Organization and Management  

Director

The principal investigator of this proposal will serve as the Director of the program.  Dr. Alexander Cartwright is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and is active in both research and education in lasers, photonics and biophotonics. He is a 1998 National Science Foundation CAREER award winner, and a 2000 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator.  He is committed to trans-disciplinary research as evident by his funding in his primary research activities in semiconductor optoelectronics, with additional activities in electronics packaging (in collaboration with Cemal Basaran in Civil Engineering), and spintronics (in collaboration with Profs. McCombe, Luo, Gasparini, Petrou, and Markelz in the Department of Physics and Prof. Prasad in Chemistry).  In addition, Prof. Cartwright has experience in administrative activities including serving as Deputy Director of Lasers and Photonics in the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and BioPhotonics, Co-Director for the Electronics Packaging Laboratory, and Director of the Ultrafast Laser Facility of the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials. Equally important is Prof. Cartwright’s commitment to education.  Prof. Cartwright is active in the American Society for Engineering Education at both the National and Regional levels. He is the Associate Director for the Center for Active Learning of Microelectronics and Photonics and serves as a co-principal investigator of a National Science Foundation funded project for the development of educational materials for photonics and microelectronics.  Finally, he serves as the Department of Electrical Engineering Financial Aid Director that requires that he manage the assignment of eighteen teaching assistant lines per year.  Most importantly, Prof. Cartwright realizes that this program will only be successful if managed by an excellent staff and executive committee (described later).  Collectively, this large array of activities has given him the experience to direct this biophotonics program.

Staff and Office Support

Institute support staff will be used.  In addition, we will fund an additional quarter time of a secretary to help with the additional work generated by this proposal.

Steering Committee

The IGERT program will be administered by a five-member steering committee chaired by the Principal Investigator of the NSF grant. The steering committee will have a rotating membership.  The initial assignment of the steering committee is the five Co-PI’s on this grant: Bergey, Cartwright, Kofke, McCombe, and Prasad.

Advisory Board

We have assembled an external Advisory Board that will attend the University at Buffalo once per year for an evaluation of this IGERT program and to advise the steering committee and the Director.  Our preliminary list of people that have agreed to serve on this Advisory Board includes: P. C. Taylor, Department of Physics, University of Utah, Tony Heinz, Department of Physics, Columbia University, Elias Towe, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Virginia, Mostafa El-Sayed (Member National Academy of Sciences), Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Tech, and Frank Karasz (Member National Academy of Engineering), Polymer Science, University of Massachusetts.  The Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics will provide the funding for the travel for this advisory board to visit the University.  The specific milestones against which the success of this program will be measured are outlined in section C.g.: Performance Assessment.

Procedures for Selection of Students who will Receive Stipends

Students will be selected on a combined need and merit basis.  Students that are extremely qualified will be directly admitted into the IGERT program (requirements will be the similar to our fellowship requirements – GRE scores greater than 2000 and top 10% of graduation class). These requirements are not concrete.  Although we will attempt to meet this with all enrolled students, we will also base awards of the fellowships on the match of the student with specific teams of faculty involved in this proposal.

Relationships to Other Faculty and Equipment at the Institution

The successful completion of this project requires an interdisciplinary team of researchers. This team has already been assembled under the auspices of the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics.  Investigators included in this project are already involved in interdisciplinary research.  This IGERT program will allow for the complete integration of these research efforts.  Furthermore, the University has expended considerable resources in the formation of the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics, the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials (CAPEM), which is presently affiliated with the Institute, and the Center for Computational Research (CCR).  It has demonstrated consistent ongoing support for these organizations by providing personnel, space and equipment funds necessary for the development of this multidisciplinary institute and the super-computing center.  This commitment includes the formation and continuing support of the Materials Research Instrument Facility (MRIF), which is part of CAPEM. 

The Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials (CAPEM) was formed in 1997 as an umbrella organization to foster interactions and collaboration among the diverse research and development activities at the University at Buffalo in the areas of photonic and electronic materials.  The development of such materials and structures, which are of increasing interest in our high technology society, requires a range of expertise that crosses the boundaries of traditional disciplines.  The Center facilitates cooperative multidisciplinary activities and multi-investigator research projects involving photonic and electronic materials.  Targeted areas of investigation include: compound semiconductor materials, nanostructures and devices; polymeric materials and hybrid structures primarily for photonic applications, and spintronic and spin photonic materials and devices.  CAPEM brings together researchers from the departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Physics. CAPEM researchers undertake both basic and applied research projects in the focus areas as well as in other related areas.

CAPEM and CCR both have missions distinct from but complementary to that of the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics.  These centers will strengthen the Institute’s ability to conduct this research but neither has capability of conducting a comprehensive program in Biophotonics.

Procedures for Shared Biology Laboratory

The shared biology laboratory proposed in this proposal will be under the direct supervision of Dr. Earl J. Bergey.  Dr. Bergey will be the lead faculty member for the development of the biophotonics laboratory and will monitor the use of this facility.  Dr. Bergey has a technician paid by the Medical School that will help with the proper maintenance of this educational facility.  Once IGERT fellows have completed a safety course in the proper procedures for this Biology laboratory they will have access on a needs basis (provided there are no teaching laboratories taking place).