New director of nanotech center announced

New
director of nanotech center announced
…………………………………………………………………

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

Wade Adams,
former chief scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory
(AFRL), Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, became the new director
of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST)
this month. He succeeds Richard Smalley as director.

“Dr. Adams’
extensive technical expertise, management and research experience
make him the perfect match for the leadership of the CNST,”
said Smalley, the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of
Chemistry and professor of physics, who has served as the
center’s director since its inception in 1995. “He
will be a valuable resource to add to Rice’s arsenal
of talent and scientific expertise.”

Smalley will
continue to conduct research and to teach, concentrating
more on the Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory that was developed
by the CNST under his leadership.

Adams has a bachelor
of science degree in physics from the U.S. Air Force Academy,
a master’s in physics from Vanderbilt University and
master’s and Ph.D. degrees in polymer science and engineering
from the University of Massachusetts.

“I’m
thrilled and deeply honored to be joining the staff at Rice
University, an outstanding institution with a great vision
for the future,” Adams said. “It is both an honor
and a challenge to assume the job of CNST director, continuing
the great initiative that Rick Smalley started. I am looking
forward to working with the top-notch scientists and engineers
at Rice to help the CNST stay at the very front edge of
the nanoscale revolution. Rice has been one of the leaders
in the international technology community, and we intend
to continue and extend that leadership to the ultimate benefit
of humanity.”

Before coming
to Rice, Adams work-ed for 32 years at the Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, where he was responsible for providing consultative
and advisory service to the AFRL on the technical and scientific
merit of the lab’s research and development programs
until his retirement from federal civil service Jan. 3.

Over the last
30 years, he has conducted research in polymer physics,
concentrating on structure-property relations in high-performance
organic materials. Adams is internationally known for his
research on high-performance rigid-rod polymer fibers, X-ray
scattering studies of fibers and liquid crystalline films,
polymer-dispersed liquid crystals and theoretical studies
of ultimate polymer properties.

Adams, who also
retired from the Air Force Reserve in the rank of colonel
in 1998, is a fellow of the American Physical Society and
of the Air Force Research Laboratory.

“Rice founded
the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology to explore
a world of almost unimagin-ably small proportions, where
objects are one-billionth of a meter in size,” said
Rice President Malcolm Gillis. “The Nobel Prize-winning
research that has been conducted there on buckyball molecules
reflects the extraordinary level of expertise that the center
has developed. Dr. Adams will provide the leadership needed
for the center to continue its phenomenal progress in studying
revolutionary technology that has potential applications
in medicine, electronics, computing, energy and many other
fields that have major economic and societal impact on our
lives.”