NSEF 2008 Winners

2008 NSEF Forum Award Winner:

Meyya Meyyappan, NASA,

"One Dimensional Nanomaterials and Their Applications"

For technical and educational contributions to and leadership in nanotechnology.

Meyya Meyyappan is Chief Scientist for Exploration Technology at the Center for Nanotechnology, NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA.  Until June 2006, he served as the Director of the Center for Nanotechnology as well as Senior Scientist. He holds an Adjunct Professor position at the Arizona State University.  He is a founding member of the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology (IWGN) Eestablished by the Office of Science and Technology Policy(OSTP).  The IWGN is responsible for putting together the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

He received his undergraduate degree in ChE from Madras University and PhD in ChE from Clarkson University.  Dr. Meyyappan has authored or co-authored over 175 articles in peer reviewed journals and made over 200 Invited/Keynote/Plenary Talks in nanotechnology subjects across the world.  His research interests include carbon nanotubes and various inorganic nanowires, their growth and characterization, and application development in chemical and biosensors, instrumentation, electronics and optoelectronics.

Dr. Meyyappan is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE), the Electrochemical Society(ECS), AVS, and the California Council of Science and Technology.  In addition, he is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME), Materials Research Society, and American Institute of Chemical Engineers.  He is the IEEE Nanotechnology Council Distinguished Lecturer on Nanotechnology, IEEE Electron Devices Society Distinguished Lecturer, and ASME's Distinguished Lecturer on Nanotechnology(2004-2006).  He served as the President of the IEEE's Nanotechnology Council in 2006-2007.

For his contributions and leadership in nanotechnology, he has received numerous awards including: a Presidential Meritorious Award; NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal; Arthur Flemming Award given by the Arthur Flemming Foundation and the George Washington University; 2008 IEEE Judith Resnick Award; IEEE-USA Harry Diamond Award.  For his educational contributions, he has received:  Outstanding Recognition Award from the NASA Office of Education; the Engineer of the Year Award (2004) by the San Francisco Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); IEEE-EDS Education Award.

NSEF Young Investigator Award

Ravi Kane, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

"The Design of Nanoscale Polyvalent Therapeutics"

For his contributions to the design of potential nanoscale polyvalent therapeutics and functional nanocomposites.

Ravi Kane is a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  He received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with distinction from Stanford University in 1993.  Dr. Kane went to graduate school at MIT, where he received an M.S. in Chemical Engineering Practice and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering working with Dr. Robert Cohen and Dr. Robert Silbey.  After postdoctoral research with Dr. George Whitesides in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, Dr. Kane joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an assistant professor in 2001.  He was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and to professor in 2007.  Dr. Kane’s research interests lie at the interface of biotechnology and nanotechnology.  His group is designing nanoscale polyvalent therapeutics and working on the molecular engineering of biosurfaces and nanostructures.  Dr. Kane has published over 70 technical papers, delivered over 80 invited lectures, and holds two patents.  In 2004, he was named by MIT’s Technology Review as one of the TR100 – the top 100 young innovators in the world.  In 2008, he received a NYSTAR faculty development award and was selected as the Dr. G.P. Kane Visiting Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University Institute of Chemical Technology, Bombay, India.  He is also a member of the editorial board for the Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Biotechnology & Bioengineering.