Wade Adams becomes CNST director at Rice University

CONTACT: B.J. Almond
PHONE:
(713) 348-6770
EMAIL: balmond@rice.edu

WADE ADAMS BECOMES
CNST DIRECTOR AT RICE UNIVERSITY

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) at Rice University in January. He succeeded 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
do research and teaching, concentrating more on the Carbon Nanotechnology
Laboratory that was developed by the CNST under his leadership.

Adams has a B.S. 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 worked 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 unimaginably
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 which 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.”