About the Seminar
Because of their size, engineered nanoparticles display an exciting range of chemical and physical properties, and thus, have great potential for a variety of applications. While the early years of applied nanoscience brought concerns about the potential toxicity of nanomaterials, in the last decade, the research community has largely established that nanoparticles do not display unique toxicity threats. Not only are most engineered nanomaterials unlikely to represent a specific threat to biological or ecological systems, but they actually represent some likely solutions to long-standing biological or ecological challenges. This seminar will explore the proactive design of several engineered nanoparticles for sustainability-promoting applications, including inorganic nanomaterials for energy applications and organic nanomaterials for imaging applications.
About the Speaker
Prof. Christy Haynes is the Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota where she leads the Haynes Research Group, a lab dedicated to applying analytical and nanomaterials chemistry in the context of biomedicine, ecology, and toxicology. Professor Haynes completed her undergraduate work at Macalester College in 1998 and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at Northwestern University in 2003 under the direction of Richard P. Van Duyne. Before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2005, Haynes performed postdoctoral research in the laboratory of R. Mark Wightman at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Among many honors, she has been recognized as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Searle Scholar, a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and a National Institutes of Health “New Innovator.” In addition to wide recognition for her research contributions, including over 200 peer-review publications, she has been recognized at UMN as an Outstanding Postdoctoral Mentor and the Sara Evans Faculty Woman Scholar/Leader Award. Professor Haynes is currently the Associate Head of the Department of Chemistry, the Associate Director of the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, and an Associate Editor for the journal Analytical Chemistry.
