Colloidal nanocrystals can combine the advantages of crystalline inorganic semiconductors with the size-tunable electronic structure and inexpensive solution-based device fabrication. Single- and multicomponent nanocrystal assemblies, also known as superlattices, provide a powerful general platform for designing two- and three-dimensional solids with tailored electronic, magnetic, and optical properties.

The necessity to identify the plethora of still unknown biomarkers and reaction pathways required to individualize therapeutics to patient-specific phenotypes or to mass distribute cost effective microfluidic assaying devices to developing counties is pressing. However, the daunting number of unique compounds and reactions playing important roles renders any attempt at progress without high throughput considerations ludicrous.

Quantum mechanics has been enormously successful in describing nature at the atomic level, and most physicists believe that it is in principle the "whole truth" about the world even at the everyday level. However, such a view primafacie leads to a severe problem: in certain circumstances, the most natural interpretation of the theory implies that no definite outcome of an experiment occurs until the act of "observation". For many decades this problem was regarded as "merely philosophical", in the sense that it was thought that it had no consequences which could be tested in experiment.

Carbon nanomaterials have attracted significant attention due to their potential to improve applications such as transistors, transparent conductors, solar cells, batteries, and biosensors. In the seminar, Prof. Hersam highlight his latest efforts to develop strategies for purifying, functionalizing, and assembling carbon nanomaterials into functional devices.