Skip to Main Content
International Institute for Nanotechnology
Kabiller Prize • News • Events • Employment
  • About
    • Message from the Director
    • Partners
      • Centers & Institutes
      • Research Initiatives
      • Laboratories
      • Government Agencies
      • Academic
      • Industrial
    • Facilities
  • People
    • Executive Council
    • Steering Committee
    • Affiliated Faculty
      • Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences
      • Kellogg School of Management
      • Feinberg School of Medicine
      • McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Science
    • Administration
  • Research
    • NanoMedicine
      • Northwestern University Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE)
        • NU-CCNE Project 1
        • NU-CCNE Project 2
        • NU-CCNE Project 3
        • NU-CCNE Oligonucleotide Synthesis and Nanoconstructs Core
      • NTU-Northwestern Institute for Nanomedicine (NNIN)
        • NNIN Executive Committee
    • NanoOncology
      • Ronald and JoAnne Willens Center for Nano Oncology
        • Willens Center Project 1
        • Willens Center Project 2
        • Willens Center Project 3
        • Willens Center Project 4
        • Willens Center Project 5
    • NanoEnvironment
      • Nanotechnology for Universal Clean Air & Water Security (NU-CAWS)
        • NU-CAWS Affiliated Faculty
        • NU-CAWS Research Highlights
    • NanoEnergy
    • NanoMaterials
      • Center of Excellence for Advanced Bioprogrammable Nanomaterials (C-ABN)
        • Thrust 1 - Materials & Methods Development
        • Thrust 2 - Functional Substrates
        • Thrust 3 - Advanced Biosensing
    • Molecular Electronics
    • Security & Defense
  • Education
    • Ryan Graduate Fellowships
    • IIN Postdoctoral Fellowships
    • Frontiers in Nanotechnology Seminar Series
    • Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
    • All Scout Nano Day
    • Nano Boot Camp for Clinicians
    • Nanotechnology Town Hall Meetings
  • Industry
    • Nanotechnology Corporate Partners (NCP) Program
    • Small Business Partnership
  • Giving
  • Kabiller Prize
    • Overview
    • Kabiller Prize Nomination Process
    • About David Kabiller
    • Kabiller Prize Winners
      • 2019 Chad Mirkin
      • 2017 Robert Langer
      • 2015 Joe DeSimone
    • Kabiller Young Investigator Award Winners
      • 2019 Molly Stevens
      • 2017 Liangfang Zhang
      • 2015 Warren Chan
  • News
  • Events
    • 2020 IIN Virtual Symposium
    • Frontiers in Nanotechnology Seminar Series
    • Nano Boot Camp for Clinicians
    • Nanotechnology Town Hall Meetings
  • Employment
    • Assistant, Associate or Full Professor of Nanotechnology
close
‹ back to news & updates

Chad Mirkin featured in national podcast on nanotechnology

Posted by Sheryl Cash, Posted in Multimedia, News, Research
Share:

Nanoscientist discusses interdisciplinary field’s successes and promise

December 05, 2019 | By Megan Fellman

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) recently featured Northwestern’s Chad Mirkin on a podcast discussing key advances in nanotechnology, the importance of working across disciplines and the exceptional promise of the field for young researchers.

The podcast was the last in a yearlong series celebrating the 15-year anniversary of the initiative, which was established to speed nanotechnology research and development in the United States. The series included the perspectives of 40 experts from academia, government and industry.

Chad Mirkin
Chad Mirkin

Mirkin spoke of how he got involved in nanotechnology and was in the “right place, at the right time” with the nanotechnology revolution when he started his independent career at Northwestern in 1991. Scientists were beginning to have the tools to study materials on the sub-100 nanometer length scale where any material takes on new properties.

“This was going to be a really spectacular way of doing science and a way of rapidly making advances in many fields, following a general tenet that everything miniaturized is different,” said Mirkin, a world-renowned chemist, nanoscience expert and entrepreneur.

Northwestern established the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) in 2000, with Mirkin as the director. The institute was intentionally created to span the University, focused on both science and technological output, involving not just chemists, but also physicists, biologists, engineers, business experts and physicians — anyone interested in studying the consequences of miniaturization.

“New materials and new techniques drive the field,” said Mirkin, the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. “We thought it was very important to become world-class in terms of the facilities and the instrumentation and that would ultimately create a magnet to draw much of the talent in the world to Northwestern, and that turns to have paid off.

“A great example of that, of course, was moving Fraser Stoddart from UCLA to Northwestern,” Mirkin said. “He wins a Nobel Prize for much of his work related to nanotechnology. But he’s just one example. Others include Milan Mrksich, Nathan Gianneschi, Will Dichtel, John Rogers and Teri Odom. We’ve had so many great people come and join us at the institute. … When you get those types of people to come and join you, you get the best students and postdocs who want to do research in this field.”

Nanotechnology already has produced many successful applications, including nanoelectronics, technologies for cleaner water, diagnostic tools in medicine and new therapeutics, Mirkin said. His own discoveries range from the world’s smallest pen (1999) to one of the world’s largest 3D printers (2019), and there are more than 2,000 commercial products linked to advances within the IIN.

At the podcast’s conclusion, Mirkin emphasized that nanotechnology is a land of tremendous opportunity for undergraduate students. Students at Northwestern learn how to do science properly — break down a problem, solve a problem — and they are trained to find complementary expertise and think about what any new information, structure or material allows them to do.

“This way of doing science, engineering and medicine under the nanotechnology umbrella is an incredible training ground and one that prepares young people to pursue careers that I think will be very rewarding for them, regardless of their sub-discipline of interest,” Mirkin said.

Listen to the NNI podcast.

This article originally appeared at Northwestern Now.

The International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University is an umbrella organization that represents and unites more than $1 billion in nanotechnology research, education and supporting infrastructure.

 

No Comments


No comments yet.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

* Get an image next to your comment by visiting Gravatar.com and uploading a profile photo that links to your email address.

    Categories

    • Awards and Honors
    • Multimedia
    • Nanoscape Newsletter
    • Nanotechnology at Northwestern
    • News
    • Research
    My Tweets

    For Journalists

    NORTHWESTERN MEDIA CONTACT

    Megan Fellman
    Science and Engineering Editor
    Phone: 847-491-3115
    Email: Megan Fellman

    IIN MEDIA CONTACT

    Kathleen Cook
    Chief of Staff
    Phone: 847-467-5335
    Email: Kathleen Cook

Signup For Our Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter to receive information on events, news, and articles.

More Info
  • Privacy Policy
  • Tech Transfer
  • News & Events
  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Education
  • About Us
  • Nano101
  • Facilities
  • Partners
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Instagram

Northwestern University

© International Institute for Nanotechnology