World-Renowned Scholar on Nanomaterials Joins UD as First WBI Chair; Will Lead Dayton Drive to International Excellence in Nanotechnology

In the 15 years since he received his doctorate in chemistry from the Australian National University, Liming Dai has built an extraordinary résumé in research. That's one of the reasons he was handpicked for an extraordinary job: When he steps into the role of Wright Brothers Institute Endowed Chair in Nanomaterials at the University of Dayton, Dai will be charged with leading the Dayton area's most comprehensive venture into the world's most promising technology.

Dai will leave his professorship in polymer engineering at the University of Akron's College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering to build and guide a research program in nanomaterials at UD in collaboration with the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory. Located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Directorate is responsible for all materials research for the U.S. Air Force.

UD and AFRL officials announced Dai's appointment today during a reception for the new chair and those soon to be his colleagues at WPAFB and in the University's College of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering and Research Institute. He will join the UD community at the start of fall semester.
"What makes this position different than that of any other faculty chair in the nation is the central role it plays in the powerful collaboration between a federal laboratory, Ohio's Third Frontier program and the University of Dayton - which enjoys a well-established synergy in engineering, science and research," said Mickey McCabe, director of the University of Dayton Research Institute. "The work that Dr. Dai, his colleagues and his students conduct in nanomaterials here and at the Air Force Research Laboratory will have considerable impact not only in the Dayton region and in Ohio - by making significant contributions to this region's goal of technology-based economic development - but on our national research agenda as well by helping create in Dayton a nationally and internationally recognized center of excellence in nanomaterials."

Dai is the first chair to be funded and appointed in the WBI program designed to build chair-driven pockets of science and technology across Ohio and beyond. The Dayton Development Coalition raised half the $3 million endowment for the position with support from Ohio and the regional business community, and the University of Dayton provided matching funds.

Allan Crasto, head of UDRI's nonmetallic materials division and chair of the search committee, said Dai will begin his career at UD as a full professor in the School of Engineering, with a joint appointment at the Research Institute. Once he is on board, a joint appointment will also be sought for Dai in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Working in materials and devices with dimensions on the order of nanometers, commonly described by scientists as five to 10 atoms, Dai will work with researchers at AFRL and UDRI and with faculty and students in graduate level programs to enhance and expand nanomaterials research and education in Dayton. Nanotechnology is the fastest growing technology in the world today, with virtually no limit to its applications in medicine, industry, military, environment, information sciences and other fields, and nanomaterials and nanodevices are the building blocks of that technology.

In recent years, research at the University of Dayton has produced:

• affordable technology to uniformly distribute carbon nanofibers throughout polymers, creating composite materials that are lighter, stronger and more durable than other composite polymers -  as well as being thermally and electrically conductive - for use in aerospace, electronics, equipment manufacturing and automotive industries;
• record-breaking energy levels in nanocomposite magnets that can be made smaller and stronger than tradional magnets for use in countless applications, from faster and smaller computer hard drives to more efficient hybrid and hydrogen-powered automobiles to improved communication, electronic and medical devices;
  pioneering work in microscopy that allows researchers to see elements at the nano scale, or one-billionth of one meter; and
• a state-of-the-art nanoengineering, science and technology center scheduled for completion in August.

"We're very excited," Crasto said. "A chair will be the catalyst that accelerates what we're doing in nanomaterials, integrating our efforts in areas where we now have pockets of knowledge and expertise and bringing them together to form a critical mass."

In his first year, Dai will share his time between UD and the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, collaborating with peers, mentoring junior researchers and integrating programs to enhance collaboration between the University and the Directorate. In succeeding years, the chair will spend more time at the University while retaining strong ties with the Directorate. "Our goal is to elevate the level of research and to grow researchers who will become leaders in specific niche areas of nanomaterials," Crasto said.

Education is an equally important component of the chair program, and will begin with development and expansion of new and existing nanomaterials curricula and interdisciplinary programs at the graduate level, Crasto added. "We'll work to retrain our workforce and attract top-tier science and engineering students to UD. We'll then expand these programs at the undergraduate level, eventually working our way to the high school level. We believe introducing nanotechnology and nanomaterials concepts at the high school level can generate a lot of excitement in students to pursue these fields."

With a chair in place, the University of Dayton will be in a better position to obtain additional research funding from state and federal government agencies, Crasto said, and Dai has an established track record of attracting dollars for new programs: After joining the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Melbourne, Australia, in 1992 to develop extended-wear contact lenses, Dai discovered a lack of organized research in conducting polymers, fullerenes and carbon nanotubes - currently some of the most popular materials for applications based on nanotechnology. While working with a team to develop the now-patented technology used in Focus® Night & Day contact lenses, Dai pursued secondary research in conducting polymers.

He secured external funding for the new research, which led to expanded programs in fullerenes and carbon nanotubes as well. From there Dai built a world-renowned research team in nanomaterials.

He had similar success in securing funding and establishing a strong nanomaterials research presence at the University of Akron. 

Dai currently serves as an editorial board member for the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He has published more than 130 scientific papers and has received and applied for a total of 12 patents - six in the last two years alone. Regarded by peers as an authority on functional polymers and carbon nanotechnology, he regularly lectures across the United States and abroad.

Dai said he is looking forward to the opportunity to continue his research and teaching in Dayton.  "I am quite pleased to have found an ideal environment for the development of an interdisciplinary research program in nanomaterials," Dai said. "The world-class laboratories at AFRL and the University of Dayton, combined with strong community and industrial support and the unique Wright brothers' legacy, make Dayton one of the best places for engaging in nanotechnology research and development. I look forward to working closely with my colleagues to keep that legacy alive by developing an internationally recognized nanomaterials program in the 'Birthplace of Aviation.'"

June 4, 2004

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