Videos
Kent State University's Trustees Research Professor, John L. West, Ph.D., invites the public to attend the Symposium on Flexible Liquid Crystal Devices on September 26-27, 2012
Michael McCreary, E Ink Corporation (Keynote)
Dr. Michael McCreary is the Vice President of Research and Advanced Development of E Ink Corporation where his responsibilities include the creation of advanced technologies that are enabling a new generation of flexible, ultra-low power, daylight-readable displays. He is a 39-year veteran of the imaging industry. He previously held a number of leadership positions with the Eastman Kodak Company including General Manager of Kodak's Microelectronics Technology Division, a semiconductor business unit that developed high performance solid state image sensors. He also serves on the Board of Directors of FlexTech Alliance and on the technical advisory board of MC-10. He earned a B.S. with Honors in Chemistry from Principia College, a Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and additional coursework in solid-state physics from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Albert Green, Kent Displays, Inc.
Dr. Albert Green joined Kent Displays as CEO in June 2007. Prior to joining the company he was vice president and manager of the Applied Sciences Division at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). During his tenure of 13 years at SAIC, he held several key positions including senior scientist, program manager and business unit chief scientist. He received a PhD in physics from Stanford University and a B.S. in physics from the University of Chicago. He holds more than 25 patents in the areas of display technologies and advanced materials.
Bahman Taheri, AlphaMicron
Dr. Bahman Taheri is CEO of AlphaMicron, a company he co-founded in 1997 with two other Kent State University Liquid Crystal Institute faculty members. They formed the company to work on a research and development project with the Department of Defense, which resulted in their patented e-Tintâ„¢ technology which allows fighter pilots' visors to instantaneously adapt to changing ambient light conditions. Today the company designs and manufactures high-tech military and consumer products utilizing liquid crystal technology and an innovative Roll to Roll (R2R) manufacturing process, allowing for more cost-effective manufacturing. In 2010 the company transitioned from research and development to marketing their patented technology for auto-tinting flight deck goggles, ski goggles, motorcycle visor inserts, and auto-dimming automotive mirrors. Future product releases include cycling and paint ball lenses, and upgrades to their original flight deck goggles including a sealed power unit and neutral color tinting. AlphaMicron is also researching innovations in auto-adjusting residential windows, shutters for semiconductor fabrication facilities and luxury eyewear. Dr. Taheri is an adjunct professor in the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program at Kent State University. He earned his Ph.D. in physics at Oklahoma State University in 1995 and participated in the Owner/President Management Program 40 (OPM 40) at Harvard Business School from 2008-2010.
Byron Clayton, NorTech
Dr. Byron C. Clayton serves as the Vice President of NorTech, a nonprofit technology-based economic development organization that serves 21 counties in Northeast Ohio. He is responsible for leading NorTech's cluster initiatives in Flexible Electronics and Water Technology. In this role, he works with cluster companies, research institutions, entrepreneurs, investors, and government officials to catalyze cluster efforts to create economic impact in Northeast Ohio. Dr. Clayton has over 30 years of experience developing new businesses and commercializing high-tech systems serving numerous industries including automotive, aerospace, construction, defense, nuclear, and space. He has guided or facilitated the commercialization of over 45 high-tech products and systems, been published in both academic and trade journals, and holds patents for production optimization software used by numerous manufacturing plants across North America.
