with weapons, no matter how sophisticated …
Continue reading "“How do Lasers Work?” or “Not your father’s lightsaber”"
Sustainable Nano 