Dr. Ray Baughman: Nanotech Champion

UT Dallas scientist and National Academies member Dr. Ray Baughman is an expert in the field of nanotechnology, having pioneered the development of fuel-powered artificial muscles based on carbon nanotubes. He also invented a time/temperature indicator used to indicate freshness and safety for vaccines, which is expected to save more than 140,000 lives.

Most recently, Baughman and his team invented a groundbreaking technology for producing weavable, knittable, sewable and knottable yarns that could one day be used:

• To create better biofuel cells that might eventually power medical implants.
• In applications such as powerful magnets and underground transmission lines.
• To embed lithium ion batteries that can be sewn into fabric.

Tier One recognition would serve to make UT Dallas even more attractive to instructors of Baughman's caliber, which can only enrich our educational landscape.

"In this study, we demonstrated the feasibility of using our bi-scrolled yarns for applications ranging from superconducting cables to electronic textiles, batteries and fuel cells," said Baughman, who is also director of UT Dallas' Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute.

It is for leadership in inventions such as these that Baughman earned recognition as one of the top 100 materials scientists of the decade by Thomson Reuters (ranking 30th). This honor underscores the importance of keeping up with ever-changing advances in technology, an endeavor that Tier One funding could help UT Dallas facilitate, particularly in the case of Baughman's home base, the relatively new Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Joey Sankman: Going Beyond Batteries

Electrical engineering PhD student Joey Sankman is the sort of enterprising talent UT Dallas aims to attract — and that Tier One universities are able to draw more of. The National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program has taken notice of his accomplishments.

It awarded Sankman $120,000 to develop technology he hopes will power a new generation of autonomous wireless devices to improve the quality of life and safety for people everywhere (past Fellows have included numerous Nobel Prize winners).

Sankman is studying under Dr. Dongsheng Brian Ma, an associate professor of electrical engineering and leader of the energy-efficiency research thrust within the UT Dallas-based Texas Analog Center of Excellence, which is just the type of facility that Tier One monies could flow to.

He is working on a way to meet the power needs of ultra-low-power silicon devices. This means that tiny sensors that can monitor everything from a diabetic's insulin levels to atmospheric concentrations of pollutants could glean the minute amount of operating power they'd require from, say, the warmth of a person's skin or the vibration of a car, untethering the devices from batteries.

Sankman believes his novel approach to sustainable self-powering could help establish an array of new energy-efficient systems.

"What interests me about this research project is the enormous potential for broader impacts within my research area and for society as a whole," he said.