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Dr.
Robert J. Hamers, University of Wisconsin, “for
wide ranging studies of chemistry and
photochemistry at semiconductor surfaces and for
establishing connections to various emergent
technologies.” Robert Hamers is the Wisconsin
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and Chair of the
Dept. of Chemistry. His research includes
studies of the surface chemistry and electronic
properties of semiconductors and nanoscale
materials. He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1980
and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Cornell
University in 1986. He was a Visiting Scientist
and then a Research Staff Member at the IBM T.J.
Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
At IBM he conducted many pioneering studies
using scanning tunneling microscopy and
tunneling spectroscopy, including the first
atomic-resolution studies of the Si(001)
surface. He performed the first
atomic-resolution spectroscopic imaging of
individual electronic surface states and
revealed the origin of the filled and empty
electronic states of the Si(111)-(7x7) and
Si(001) surfaces. He conducted the earliest STM
studies of surface chemical reactions and
combined STM with picosecond laser pulses to
measure surface photovoltage effects resolved in
time and space. In 1990 Prof. Hamers moved to
the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he
developed an extensive research program focusing
on semiconductor surface chemistry and
nanotechnology. He showed that the dimer
structure found on the (100) surfaces of
covalent semiconductors such as Si, Ge, and C
(diamond) could undergo reactions with organic
molecules analogous to a class of reactions
known in organic chemistry as “cycloaddition
reactions”. His group’s work demonstrated that
so-called “[2+2]” cycloaddition reactions could
produce ordered arrays of organic molecules on
semiconductor surfaces and, by combining
experimental and computational studies, also
showed how the local deformations of the surface
atoms facilitate new reactions on surfaces that
are “forbidden” in classical organic chemistry.
This understanding significantly advanced the
understanding of the factors that affect
selectivity when multi-functional organic
molecules interact with surfaces. Recent work
has focused on photochemical reactions at
surfaces as a way of making “ultra-stable”
functional interfaces. His group recently showed
how a previously unrecognized mechanism,
“internal photoemission”, can initiate the
formation of self-terminating molecular
monolayers on a wide range of materials
including wide-bandgap semiconductors such as
diamond and TiO2, as well as materials with
metallic electronic structures such as carbon
nanofibers and amorphous carbons. He
demonstrated that with suitable chemistry these
layers could provide silicon, diamond, and other
materials with excellent biomolecular
recognition properties and be used to create
novel bio-electronic interfaces and sensing
systems. Ongoing work is focused on using
surface chemistry to enhance processes relevant
for renewable energy and on understanding how
surface chemistry affects the safety and health
effects of nanomaterials. Prof. Hamers has
published over 215 peer-reviewed scientific
publications that have been cited more than
11,300 times, and has given numerous talks at
the national and international level. He
received the Peter Mark Award of AVS in 1993 and
was elected a Fellow of AVS in 1994. He was
elected a fellow of AAAS in 2005.
Dr.
Donald R. Baer, Pacific Northwest National Lab.,
“for seminal contributions towards advancing the
application of surface-sensitive techniques to
understand environmentally important materials
and interfacial processes.” Don Baer is a
Laboratory Fellow at Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL) and Lead Scientist for
Interfacial Chemistry at EMSL—the Environmental
Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a U.S. Department
of Energy national scientific user facility
located at PNNL. He is also a fellow of AVS and
the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, and an adjunct professor of physics at
Washington State University, Tri-Cities and of
chemistry at the University of Washington. Dr.
Baer received a B.S. in physics in 1969 from
Carnegie-Mellon University and a Ph.D. in
experimental physics in 1974 from Cornell, where
he examined surface effects on the electrical
and thermal transport properties of metals at
low temperatures. After a two-year post-
doctoral stint in the Physics Department at the
University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana, Don
joined PNNL in 1976 where he has worked ever
since, other than a sabbatical as a visiting
Research Fellow at the University of Surrey to
work with Prof. James Castle (1984-1985). Over
the past 30 years, an overarching theme of Dr.