Shizuo Tokito, Organic Electronics Research Center, Yamagata University, Japan
Miko Cakmak, University of Akron
Dr. Mukerrem (Miko) Cakmak is the Harold A. Morton Chair, Distinguished Professor of Polymer Engineering and Director for the Center for Multifunctional Polymer Nanomaterials and Devices (UA site). His area of expertise is on identification, modeling and simulation of complex structural mechanisms particularly stress induced crystallization that take place during the course of polymer processing operations of wide range of polymers subjected to solution, melt as well as rubbery state deformation. The range of materials includes the high temperature thermoplastics and their blends as well as nano particle filled systems. Of particular interest is the relationship between thermo-mechanical history applied by fiber spinning, film blowing, biaxial stretching and injection molding and evolved structure and properties. Current activities are focused on real time measurements of true mechano-optical and mechano-electrical properties of polymers undergoing uni and biaxial deformation for photonics applications. With the recent CMPND center, he is actively developing novel processes to address the needs of emerging markets. Towards this goal, his group recently developed a hybrid electrospinning/solution casting multipurpose processing platform to produce functional polymer films including conductive transparent films. He has just received an $8M Ohio Third Frontier commercialization grant that integrates University researchers and industrial companies around the concept of "Functional Polyimide films and high performance nanocomposites". This project focuses on commercialization of products including Optical films for LCDs, high strength films for High Altitude Airship, high performance composites to replace jet engine parts and thermal management films for dissipating heat from electronic devices including plasma and liquid crystal television sets. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Istanbul in 1975, an M.S. in Polymer Engineering (1979) and a Ph.D. in Polymer Engineering (1984) both from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Joe Klinehamer, Genvac Aerospace
Joe Klinehamer is President/CEO of Genvac Aerospace, a Cleveland-based thin film technologies company. Genvac is a leading supplier of clear conductive coatings for aerospace and defense platforms. The company has patented technology for applying ITO on low temperature substrate materials, including a wide variety of polymers. Applications include military systems, commercial aircraft, displays, medical devices, and vision systems. Under the technical direction of Dr. Hsiung Chen, Chief Scientist, Genvac is evaluating emerging conductive material technologies to address polymer applications where ITO is limiting.
Joe is a member of the NorTech Flexible Electronics Cluster steering committee, and an active advocate of technology-driven economic development in Northeast Ohio. He holds a Master's Degree in Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University, and is President of the Northeast Ohio Alumni Chapter. Joe is a member of the Optical Society of America.
Alberto Fernandez-Nieves, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Alberto Fernandez-Nieves is the Dunn Family Assistant Professor of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Granada (Spain) and came to the US to work with David Weitz as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in 2001. Before joining Georgia Tech, he was Lecturer in the Department of Applied Physics at the University of Almeria (Spain). His research is in Soft Condensed Matter Physics with a focus on the connection between microscopic order and macroscopic properties.
Jan Lagerwall, Seoul National University
Dr. Jan Lagerwall got his MSc in Physics and PhD in Materials Science at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, working primarily with chiral smectic liquid crystals. During post-docs in the USA and Germany he started working also with nanoparticles and lyotropic liquid crystals, and he developed the new field of coaxial liquid crystal electrospinning in collaboration with Prof. Younan Xia. After three years as a group leader at Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, setting up an additional activity in liquid crystal microfluidics, he took on a professorship at Seoul National University, Korea, in September 2010. In April 2007 he obtained the Swedish Docent title in Physics at Chalmers University of Technology and in December 2010 additionally the German Habilitation in Physical Chemistry at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. (These titles can be considered the Swedish and German equivalents, respectively, to the American Associate Professor's title.) The current research interests are broad, reflecting his activity at an institute of convergence science, ranging from liquid crystal phase transitions in spherical shells to wearable technology and smart textiles, via nanoparticle dispersion and polymer physical chemistry.
Deng-Ke Yang, Kent State University
Dr. Deng-Ke Yang is a professor in the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program in the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University. He received his B.S. in physics from Tsinghua University in China in 1984 and his Ph. D. in physics from University of Hawaii in 1989. He joined the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University in 1989. His main research interest is in liquid crystal physics and displays. He has co-authored two books and three book chapters. He also has published more than 100 papers in refereed journals and SID proceedings. He holds 23 patents. He received SID Special Recognition Award for his pioneer work on polymer stabilized cholesteric devices and reflective displays. He was elected as a fellow of SID in 2007 for his significant scientific and technological contributions to bistable, reflective cholesteric displays and to polymer-stabilized cholesteric devices, and for his outstanding contributions to education in the field of liquid crystal technology.
