Michael S. Wong

Research Interests:

Heterogeneous catalysis

Encapsulation and delivery

Materials chemistry

Surface chemistry

Green chemistry

Education:

B.S. (1994) California Institute of Technology

M.S.(1997) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ph.D. (2000) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Postdoctoral Associate (2000-2001) University of California at Santa Barbara

Nanomaterials can be broadly defined as materials with physical features on the nanometer scale. What is considered "nano" depends on the material of concern, but the nanometer scale spans 1 to 1000 nm. Inorganic substances with nanoscale features have been known for decades and even centuries, such as zeolites (which contain regular arrays of <1.5-nm pore channels and cages); opals (which contain highly ordered monodisperse silica spheres sized on the order of 100's of nm); and carbon black (particle sizes of 10-500 nm). Through tremendous advances in chemistry and materials processing in the past two decades, new classes of synthetic nanomaterials have been, and are being, realized. The capability to design, build, and engineer materials with nanostructures is integral to what is now popularly known as "nanotechnology." It is this control over matter on the nanoscale that we wish to exploit.

Awards and Honors:

• GOLD 2006 Conference Best Presentation Award, for "best new idea in gold catalysis" (2006)
• AIChE South Texas Section Best Applied Paper Award (2006)
• AIChE Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum Young Investigator Award (2006)
• MIT Technology Review's TR35 Young Innovator Award (2006)
• Hershel M. Rich Invention Award (2006)
• National Academy of Engineering Indo-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Invited Speaker (2006)
• 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award (2006)
• Smalley/Curl Innovation Award (2005)
• National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) Symposium, Invited Participant (2004)
• Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2003)
• National Academy of Engineering Japan-America Frontiers of Engineering (JAFOE) Symposium, Invited Participant (2002)
• Rice Quantum Institute (RQI), Fellow (2002)
• Robert P. Goldberg Grand Prize, MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition (2001)
  
• Faculty advisor for Phi Lambda Upsilon, chemical sciences honorary society (2003 - present)
  

CHEMICAL & BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING DEPT. MS-362
Rice University PO Box 1892 Houston, Texas 77251-1892	E-mail: chbe@rice.edu	Phone: (713) 348-4902 FAX:(713) 348-5478