Baer’s research has been adapting and applying
surface-sensitive analytical methods to obtain
quantitative information that facilitates
understanding of technically and environmentally
relevant complex problems. Bridging several
disciplines, these research activities have
tended to concentrate in four major areas. (1)
His early work centered on metallic corrosion
and involved studies that investigated the
properties of metals in a “working” environment,
such as plasma-wall interactions,
high-temperature metal corrosion, passive film
formation, and stress corrosion cracking. (2) A
second area of research began in concert with
the creation of EMSL and recognition that oxides
and minerals are the most environmentally
relevant materials. This research has entailed
using a number of different surface analysis
techniques to characterize oxide and mineral
surfaces, as well as interactions of minerals
and oxides with their environment. In one
research program, Dr. Baer led a team that
combined theoretical and experimental studies of
dissolution and growth reactions, including the
impacts of surface and solute impurities to
obtain molecular-level and site-specific
understanding of the reactions at calcite
surfaces aqueous solutions. Other oxide related
research included detailed studies of glass
leaching relevant to nuclear waste storage and
small molecule interactions with defects on
rutile surfaces. (3) More recently, Dr. Baer
combined environmental interactions of metals
and solution properties of oxides toward
understanding iron nanoparticle reactivity for
reducing solution contaminants, such as
chlorinated hydrocarbons. (4) Throughout, he has
developed and refined surface analysis methods
as needed for application to these complex
problems. Dr. Baer is author or coauthor of more
than 220 publications, has edited two books, and
served as special editor of four special journal
issues. He also serves on the editorial board of
Surface Science Spectra and is the reviews
editor of Surface and Interface Analysis. Among
his awards are a Federal Laboratory Consortium
Award for Technology Transfer, PNNL’s
Fitzner-Eberhardt Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Science and Engineering
Education, and PNNL’s Chester Cooper Mentor of
the Year Award.
Dr.
Beatriez Roldan Cuenya, University of Central
Florida, “for pioneering contributions to the
understanding of processes taking place in metal
nanocluster-catalyzed chemical reactions.”
Beatriz Roldan Cuenya is currently an associate
professor in the Department of Physics at the
University of Central Florida (UCF) with joint
appointments at UCF’s Nanoscience Technology
Center and the Department of Environmental
Engineering. She joined UCF in 2004 after her
postdoctoral research in the Department of
Chemical Engineering at the University of
California Santa-Barbara (UCSB) (2001-2003). She
obtained her PhD from the Department of Physics
at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
summa cum laude in 2001. Her PhD included a
research stay in the Materials Science
Department at the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL).
Beatriz completed her M.S./B.S. in Physics with
a minor in Materials Science from the University
of Oviedo, Spain in 1998. Beatriz started her
scientific career with an undergraduate
fellowship from the Spanish National Research
Council to investigate the growth of metallic
thin films and multilayers via X-ray
reflectometry. As a Ph.D. student in Germany
(1998-2001) she studied correlations between
magnetism and atomic nearest neighbor distance
in epitaxial Fe films on Cu3Au(001), Fe nanostripes on Pd(110), and Fe nanoclusters and
thin films on GaAs(001). These studies were
conducted in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) via
Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy and
Magneto-optic Kerr effect. The existence of
magneto-volume instabilities in metastable fcc-like
Fe films was found to lead to dramatic changes
in the Fe atomic magnetic moment as well as in
the magnetic structure and exchange coupling of
these systems. In addition, their reduced
dimensions were found to significantly alter
their magnetic anisotropy and blocking
temperature. Beatriz’s postdoctoral research at
UCSB consisted of the in-situ investigation of
chemically-induced electronic excitations in
thin-film Schottky diodes, as well as
electrochemistry measurements of the reactivity
of size-selected gold clusters. In 2004 Beatriz
joined UCF to start a program exploring the
novel physical and chemical properties of
nanoscale materials. Her group’s scientific
activities address structural, electronic,
magnetic, vibrational and chemical properties of
nanostructures and their interplay, with an
emphasis on advancements in nanocatalysis. In
order to rationally design nanocatalysts that
make efficient use of energy and raw materials,
fundamental knowledge of the factors that
control catalytic reactivity and selectivity
must be obtained. Her research tackles this
challenging task by synthesizing well-defined
nanomaterials with tunable morphology and
composition. She has successfully combined
ex-situ nanoparticle preparation methods such as
diblock-copolymer micelle encapsulation with
in-situ X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy,
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Temperature
Programmed Desorption characterization. The
reactions targeted by her research group have
applications in the fields of environmental
remediation and power generation. Furthermore,
Beatriz has developed a research program focused
on the atomic vibrational dynamics of low
dimensional metallic systems. These studies
provide insight into important thermodynamic
properties and into phonon-assisted chemical
reactions that may take place on nanoclusters.
She recently conducted the first vibrational
dynamics measurements of isolated metal clusters
(57Fe, 57FePt 57FeAu) via Nuclear Resonant
Inelastic X-ray Scattering at the Advanced
Photon Source at ANL. During her academic career
Beatriz received an Early CAREER Award from the
National Science Foundation (2005). She is the
author of 31 peer-reviewed publications and 3
book chapters and has given over 35 invited
talks at international and national conferences
and universities. She is also actively involved
in high-school outreach activities providing
research opportunities to local K-12 students.
Within AVS she is serving as associate editor of
the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B
and has taught an AVS-sponsored short course on
Nanophysics.
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AVS Art Zone Winner |
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