John West, Kent State University
Dr. John L. West is a Trustees Research Professor in the Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI) and Department of Chemistry at Kent State University. He joined Kent State in 1984 as a senior research fellow of the LCI. He served as director of LCI and the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials (ALCOM) from 1996 to 2002, and served as vice president for research and dean of graduate studies at Kent State from 2003 to 2010. During that time, he worked with NorTech to establish FlexMatters, a collaboration designed to support the growth of the flexible electronics industry in Ohio. West holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the College of William & Mary, and a master's in chemistry and Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. He recently spent a year splitting his time between Kent State and Central Washington University, helping the latter with evaluating and establishing a research foundation.
Nicholas Abbott, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Nicholas Abbott is a John T. and Magdalen L. Sobota Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Abbott's research revolves around investigations of interfacial phenomena and complex fluids. One research thrust is advancing the design of interfaces of liquid crystalline materials. Functional organic interfaces that confine liquid crystalline phases have been designed and synthesized to create liquid crystals that undergo surface-induced ordering transitions (and thus change optical properties) in response to targeted molecular and biomolecular phenomena. General principles are being established that couple the ordering of liquid crystals to molecular events such as ligand-exchange reactions at mental centers, redox transformations, chemical modifications of peptides such as phosphorylation, specific binding events involving proteins and viruses, the activities of enzymes, as well as biophysical phenomena such as biomechanical forces generated by living mammalian cells. Dr. Abbott has over 220 publications and nearly 40 issued U.S. patents.
Gary Wnek, Case Western Reserve University
A native of Amsterdam, NY, Dr. Gary Wnek received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1980. He has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and the Department of Chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and was Founding Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2004, he joined Case Western Reserve University as Professor of Chemical Engineering, the Joseph F. Toot, Jr., Professor of Engineering, and Co-Director of The Institute for Management and Engineering (TiME). In 2006, he became Faculty Director of TiME and was Chair of the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering from 2006-2009. Gary was recently named the Faculty Director of 'think[box],' a new institute at CWRU focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. Gary's research interests include polymers in medicine (tissue engineering scaffolds, drug delivery; electrostatic polymer processing of nanofibers and nanoparticles), microfluidic devices, and polymers in energy storage. He is also a strong proponent of innovation and entrepreneurship and the connection between academic research and technological applications. Research from his laboratory has translated to commercialization in several areas including energy management, water purification, and biomaterials for regenerative medicine and drug delivery. Gary received the 2007 John W. Hyatt Award (benefit to society) from the Society of Plastics Engineers for his work on polymer nano- and microfibers for regenerative medicine and related biomedical applications.
Matthew Putman, Columbia University and Nanotronics Imaging
Dr. Matthew Putman is a research scientist at Columbia University and founder of the technology company Nanotronics Imaging. He was an owner of Tech Pro Inc. which was acquired by Roper Industries in 2008. Matthew is on the Advisory board of Imagine Science Films, and The Cure is Now. He is also a mentor for the Thiel Foundations 20 under 20. He is a musician, having recorded two albums, "Perennial" and the "Gowanus Recordings". He produces plays, including the critically acclaimed "Perdita" off Broadway, and films such as "The Definition of Insanity". His book of poetry includes poems Magnificent Chaos written about science, sickness and mortality. Matthew is a board member of The Montauk Observatory, and a founding patron of the World Science Festival. He is a member of The New York Academy of Science, American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, and a task force leader of ASTM. He writes a blog Converging Minds, and has a Website with his music and poetry. Matthew holds 6 patents.
Christopher Malcuit, Kent State University
Dr. Christopher Malcuit is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Kent State University. His research efforts focus on the molecular interactions between cells and their environment, to determine how this signaling impacts cell fate and functionality, and how cellular substratum may be modified to direct these parameters for biomedical applications. Currently, his group is studying mechanisms controlling muscle regeneration in ageing and damaged tissues, as well as soft tissue integration to advanced, functionalized, neuroprosthetic implant surfaces. Prior to joining Kent State, he served as Research Assistant Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute as well as Chief Development Officer for Cellthera Inc., developing novel tissue engineering paradigms for the treatment of large-scale skeletal muscle injuries. He also served as Director of Process Development & Manufacturing for Advanced Cell Technology's promising stem cell therapeutic platform for the treatment of retinal dystrophies, and holds a Ph.D. in Animal Biotechnology & Biomedical Sciences from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.