Faculty Initiative

Faculty Positions in the NEAT Initiative Linking Physical Science, Engineering, and Agriculture and Environment

The University of California at Davis has a unique opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary program on the fundamental study of nanomaterials in the environment, agriculture, and technology (NEAT). NEAT is a program which brings together research and teaching in a number of fields and departments including chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering, soil science, environmental science, and geology.

What links these fields is the common occurrence and utilization of nanophases - largely inorganic materials having high surface areas, with structures which are complex, often porous, frequently metastable, and usually hydrated. Their reactivity is greater than and different from that of conventional bulk materials, and their surfaces and interfaces provide an active substrate for chemical and biological reactions. By identifying the unifying fundamental issues, and attacking these problems using viewpoints and tools developed by strong groups at Davis in agricultural, scientific, and engineering disciplines, a unique and high quality effort can come together and attract students, postdocs, and faculty, as well as appropriate outside support. As Davis has been a leader in agriculture, so it can be a leader in the fundamental science underlying this discipline, and the fundamental understanding can lead to new practical advances.

Modern materials science stresses low temperature ceramic processing (sol gel, chimie deuce, self assembly, templating using organic-inorganic interactions). Such processes produce nanophases which are analyzed by high resolution analytical techniques (electron microscopy, AFM-STM, NMR, EXAFS, microcalorimetry). Advances are being made because modern synthetic, computational, and characterization tools are now available, and quantitative fundamental science can be done. Modern earth science (mineralogy, mineral physics) is beginning to apply similar sophisticated analysis to the nanophases encountered in nature-clays, zeolites, and oxyhydroxides.

Catalysts are largely nanophases, as are paints, coatings, and fibers. Cements are notorious for their poorly crystalline constituents and cement science is starting to deal with fundamental issues. The containment or dispersal of potential pollutants, including nuclear waste, is often mediated by nanomaterials. Soil science and agriculture fundamentally encounter the same materials and phenomena, understanding of which is crucial to rational development of agricultural technology. Zeolites, clays, hydrated aluminosilicates, and iron and manganese oxides and oxyhydroxides, in myriad forms, modifications, and degrees of crystallinity, form the inorganic components of soils. Biological processes almost invariably take place at the nanoscale, across membranes and at interfaces. Transport and retention of inorganic elements in the environment is mediated by nanophases. The role of biological processes in changing the inorganic surface of this planet is just being recognized. Though there are several groups working on biomimetic ceramic processing (e.g., Aksay at Princeton, Mann at Bristol) there are only embryonic efforts to take advantage of the commonality of materials, tools, and questions posed by nanophases in materials science, near-surface geochemistry, environmental science, and agriculture. Davis could expand into that area and develop a unique and world class program. There are several participants already in place, but another ten strong appointments spread over the various departments and colleges, would make a power house. Both fundamental and applied aspects should be pursued, but the fundamental aspects should be stressed as providing the underpinnings for applications. The linkage between the physical sciences - engineering aspects and the agriculture -environment aspects would be a unique feature. This strengthening of the inorganic and materials side of the link to agriculture and environment would complement the growing sophistication of biological sciences at Davis.

The NEAT initiative (Alexandra Navrotsky, Interdisciplinary Professor of Ceramic, Earth, and Environmental Materials Chemistry as initiator) has received $5000 in seed money from the Vice Chancellor for research. In addition, $150,000 has been received for a Materials Research Institute initiative (Barry Klein, Chair, Physics, as director). Working together this summer and fall, these two initiatives have accomplished the following. (1) We have identified the faculty at Davis with interests in nanomaterials. We have an email list and are setting up a bulletin board and web page. We are beginning to put together a listing of available equipment on campus for nanophase research to better identify needs and optimize use. (2) An Integrative Graduate Education, Research, and Training (IGERT) proposal on NEAT is has been funded by the National Science Foundation. (3) We are organizing a series of about 10 interdisciplinary seminars in nanomaterials, widely publicized on campus, about half of them from Davis faculty and half from eminent outside speakers, to acquaint the Davis community with this broad field. The outside speakers will give us perspective and advice and they would also see that we are becoming more active in this area. This seminar series will also be incorporated into a special topics course in winter quarter (Navrotsky), with course credit given for attending the seminars plus lectures and discussion sessions, which would include student presentations. Both upper division undergraduates and graduate students could participate. The course will be cross listed in several departments.

On the educational front there are opportunities for coordinating courses given by different departments and for creating new courses. For example, there are at least four courses in chemical thermodynamics in different departments at the upper undergraduate to first year graduate level. Though their emphasis is different, their fundamentals are the same. An interdisciplinary group could look into whether it makes sense to consolidate them into a common set of lectures with discussion sections having specific applications and problem solving to bring the principles "home" to the various disciplines. As another example, a course, including laboratory, on the structure and characterization of nanoparticles would be useful to graduate students in chemistry, physics, geology, engineering, LAWR, and other departments. At the beginning undergraduate level, freshman seminars or other innovative courses could introduce students to the richness of interdisciplinary science, using some of the NEAT problems as examples. Because the technological and environmental problems addresses have major societal ramifications, courses linking technical and social issues should also be developed.

We therefore propose making 10-12 new appointments to build on existing strengths to link physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and environmental and agricultural sciences, to fill in gaps in our expertise, to raise the overall quality, and to assure a critical nucleus of excellent people. We think of these appointments as tied to the general area of NEAT, but really broader than that, with a "ripple effect" into their departments, and wider implications for science, engineering, and society. We suggest interdisciplinary search committee(s) pro-actively seeking the proper caliber of applicants, screening the applications, and guiding the selection process. If a package of appointments is advertised and recruited together, a tone of excitement will be publicized, and better candidates will apply. In addition, we can look for synergy among the new appointments, cases in which people in tangentially related areas in different departments will be able to interact on common issues. In many cases the appointment should be multidepartmental. The balance of junior and senior appointments should be determined by the best candidates identified, with senior appointments made aggressively but only when the candidate is unquestionably world class. The table below lists the suggested areas of expertise, some examples of people active in the field (more in the spirit of type examples or role models than as potential candidates, though some may be candidates), and possible home department. The actual fields chosen, the level of the appointment, and the department(s) the person affiliates with will be determined by the availability of top candidates. The aim is to cast the net broadly, recruit aggressively, let the multiple recruitment act as added incentive, and quantum jump the level of activity in an area Davis can call uniquely its own. Such a recruitment plan, representing a major university commitment and choice of future directions, will also help us in major proposals.