MICHAEL SAILOR ’83
.......................... .............. ........ . A view
OF THE NANO HORIZON
Written by RICHARD CHAPMAN
For Michael Sailor ’83, understanding the big picture in chem- istry usually means looking at some of the smallest things he can find. Such as nanoparticles, one billion of which could fit in a meter—or in a remote control-style model car, if you prefer. His job is to figure out, with his research team at U.C. San Diego, how to turn these tiny particles into valuable tools, charting the future of chemistry and engineering in the process. It’s a huge opportunity and one that keeps getting bigger the more his team explores.
“Nanotechnology is one of medicine’s new frontiers.”
MICHAEL SAILOR Consider Sailor’s work with porous silicon nanoparticles.
These incredibly tiny vessels can deliver life-saving drugs without being whisked away by the body’s natural defenses. That makes them especially effective weapons in the fight against breast can- cer and eye disorders. They can also assist in delivering vaccines more effectively, developing new drugs and diagnosing diseases. “Nanotechnology is one of medicine’s new frontiers,” Sailor
says. But it’s far from the only one. Nanostructures can add life and storage capacity to rechargeable batteries. Nano-size components can make solar or photovoltaic cells work better, and nano-mate- rials are being employed to detect everything from environmen- tal toxins and pollutants to infectious diseases and explosives.
Nanotechnology is even the secret behind the waterproof,
windproof, breathable membrane that makes Gore-Tex gar- ments particularly handy in the outdoors. There’s even a brand of cold cream that boasts nanoparticles of gold. “There’s a lot of big science out there,” says Sailor, a full pro- fessor with 28 patents or patents pending. “But there’s still lots of room for the individual investigator with an idea who wants to make an impact on the world.” One of the keys to that impact is a simple concept instilled
in Sailor during his days at Harvey Mudd College, where he earned a B.S. in chemistry before going on to obtain a master’s and Ph.D. at Northwestern. That concept is to let people work on ideas they develop and encourage communication between engineers and scientists. It’s an approach very much in evidence in Sailor’s own lab, where he lets up to 10 undergraduates tinker alongside doctoral students on projects of their choosing. “Kids need to do their own projects and take their own
responsibility, and I let them.” It’s a learning model Sailor picked up as a teaching assistant and one he emphasizes in his own classes at U.C. San Diego. “Harvey Mudd taught me how to communicate and distill ideas into visuals and concepts, and I still do that. That was the theme they pushed. It was a ‘prep school for graduate school.’” Today, Sailor runs a crack research group with an eye toward as many nano-horizons as his team can come up with. Just the way it was at Harvey Mudd. “They wanted us to get in there and do stuff,” he recalls. “They taught us well.”
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24 Har vey Mudd College FALL/WINTER 2011
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