Nanoscience Initiative hosts over 100 at Soft Nano Symposium

The CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) hosted the ASRC Nanoscience Initiative’s Soft Nano Symposium on June 18th.

Scientists from The City University of New York (CUNY), New York University, Columbia University and other research institutions on the East Coast presented their latest research to the more than 100 attendees hailing from across the country. Soft matter research is thriving in the area, with topics varying from the elucidation of design rules of new soft materials, use of biological molecules to produce new materials and applications in biomedicine and green energy.

ASRC Nanoscience Initiative Director Dr. Rein V. Ulijn welcomed the group and introduced the day’s program. Ulijn’s own research concentrates on the development of materials and systems that mimic biology’s adaptive properties but are much simpler.

“I was very pleased with the discussions from our featured speakers and the involvement of our attendees,” Ulijn said. “The research being carried out in the soft nanosciences at CUNY and other institutions in the New York area is truly groundbreaking and the breadth of research covered at the symposium reflects that.”

The program also featured a poster session, with over 30 submissions. The winners of the poster competition were Lee Solomon and H. Christopher Fry of Argonne National Laboratories for their poster on “Functional Bioinorganic Supramolecular Materials.”

The symposium was the second event organized by the ASRC Nanoscience Initiative, after its multidisciplinary conference this past February, which also featured speakers from institutions along the East Coast.

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About the ASRC: The new CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) is a University-wide venture that elevates CUNY’s legacy of scientific research and education through initiatives in five distinctive, but increasingly interconnected disciplines: Nanoscience, Photonics, Structural Biology, Neuroscience and Environmental Sciences. Led by Dr. Gillian Small, Vice Chancellor for Research and the ASRC’s executive director, the center is designed to promote a unique, interdisciplinary research culture. Researchers from each of the initiatives work side by side in the ASRC’s core facilities, sharing equipment that is among the most advanced available. Funding for the ASRC from New York State is gratefully acknowledged.

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