Professor Mark A. Ratner is supported by a grant from the Chemistry Division and the Graduate Education and Research Division at NSF for a Graduate Traineeship Program emphasizing the chemical aspects of molecule-based electronics. A team of six Northwestern University chemistry faculty members with teaching and research expertise in this and related areas will be assembled to provide graduate training and mentoring as well as research program direction in this area. To ensure the program leads to a net expansion of training within the chemistry department, an aggressive recruitment plan emphasizing minority and female students will be devised. Once recruited, the trainees will take part in a rigorous program designed to provide: 1) courses pertinent to the central themes of molecule-based electronics; 2) exposure to and interaction with leading academic and industrial researchers from outside Northwestern University; 3) research training within the laboratories of Northwestern University faculty; and 4) experience in team-oriented, interdisciplinary problem solving via collaborative research interactions. %%% Molecule-based electronics is the use of molecular materials for electronic or photonic applications. The scope of this field ranges from well-defined and well-understood phenomena such as nonlinear optical response of a single crystal of an organic chromophore to the more tantalizing and conceptually more difficult areas involving optical computing and optical memory storage systems at the molecular level. This interdisciplinary field encompasses not only chemistry, but also physics, engineering and materials science. With the emergence of the first commercial molecular electronic technologies, the need for U.S. trained Ph.D. level scientists has become self-evident. Funding provided through this Graduate Research Traineeship award will help to provide scientists in this area of national need.
