By combining their expertise in physics and chemistry, Matt Pelton and Marie-Christine Daniel are working toward the next big leap in computing. Both are engaged in photonics research, which is “the idea of using light—photons—to do information processing instead of using electrons like you do in electronics,” explains Pelton, associate professor of physics at UMBC.

Using light rather than electrons, as in fiber-optic telecommunication cables, is “faster, and you can send a lot more information,” Pelton says. However, no computer today runs exclusively on photons. “The huge pipeline of data coming down optical fibers all has to be converted to an electrical signal and then distributed to all the different processors in the computer. That’s the big power and time bottleneck,” Pelton says.

“If you could do as much of the function of the computer chip as possible using photons instead of electrons, then you would be able to use less power and do things more efficiently,” he says. “So there’s a big push to try to bring photonics down to the single chip scale.”

That’s where this interdisciplinary duo comes in. They’re working to develop a unique combination of existing chemical structures to enable photon-driven computer functionality even in the computer’s most fundamental building blocks. A new three-year grant from the National Science Foundation will enable Pelton and Daniel to make faster progress on their project and involve more students.

A new kind of switch

Daniel and Pelton’s novel technique depends on being able to reliably create very specific chemical structures. By binding two types of known structures in a particular arrangement, they can create a kind of on-off switch. 

At its most basic level, a computer is just a lot of these switches. Whether they use ones and zeros, light and dark, or something else, the pattern of the switches encodes information. The new kind of switch that Daniel and Pelton are devising is different from what computers use now, because it relies on photons rather than electrons.

The light-driven structures Daniel and Pelton are working to build are made of quantum dots and metal nanoparticles. Quantum dots are tiny crystals only about 20 atoms in diameter. They’re made of semiconductor elements, similar to the silicon that powers electronics, and they can be designed to emit certain wavelengths (colors) of light. They’re even used in some televisions. The metal nanoparticles are larger, usually a few thousand atoms in diameter. They also appear as different colors based on the light they reflect and absorb, but they don’t emit their own light.

Through computer simulations, Pelton and Ph.D. student Vijin Veetil have demonstrated that by binding two rod-shaped nanoparticles (“nanorods”) and a quantum dot together in a specific way, their interaction can produce a structure that allows light to pass straight through both the dot and particle, when it would normally be scattered. Transmitting the light creates a transparent state rather than an opaque one. That switch from transparent to opaque, which can be controlled by an external beam of light, is exactly the kind of switch that could encode information in a computer.

Getting it just right

For this to work, Pelton and Daniel need to successfully construct molecular structures consisting of a single quantum dot stuck between two nanorods.

“It needs to be that configuration,” says Daniel, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, who is bringing on chemistry Ph.D. student Chanda Lowrance to help her tackle this project. “The quantum dot alone, or the nanoparticles alone, will not induce the transparency effect.” 

And just any quantum dot bound to any nanoparticle is not sufficient. They need to have specific sizes and shapes, so that the wavelength of light that the quantum dot absorbs, and the wavelength that the nanoparticle scatters, are very similar, Daniel explains. Then, “they can interact very efficiently and create that transparency.”

“That’s essentially the goal of this project—to take these structures from a cartoon to something we can actually make,” Daniel says. “And making this is not easy.” If Daniel, Pelton, and their students can do it, though, they’ll be setting the stage for a revolution in computing.

From random to reliable

Previous research has shown that it’s fairly straightforward to get the nanoparticles and dots to clump together in groups. “But we need to get just one of them. And we don’t want it to bind just anywhere. It has to be right there,” Pelton says. “That’s the big challenge.”

A procedure that allows metal particles and dots to bind together randomly does result in a very small number of structures in the desired configuration. When scientists tested those lucky few for the transparency effect, they matched results predicted by Pelton’s simulations, proving this technique can work.

Now, the challenge is producing a larger number of these structures. “When we’re synthesizing these things, we don’t want just a few of them to be the right structure; we want the majority of them to be the right structure,” Pelton says. “We need the ability to make them in much larger numbers, in order to be able to optimize them.” 

This is what the team is working on now. Their goal is that “by the end of the project we’ll have shown that we can make these things reliably, in larger numbers, and that we can use them as an on-off switch,” Pelton says.

The power of teamwork

“I didn’t know if this was going to work when we started,” Pelton says. But considering their progress so far, and the impact this new funding will have on accelerating their work, today Daniel and Pelton are optimistic about the future of light-based computing and other applications for their joint research.

While the work poses significant challenges, “of course it’s a big opportunity, too,” Pelton says. In addition to the duo’s goal to create light-driven computer chips, there could be other scenarios where it would be beneficial to combine nanoparticles. Different configurations could generate new and useful physical and chemical properties for all kinds of applications. 

Daniel and Pelton recognize the importance of their collaboration for the success of this work. Pelton’s theoretical and simulation expertise as well as his ability to do single-particle measurements, and Daniel’s in-depth knowledge of the chemistry and ability to find a way to make specific structures, have all been critical. 

“This is not something that any physicist or chemist could do alone,” Daniel reflects. “It takes both.”

Banner image: Matt Pelton (right) and Haixu Leng, Ph.D. ’19, physics. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

National Institutes Health (NIH) has published the revised Grants Policy Statement(NIHGPS) for FY 2020 https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-043.html. This revision is applicable to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods beginning on or after October 1, 2019 and supersedes the NIHGPS dated October 2018. While this revision does not introduce any new material, it incorporates new and modified requirements, clarifies certain policies and implements changes to statutes, regulations and policies that were previously implemented.

