Professor Lara A. Estroff from Cornell University delivered an October 2025 colloquium on how nanomaterials interact with inorganic crystals during growth, exploring why biogenic crystals like sea urchin spines are stronger than their geological counterparts. Using advanced microscopy techniques, her research develops predictive models for nanoparticle incorporation during crystallization, advancing the synthesis of composite single-crystals with novel properties.
Written by Isaac Pinkus
On October 20, 2025, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, welcomed Professor Lara A. Estroff, chair of Cornell University’s materials science department, for a fascinating research seminar. Professor Estroff presented her work as part of the Hessel and Marianne Ledbetter materials science and engineering colloquium series.
Pictured; Professor Lara A. Estroff smiling for a picture at her October 2025 colloquium lecture.
Professor Estroff received her bachelor’s degree with honors in chemistry with a minor in anthropology from Swarthmore College in 1997 and her Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale University in 2003 for work done in Professor Andrew D. Hamilton’s laboratory on the design and synthesis of bio-inspired organic superstructures to control the growth of inorganic crystals. Before beginning graduate school, she spent a year at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, as a visiting researcher in the labs of Professors Lia Addadi and Steve Weiner.
It was here where she was introduced to the field of biomineralization. Following graduate school, she was an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellow in Professor George M. Whiteside’s laboratory at Harvard University from 2003-2005. She has been at Cornell University since 2005 and was promoted to full professor in 2019.
Professor Estroff delivered her seminar on the role of solid-liquid interfaces in directing the interaction between nanomaterials and inorganic crystals during gronanwth to a lecture hall full of students and faculty. Her seminar began with an interesting question.
“Why are the crystals grown biogenically, such as sea urchin spines, so much stronger than the same crystals grown geologically,” she asked.
Pictured: Professor Lara A. Estroff speaks to students during her October 2025 colloquium lecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Professor Estroff’s work investigates this phenomenon and is on the forefront of polymeric nonparticle incorporation during crystallization. Using fluid cell atomic force microscopy (AFM), confocal fluorescence microscopy, 3D force microscopy and dynamic force spectroscopy, she developed a quantitative model for predicting incorporation efficiencies of various nanoparticles with different surface functionalities. This work is leading the field for synthesizing composite single-crystals with unique structure-property relationships.
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering is proud to have welcomed Professor Estroff. Her unique and fascinating research serves as a reminder to students and faculty alike that they should pursue what they love and stay curious.