Dr. Oscar Perales, from the Department of Engineering Science & Materials-UPRM will be offering a lecture titled “Nanomaterials Processing: Taking Advantage of the Improved Quality of the Building Blocks for Novel Nanotechnologies”
Date: March 27, 2014
Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Place: INQU 004 – Amphitheater
Abstract:
Two issues of great importance for future nanotechnologies will be addressed: the size- and the structure-dependence of functional properties of materials at the nanoscale. The different options to manipulate nucleation rate and crystal growth in solution phase and hence the materials properties, will be discussed on a fundamental and experimental basis. Involved concepts are applied to the production of monodisperse systems, a critical requirement to take practical advantage of the distinctive properties of nanocrystals. Besides, developed ‘in-synthesis’ and ‘post-synthesis’ size-control strategies, will be described. Successful case-studies related to the use of nanomaterials in water cleaning and cancer therapy will also be presented.
Biosketch:
Dr. Oscar Perales-Perez is a Metallurgist graduated from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI), Perú. After working at the School of Metallurgy-UNI as professor and consultant engineer for more than 10 years, Oscar moved to the Institute for Advanced Materials Processing Tohoku University in Japan, where he got his PhD in Materials Processing in 1998. Dr Perales-Perez was invited to join the Center for Interdisciplinary Research Tohoku University (CIRTU) as a Visiting Associate Professor in November 1998. At CIRTU he was involved in research related to size-controlled synthesis and characterization of nanostructures and development of size-selective separation methods for nanosize polydisperse crystals. Perales also worked as a member of the research team SONY-Tohoku University, being co-inventor of processes related to the size-controlled synthesis of magnetic nanomaterials.
Oscar is Full Professor at the Department of Engineering Science and Materials, UPRM, since 2002 and his current research interest involves the size-, shape- , composition- and structure-controlled synthesis of nanostructures (nanocrystals and thin films) for spintronics, high-density storage, food packaging materials, hydrophobic surfaces, nanoagriculture, and environmental protection applications. New research initiatives in nano-medicine are focused on the processing of quantum dots for Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT) and Photo-Thermal Ablation (PTA) for Cancer treatment. Perales’ projects are oriented towards the test-bed stage through the Institute for Functional Nanomaterials (IFN) and strategic partners at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (MSE Department) and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida. The competitiveness of Perales’ work is demonstrated by the support he receives from several agencies including National science Foundation (NSF), US-DoD, USDA, US-DoEd, US-DoE, NASA, USGS, PRWRERI, TOYOTA Foundation, The Puerto Rico Water Management Authority and The Waste Solid Management Authority. He is also Co-director of the NSF-CREST Center on Nanostructures for Biomedical Applications, USDA-CETARS Center on Agriculture and Related Sciences, Co-Principal Investigator in the US-DoE Project on Multifunctional Materials and UPRM Principal Investigator of the NSF-IGERT Project on Nanomedicine. Oscar, three times Distinguished Professor and once Distinguished Researcherof the College of Engineering-UPRM, is author of more than 100 scientific and technological publications in materials processing and nanotechnology. He is also an invited panelist for the National Science Foundation SBIRT/STTR Program since 2003 (Functional Nanotechnologies and Advanced Materials). At present, Dr. Perales is the Associate Dean for Research & Innovation at the College of Engineering of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, Member of the Peruvian Academy of Science, Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Food Science & technology Program at UPRM and Visiting Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria and Universidad de Trujillo, both located in Peru.