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© 2004
Ames Laboratory
111 TASF
Ames, IA 50011-3020
(515) 294-9557
Updated
October 2, 2009
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Points
of Pride
Of national
note:
-
A tin-silver-copper solder alloy developed by Ames Laboratory senior metallurgist Iver Anderson has been widely adopted by the electronics industry to remove harmful lead from the environment. The patented lead-free solder has been licensed by more than 60 companies in the United States and around the world and generated more than $20 million in earned licensing income for the Lab and Iowa State University.
-
Iowa
State is the only university nationwide that has a U.S. Department
of Energy research laboratory physically located on its campus.
- The Ames Laboratory celebrates its 63rd anniversary in 2010, continuing a more than half century of successful partnership between a federal agency, the Department of Energy, and a state-run institution, Iowa State University.
- Ames
Laboratory's Materials Preparation Center produces the purest
rare-earth materials used in academic and industrial research
today.
- Ames Laboratory scientists have received 17 prestigious R&D 100 Awards since 1984, the latest of which was awarded in 2009. These awards, sometimes called the "Oscars of Science," are part of an annual competition that recognizes the nation's top 100 technological innovations. In 2001, R&D Magazine named Ames Laboratory scientist Ed Yeung's Adsorption Detection System in Multiple Capillaries as the most promising new technology of the year.
- Of
the aproximately 65 regional Science Bowl competitions, Ames Laboratory
is one of only 13 sites nationwide to field a National champion
and to have participated in the National Science Bowl since
its inception in 1991.
Of historical
note:
- Pioneering
work at Ames Laboratory in inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy
led to conception and development of an analysis tool standard
in 17,000 analytical laboratories worldwide. The ICP enables
the rapid and accurate determination of up to 80 elements in
metals; alloys; and liquids, such as oil, serum, blood and
soils. This determination is accurate down to levels of a few
parts per trillion or less.
- The
process to produce large quantities of high-purity uranium
metal was developed at Iowa State as part of the Manhattan
Project during World War II. Iowa State provided one third
of the uranium metal used in the world's first controlled nuclear
chain reaction (modifications of this process are still used
today to produce high-purity uranium and rare-earth materials).
Alumni
of note:
- Harley
Wilhelm (Ph.D. 1931), developed the most efficient process
to produce uranium metal for the Manhattan Project, a process
still used today.
- Velmer
Fassel (Ph.D. 1947), internationally known for developing an
analytical process, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission
spectroscopy (ICP-AES), used for chemical analysis in almost
every research laboratory in the world; former deputy director
of the Ames Laboratory.
- James
Renier (Ph.D. 1955), chairman and chief executive officer of
Honeywell Inc. (1988-93).
- Darleane
C. Hoffman (Ph.D. 1951), a 1997 recipient of the National Medal
of Science, is one of the researchers who confirmed the existence
of element 106, seaborgium.
- John
Weaver (Ph.D. 1973), named Scientist of the Year for 1997 by
R&D Magazine. Weaver is currently head of the Department
of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign.
- James
Halligan (B.S. 1962, M.S. 1965, Ph.D. 1967), president of Oklahoma
State University (1994-present).
- James
W. Mitchell (Ph.D. 1970), named Iowa State University's first
George Washington Carver Professor in 1994. He is also the
winner of two R&D 100 Awards and the prestigious Percy
L. Julian Research Award given by the National Organization
for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical
Engineers for innovative industrial research. Mitchell is vice
president of the Materials Research Laboratory at Bell Laboratories,
Lucent Technologies.
Faculty
of note:
- John
Corbett, chemistry and Ames Laboratory, member of the National
Academy of Sciences, created the first noncarbon example of
buckyballs; discovered more than 1,000 new materials.
- Karl Gschneidner, Jr., senior scientist, modern-day developer of magnetic refrigeration technology that has the potential for significant energy savings with fewer environmental problems than existing refrigeration systems.
- Iver Anderson, senior metallurgist, developed a tin-silver-copper solder alloy that has been widely adopted by the electronics industry to remove harmful lead from the environment. The patented lead-free solder has been licensed by some 60 companies worldwide.
- Kai-Ming
Ho, Che-Ting Chan, and Costas Soukoulis, physics and Ames Laboratory,
were the first to design and demonstrate the existence of photonic
band gap crystals, a discovery that led to the development
of the rapidly expanding field of photonic crystals. Photonic
crystals are expected to have revolutionary applications in
optical communication and other areas of light technology.
- Pat
Thiel, chemistry and Ames Laboratory, received one of the first
100 National Science Foundation Women in Science and Engineering
Awards (presented in 1991).
- Edward
Yeung, chemistry and Ames Lab, first person to quantitatively
analyze the chemical contents of a single human red blood cell,
using a device that he designed and built; the development
could lead to improved detection of AIDS, cancer and genetic
diseases such as Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy and Down's
syndrome. Yeung has won four R&D 100 Awards and an Editor's
Choice award from R&D Magazine for this pioneering work.
He is also the 2001 recipient of the American Chemical Society
Award in Chromatography for his research in chemical separations.
- Klaus
Rudenberg, physics and Ames Laboratory, 2001 recipient of the
American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry for
his innovative research in the field of theoretical chemistry.
- Frank
Spedding (deceased), directed the chemistry phase of the Manhattan
Project in World War II, which led to the world's first controlled
nuclear reaction. He was Iowa State's second member of the
National Academy of Sciences and the first director of the
Ames Laboratory.
- Harley Wilhelm
(deceased), developed the most efficient process to produce uranium
metal for the Manhattan Project, a process still used today.
- Velmer Fassel
(deceased), internationally known for developing an analytical
process, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy
(ICP-AES), used for chemical analysis in almost every research
laboratory in the world; former deputy director of the Ames Laboratory.
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