Richard W. Siegel
— Director, Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center
— Robert W. Hunt Professor of Materials Science and Engineering,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Education:
— Ph.D., Metallurgy, University of Illinois, 1965
— M.S., Physics, University of Illinois, 1960
— A.B., Physics, Williams College, 1958

Career Highlights:
Siegel is a pioneer in the field of nanotechnology. He currently serves on the Nanotechnology Technical Advisory Group of the President's Council of Advisors on science and technology and is a former chair of the World Technology Evaluation Center worldwide study of nanostructure science and technology that led to the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative. Siegel is the past chairman of the International Committee on Nanostructured Materials and served on the U.S. National Materials Advisory Board Committee on Materials with Submicron-Sized Microstructures. He also was the co-chairman of the Study Panel on Clusters and Cluster-Assembled Materials for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Siegel was on the faculty of the State University of New York at Stony Brook from 1966 to 1976 and at Argonne National Laboratory from 1974 to 1995. He joined Rensselaer in 1995, and served as department head of Materials Science and Engineering until 2000. He has authored more than 200 publications and several patents (seven have been issued, nine are pending) in the areas of defects in metals; diffusion; and most recently on the synthesis and processing, characterization, properties, and applications of nanophase materials, including ceramics, metals, composites, and biomaterials. Siegel also has presented more than 400 invited lectures around the world and edited ten books on these subjects. Science Watch listed him as the fourth most highly cited author in materials science from 1990 through 1994.

Siegel is a member of the editorial boards of Materials Letters, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and Journal of Metastable and Nanocrystalline Materials, and was a founding principal editor of Nanostructured Materials. He is a founder and director of Nanophase Technologies Corporation, and was recognized for this effort by a 1991 U.S. Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer. He is an honorary member of the Materials Research Societies of India and Japan, a 1994 recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Research Award in Germany, and presented the 1996 MacDonald Lecture in Canada. In 2001, he was named a RIKEN Eminent Scientist in Japan and received a 2003 Deutsche Bank Prize: "Pioneer of Nanotechnology - Nanomaterials."

Research Areas:
Siegel's research focuses on the synthesis and processing, characterization, properties, and applications of nanostructured materials, including ceramics, metals, composites, and biomaterials. His research is involved with the creation of nanoscale building blocks, especially inorganic nanoparticles, and their directed assembly into useful materials and devices. His activities include a wide range of studies of polymer-based and ceramic-based nanocomposites, as well as hierarchical material systems based on these components. Using such nanostructured materials, both hard and soft material systems for biomedical tissue engineering are being actively investigated, along with related fundamental scientific issues.

Selected Publications:
C.B. Ng, B.J. Ash, L.S. Schadler, and R.W. Siegel, "A Study of the Mechanical and Permeability Properties of Nano- and Micron-TiO2 Filled Epoxy Composites," Advanced Composites Letters, 10, 101-111, (2001).

R.W. Siegel, S.K. Chang, B.J. Ash, J. Stone, P.M. Ajayan, R.H. Doremus, and L.S. Schadler, "Mechanical Behavior of Polymer and Ceramic Matrix Nanocomposites," Scripta Materiala, 44, 2061-2064, (2001).

P.M. Ajayan, J.M. Nugent, R.W. Siegel, B. Wei, and Ph. Kohler-Redlich, "Growth of Carbon Micro-Trees," Nature, 404, 243, (2000).

T.J. Webster, R.W. Siegel, and R. Bizios, "Osteoblast Adhesion on Nanophase Ceramics," Biomaterials, 20, 1221-1227, (1999).

R.W. Siegel, E. Hu, and M.C. Roco, eds., Nanostructure Science and Technology: World Technology Evaluation Center (WTEC) Panel Report on R&D Status and Trends in Nanoparticles, Nanostructured Materials, and Nanodevices, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 335 pp., (1999).

C.B. Ng, L.S. Schadler, and R.W. Siegel, "Synthesis and Mechanical Properties of TiO2-Epoxy Nanocomposites," Nanostructured Materials, 12, 507-510, (1999).

T.J. Webster, R.W. Siegel, R. Bizios, "An In Vitro Evaluation of Nanophase Alumina for Orthopaedic/Dental Applications," Bioceramics, 11, 273-276, (1998).

R.W. Siegel, "Mechanical Properties of Nanophase Materials," in Synthesis and Properties of Mechanically Alloyed and Nanocrystalline Materials, D. Fiorani and
M. Magini, eds., Materials Science Forum, 235-238, 851-859, (1997).

R.W. Siegel, "Nanostructures of Metals and Ceramics," in Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Properties and Applications, A.S. Edelstein and R.C. Cammarata, eds., Institute of Physics (IOP); Bristol, England; 201-218, (1996).

R.W. Siegel, "Nanophase Materials," in Encyclopedia of Applied Physics, G.L. Trigg, ed.; VCH Publishing; Weinheim, Germany; 11, 173-200, (1994).

Contact Information:
Richard W. Siegel
217 Materials Research Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, N.Y. 12180 USA
(518) 276-8846
E-mail: rwsiegel@rpi.edu

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