News

Jun Jiao, assistant professor of physics and co-director of Portland State's Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, has been awarded the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award, a five-year, $400,000 grant to support research into carbon nanotubes.

The CAREER award is the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s most prestigious award for new faculty members, designed to recognize and support the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century. Each award carries a substantial grant to support the faculty member's research projects and stimulate the discovery process, teaching and learning.

Jiao's proposal, "A Novel Approach for Controlled Fabrication of Micro-Gated Carbon Nanotube Field Emitter Arrays and Their Electrical Property Characterizations," will run from June 1, 2004, until May 31, 2009, and will examine new techniques in fabricating carbon nanotubes that can be produced more accurately and on larger scales.

The techniques have potential commercial applications in a variety of fields, including flat panel displays, spacecraft propulsion systems, high voltage and high temperature electronics and portable x-ray sources. In addition, the program creates a unique opportunity for blending the educational experience of graduate, undergraduate, and selected high school students with state-of-the-art fabrication technology and cutting-edge research. For a complete abstract, visit http://web.pdx.edu/~jiaoj.

"Professor Jiao's dedication to research, skill at forging university-industry partnerships, and commitment to mentoring graduate, undergraduate and high school students exemplify the University's role as an essential partner in our region," said PSU Provost Mary Kay Tetreault.

This project is one of several National Science Foundation projects for which Jun Jiao is the principal investigator. Another grant, recently renewed for $207,000 over three years, funds the Research Experience for Undergraduates program, which provides undergraduates in the region training in microscopy as well as paid summer internships with leading researchers at PSU. Established by Jiao at PSU in 2001 through an NSF grant, the program has a particular emphasis on attracting women and minorities, who have traditionally been underrepresented in the sciences.

Jun Jiao is currently the principal investigator for several additional multi-year research projects which include funding from groups such as Intel Corporation and the Petroleum Research Foundation. Her last ten years' research accomplishments are documented in more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has been invited to various national and international conferences and workshops to give keynote talks; on May 1, 2003, she was invited by the United States Senators Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to testify in front of the full Committee in Washington, D.C., on the legislation S. 189: "The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act."

For more information or for a digital photo of Professor Jun Jiao, please contact David Santen in the Office of Marketing and Communications, 503-725-8789.

###

Release Number: 04-035