The most notable changes are:

•NIHGPS Section 11.3.13.1 – Statement of Appointment – Addition of language related to ORCID ID requirements.  Relevant NIH Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-10_ Requirement for ORCID iDs for Individuals Supported by Research Training, Fellowship, Research Education, and Career Development Awards Beginning in FY 2020

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-19-109.html 

Updates to Requirement: “The requirement for ORCID identifiers is incorporated into the appointment process for trainees, scholars, and participants supported by institutional research training, career development, and research education awards that require appointments through the xTrain system, including the following: T03, T15, T32, T34, T35, T37, T42, T90/R90, TL1, TL4, TU2, K12/KL2, R25, R38, RL5, and RL9…

At the time of appointment, the xTrain system will check whether appointees have ORCID IDs and appointments will be not be accepted for agency review unless an ORCID ID is linked to the individual's eRA Commons Personal Profile.”

•NIHGPS Section 12.4.1 – Application – Addition of language related to ORCID ID requirements. Relevant NIH Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-109_ Requirement for ORCID iDs for Individuals Supported by Research Training, Fellowship, Research Education, and Career Development Awards Beginning in FY 2020

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-19-109.html

Update to Requirement: “Beginning with receipt dates on or after January 25, 2020, the requirement for ORCID identifiers will be enforced at the time of application for individual fellowship and career development awards, including the following: F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F37, F38, F99/K00, FI2, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K18, K22, K23, K24, K25, K26, K38, K43, K76, and K99/R00…

eRA system validations will check whether applicants have ORCID iDs and applications will not be accepted unless an ORCID ID is linked to the PD/PI's eRA Commons Personal Profile.”

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Baltimore Center Stage is seeking a First Hand in the Costume Shop. The First Hand is responsible for assisting the Cutter/Draper in the execution of costumes built in the BCS Costume Shop. The position is seasonal and generally runs from August to May depending on the season schedule each year.

BCS produces a six-play season as well as a wide range of other artistic and community programs. We are committed to an inclusive workplace, and individuals from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Primary Responsibilities include:

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) are partnering to become Maryland’s first “age-friendly” universities. They join fifty-eight institutions worldwide that make up the Age-Friendly University (AFU) Global Network, led by Dublin City University in Ireland.

Universities earn the “age-friendly” designation by committing to ten guiding principles related to opportunities and resources that support active and healthy aging. The initiative is inspired by the World Health Organization’s age-friendly cities movement.

“What I love about the UMB and UMBC connection is that we draw many people together for a greater good. This is an interdisciplinary journey to address aging through a policy, business management, life sciences, entrepreneurship, and technology lens,” said UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski at a kickoff event for the partnership. 

“This is about mindset,” he continued. “It is a challenge that we face in our society to rethink how we think about aging and pull people into the work to listen to those perspectives. The more we grapple with these challenges, the more joy we will have in our societies.”

UMB Interim President Bruce Jarrell, said, “This worthy endeavor amplifies the many ways our institutions work separately and in collaboration to support healthy aging.” For example, UMB is developing an Academy of Lifelong Learning and, together, UMBC and UMB offer a gerontology doctoral program.

The launch event included representatives from UMBC’s Erickson School of Aging Studies and the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging at UMB’s School of Pharmacy, as well as UMB’s campus-wide Center for Research on Aging. Joining President Hrabowski were Jay A. Perman (then UMB president, and now the chancellor of the University System of Maryland) and Robert L. Caret (then USM chancellor).

Today I was pleased to join @UMBaltimore Pres. @JayPerman & @UMBC Pres. Freeman Hrabowski to kick-off the Age Friendly University Initiative. As the U.S. median age is increasing, universities should promote intergenerational learning & focus research on needs of an aging society pic.twitter.com/S6V9vBZoGP

— Robert Caret (@rcaret) November 21, 2019

Members of the UMBC-UMB steering committee for this project also participated in the announcement. These include faculty, staff, and student ambassadors who will help move this work forward on each campus.

Building on each other’s strengths

UMBC and UMB are the first universities in the State of Maryland to receive the AFU distinction. Each is positioned to implement the ten principles of the program in unique ways. 

Together, UMBC and UMB offer a geriatrics and gerontology education and research doctoral program through UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies. UMBC’s Erickson School of Aging Studies also offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees and certificate programs educating the next generation of leaders in the business of longevity. 

At UMB, students and faculty focus on the needs of older adults through medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and other fields. Nicole Brandt, executive director of the Lamy Center and a professor of pharmacy practice and science, says, “UMB, with its six professional schools and graduate school, addresses real-world health and social issues affecting the human condition and has a strong history of teaching, research, and service activities related to aging.” 

The principles of an Age-Friendly University are also embodied through the activities of UMB centers such as the Center for Research on Aging, based at the UM School of Medicine; the Biology and Behavior Across the Lifespan Organized Research Center, based at the UM School of Nursing; and the Lamy Center. And UMB’s interprofessional education efforts, such as the Aging in Place program and Stepping On fall prevention program, will continue to engage older residents of West Baltimore while also educating the future workforce.

“Being part of the Age-Friendly Global University Network is the perfect opportunity for UMBC and the State of Maryland to put a fresh lens on how society perceives aging in a population that is growing at rates we have never seen before,” shares Dana Bradley, dean of UMBC’s Erickson School of Aging Studies. 

“I am excited to be at the forefront of preparing students to develop innovative products and services across all industries in the longevity economy,” says Bradley. “Together, we can support a healthier and stronger society.”

Banner image: UMBC and UMB Age-Friendly University steering committee. All images by Matthew D’agostino for UMB.