Professor Sharon Glotzer, from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Physics at the University of Michigan came to the University of Illinois to deliver a Racheff lecture on "Digital Alchemy for Materials Design."
According to Glotzer, since the early alchemists, scientists have strived for ways to make desired materials by modifying the attributes of basic building blocks. Building blocks that show promise for assembling new, complex materials can be synthesized at the nanoscale with attributes that would "astonish the ancient alchemists" as far as their versatility.
Attendees of the lecture were able to view how Glotzer's group has been able to exploit the malleability of the valeance of colloidal nanoparticle "elements" to link building block attributes to bulk behavior through a statistical thermodynamic framework she calls "digital alchemy."
"Just as personalized medicine promises to change healthcare by individualizing treatment based on the genome, we could see materials 'personalized' down to the nanoscale," Glotzer said.
For more information on Racheff lectures, keep checking our schedule of colloquia.