Nanotechnology and Our Lives ——The Wonder World of Meta Materials 

Speaker      Professor Xiang Zhang
Member of National Academy of Engineering;
Inaugural Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chaired Professor, UC Berkeley;
Director of NSF Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC)
 
Organizer
• NUAABA (Nanjing University Alumni Association at Bay Area)
• Yahoo! Chinese ERG (Employees Resource Group)
 

Event Description
Can we make gold and diamond out of the sand?  Most of us already know that this is no longer the fairy tales or science fictions.  As we all know, at the heart of all computers and other electronic devices ubiquitous in today’s world are the silicon chips; and those chips are made from sands.  Have you ever wonder what else can we do to the ordinary materials in our life?  What might be the next wave?

Scientists have already shown that we can actually make diamond from coals by rearranging the atoms and changing the properties of the material.  We can do a lot more.  In the future, we will be able to arrange and rearrange atoms and molecules of any substances just like we do with the LEGO blocks. Soon enough, we will be able to make affordable materials to make a car that weighs only fifty kilograms, or a full-sized sofa that can be lifted with one hand.  We can make instruments of such precision and deftness that surgical operations can be performed on the cells.

If you ever wonder about what tomorrow would look like, you definitely do not want to miss the opportunity to meet face-to-face with Professor Zhang at this seminar on Saturday, October 23.  At this informal discussion, Professor Zhang, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, who is also an alumna of Nanjing University, will share his insights on the meta materials and nanotechnology manufacturing that are changing our daily lives.  They are not sci-fi’s or Hollywood movies, but will be far more fascinating! 

Professor Zhang will also share his personal stories, cover the topics of next generation of technology and its impact on the Silicon Valley and China, and also answer your questions.

Date
Saturday, October 23, 2010
 
Agenda
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm  Registration and Networking
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm  Presentation and Q&A
4:00 pm – 4:30 pm  Networking
 
Place

Yahoo! Classroom 9 & 10, Building E,
700 First Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Registration

Please RSVP here – http://www.eventbrite.com/preview?eid=640796640

Speaker Biography

Professor Zhang, Xiang
Xiang Zhang is the inaugural Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chaired Professor at UC Berkeley and the Director of NSF Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC). He is also a Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
Professor Zhang is an elected member of National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and Fellow of four scientific societies: APS (The American Physical Society), OSA (The Optical Society of America), AAAS (The American Association for the Advancement of Science), and SPIE (The International Society of Optical Engineering).

Professor Zhang received Ph.D from UC Berkeley (1996). He was an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University (1996-1999), and associate professor and full professor at UCLA (1999-2004) prior joined Berkeley faculty in 2004.
Professor Zhang’s current research focused on nano-scale science and technology, materials physics, photonics and bio-technologies. He has published more than 180 technical papers including publications in Science and Nature. He has given over 150 Keynote, Plenary and Invited talks at international conferences and institutions. He served as a Co-Chair of NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Annual Grantee Conferences in 2004 and 2005, Chair of Technical Program of IEEE 2nd International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineered and Molecular Systems in 2007, and current Chair of Academic Advisory Board for The Research Center for Applied Science (RCAS), Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC.
In 2008, Professor Zhang’s research has been selected by Time Magazine as one of “Top Ten Scientific Discoveries of the Year” and “50 Best Inventions of the Year”, Discover Magazine’s “Top 100 Science Stories” in 2007, and R&D Magazine’s top 25 the Most Innovative Products of 2006. His research was frequently featured by international media including BBC, CNN, ABC, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

Professor Zhang is a recipient of NSF CAREER Award (1997); SME Dell K. Allen Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award (1998) and ONR Young Investigator Award (1999). He was awarded Chancellor’s Professorship by UC Berkeley (2004-2009), “Distinguished Lecturer” by University of Texas at Austin in 2004 and SEMETECH in 2005, respectively, and “Rohsenow Lecturer”at MIT in 2009.