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In Memory of Prof. Joel Pedersen

We are deeply saddened to share that our dear colleague, Dr. Joel Pedersen, passed away on June 30 after an 8-month battle with brain cancer. CSN Director Bob Hamers shares this remembrance of his friend: Many of you are aware of Joel’s critical role in the CSN, dating back more than 5 years before the center started. He and I started collaborating around 2003-2004 through the campus Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC); that collaboration later nucleated the broader collaboration that ultimately became the CSN.  Joel was a font of knowledge about everything in the field of environmental science and was perhaps the most well-read and smartest person I’ve ever met. He provided important and unique perspective on the center’s connections to… Read More »In Memory of Prof. Joel Pedersen

Dr. Kerrie Wilkins-Yel is CSN’s 2022 Scholar-in-Residence

Dr. Kerrie Wilkins-Yel has accepted our invitation to become our CSN Scholar-in-Residence for summer 2022. Dr. Wilkins-Yel is an Assistant Professor of Counseling and School Psychology, College of Education and Human Development at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. She also founded and co-directs the I Can Persist STEM Initiative, “a multi-component research-based program aimed at promoting STEM persistence among women and girls of color.” She will participate in various activities with the center, including a Wednesday seminar about her research and mentoring summer undergraduate students on translating science through an equity-centered lens.

Juan Pablo Giraldo Podcast Appearance

Podcast interview on Nano Matters with CSN faculty member Juan Pablo Giraldo. He discusses how nanosensers will be able to communicate their health status with plants via fluorescence/light intensity. This technology can be used to detect hazardous substances as well. Listen here.

UMN Article Highlights CSN Associate Director Christy Haynes

REad the article highlighting our CSN Associate Director on the importance and use of nanoparticles: https://cse.umn.edu/college/faculty-science-small “You can’t see any of the nanoparticles we make but they can be used to deliver drugs to fight disease or transport nutrients to increase crop yield. They can also be used to sense things or to make things visible. For example, we have a collaboration with Ecolab on some nanoparticles we make, and the goal is to incorporate them into products so you can trace where the products have been used.”  Christy Haynes

Lifeology Flashcard Course by CSN Students Teaches How to Write About Science Collaboratively

View the Deck Here Check out the Lifeology virtual flashcard deck created by University of Minnesota Ph.D. student Stephanie Mitchell, University of Wisconsin-Madison grad students Paige Kinsley, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station postdoctoral scholar Dr. Jaya Borgatta, Lifeology co-founder Paige Jarreau, and artist Alberta Torres. This deck is a quick introduction to how to write about science collaboratively.

CSN Affiliate Dr. Mike Curry Skegee Spotlight

“As an HBCU faculty and researcher, I aim to increase the number of highly trained minority professionals within the STEM and entrepreneurship pipelines, I want to strategically move the needle forward on minority-inspired innovation, and powerfully influence the movement of STEM diversity,” Mike Curry Read the full article here.

Graduate Student Jaya Borgatta Defends Thesis

Jaya Borgatta successfully defended her thesis on June 22nd, 2021. She is a part of the Hamers group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of her thesis is “Understanding the influence of Cu-based nanoparticle properties on interactions with plant systems and disease suppression.” Jaya has accepted a postdoc position in Jason White’s group at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Congratulations, Dr. Borgatta!

Prof. Rigoberto Hernandez Joins John Hopkins Task Force

“Barriers to diversity and equity are often exacerbated by a lack of access to unwritten rules or unstated expectations for success … as an institution, we have the power to remove this inequity entirely by being completely transparent in all of our rules and decisions, and by communicating our expectations for success to every member of our community.” Rigoberto Hernandez, professor of chemistry in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Professor Rigoberto Hernandez was announced Roadmap 2020 Task Force co-chair in March 2021. The task force was announced in July 2020 by JHU President Daniels, to “reassess and renew our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to begin the process of moving toward a new set of robust… Read More »Prof. Rigoberto Hernandez Joins John Hopkins Task Force

Nanotechnology Flashcard Deck Created by CSN Students

Check out the Lifeology virtual flashcard deck created by University of Minnesota Ph.D. student Stephanie Mitchell, University of Wisconsin-Madison grad students Jaya Borgatta and Paige Kinsley, Lifeology co-founder Paige Jarreau and artist Elfy Chiang. This deck is a quick introduction to what happens to nanoparticles in the environment? “But, we also don’t want to have another asbestos or DDT problem where we start using all of this new technology and new science without fully understanding any lasting repercussions,” Stephanie Mitchell (UMN CSE, 2021). Check out the virtual flashcards here as well.

Lifeology Flashcard Course Explains How Nanoparticles Improve Agricultural Sustainability

View the deck here. Check out the Lifeology virtual flashcard deck created by University of Minnesota Ph.D. student Stephanie Mitchell, University of Wisconsin-Madison grad students Jaya Borgatta and Paige Kinsley, Lifeology co-founder Paige Jarreau and artist Elfy Chiang. This deck is a quick introduction to how nanoparticles improve agricultural sustainability?