Alessandro Alabastri TI Research Assistant Professor, ECE Dept., Rice University E-mail: [email protected], Web: http://alabastri.rice.edu Research: photothermal effects and transport mechanisms in micro/nano-systems APPOINTMENTS Apr. 2015 – present Rice University, ECE Department – Houston, TX (USA) Texas Instruments Research Assistant Professor (July 2018 – present) NEWT Postdoctoral Leadership Fellow (Oct. 2016 – Jul. 2018) Advisors: Prof. Peter Nordlander and Prof. Naomi Halas Postdoctoral Fellow (Apr. 2015 – Oct. 2016) Advisor: Prof. Peter Nordlander Additional appointments: Consultant for Syzygy Plasmonics, Inc and Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc for photo-induced heat dissipation and thermal transport modeling. Jan. 2015 – Apr. 2015 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Berkeley, CA (USA) Visiting Researcher at the Molecular Foundry (User Program) Advisors: Prof. Remo Proietti Zaccaria (IIT) and Dr. Stefano Cabrini (LBNL) Apr. 2014 – Apr. 2015 Italian Institute of Technology – Genoa (Italy) Postdoctoral fellow – Nanostructures and Neuroscience Departments Advisor: Prof. Remo Proietti Zaccaria EDUCATION Jan. 2011 – Apr. 2014 - PhD in Nanosciences Italian Institute of Technology and University of Genoa - Genova (Italy) Thesis: “Modeling the optical response of plasmonic nanostructures: electric permittivity, magnetic permeability and the influence of temperature” Advisors: Prof. Enzo Di Fabrizio and Prof. Remo Proietti Zaccaria Sep. 2007 – Oct. 2009 - MSc in Engineering Physics Polytechnic University of Milan – Milan (Italy) Nano-Optics and Photonics - GPA: 27.4/30.0, Final grade: 107/110 Apr. 2009 – Oct. 2009 – MSc Project with ERASMUS Scholarship Technical University of Denmark – Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark) Thesis: “Optical characterisation of Metamaterials" Advisors: Prof. Giulio Cerullo, Prof. Andrei Lavrinenko - Final grade: 12/12 Sep. 2004 – Jul. 2007 - BSc in Engineering Physics - Final grade: 100/110 Polytechnic University of Milan – Milan (Italy) Thesis: “Study of a Poli(para-phenylene) polymer sample using Scanning Near- field Optical Microscopy with polarization analysis” Advisor: Prof. Marco Finazzi HONORS AND AWARDS 2018 Texas Instrument Research Professorship from Rice University 2017 Association of American Universities, selected from one hundred applications to participate in the inaugural University Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Showcase in Washington, D.C 2017 (Co-PI) I-Corps Program, NSF ($50K): the program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the University for basic-research Projects that are ready to move toward commercialization. 2016: NEWT Postdoctoral Leadership Fellowship, NSF: awarded, for the first time, from the Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) center in recognition for the service to the Engineering Research Center. 2016: Travel Grant: awarded from the Smalley-Curl Institute Travel Grant at the annual Transdisciplinary Symposium for a talk on Nanophotonics Enabled Solar Membrane Distillation. 2015: User Program at the Molecular Foundry, LBNL: The Molecular Foundry user program gives researchers access to expertise and equipment for cutting-edge nanoscience in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. 2014 (Co-PI): ARIADNA grant from ESA - European Space Agency (€30K): Ariadna is an initiative of the European Space Agency to establish a link with the European academic community in advanced space technology research. TEACHING 2019: Finite Element Method for Multiphysics Modeling – Graduate Level, Full Semester (Spring), 3 credits – Instructor 2016: Modeling Light and Heat in Nanoparticles (2 hrs.) Introduction to COMSOL for Electromagnetic modeling (2 hrs.) Graduate Level, Seminar – Instructor (voluntary) 2015 – 2016: Quantum Optics (6hrs.), Computational Electrodynamics (2hrs.) Graduate Level – Substitute Teacher MENTORSHIP 2019: Summer Intern supervisor of an Undergraduate Researcher in Chemical Engineering (Rice University) at Syzygy Plasmonics, Inc. 2019: MSc thesis co-supervisor “Ultrafast Photo-Induced Symmetry Breaking in Plasmonic Nanostructures” - Polytechnic School of Milan, Italy. 2019: MSc thesis reviewer “Efficiency Limit of Far- and Near-field Thermophotovoltaic Energy Conversion” – Rice University, USA. 2019: MSc thesis reviewer “Titanium Dioxide Metasurface for Vacuum Ultraviolet Third- harmonic Generation” – Rice University, USA. 2019: PhD thesis reviewer - Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Italy. “Nanotopographical control of cell assembly into complex networks” 2017: Hosted undergraduate student from Ecole Centrale Paris, France (now Graduate at Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy) for 4 months. The work contributed to 5 publications ([33], [37], [41], [42], [47] of complete publication list) 2016, 2017: Hosted student from Scarsdale High School (NY, USA) (now Undergraduate at Vanderbilt University) for 2 months SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITIES 2019: Organizer - Light for energy: photonic and thermal nanotechnology Symposium, SWRM 2019 (scheduled), El Paso, TX (USA) 2019: Co-Organizer - Thermoplasmonics and Photo-thermal Applications Focus Session, PIERS 2019, Rome (Italy) 2018: Review Panelist – 2019 cycle GEM Fellowship applications 2017: Chair – Plasmonic Nanostructures and Nanofabrication session 2016: Chair - Advanced Optical Properties of Nanomaterials session SPIE Optics+Photonics, San Diego (USA). Referee for: Nature Communications, Nano Letters, ACS Nano, ACS Photonics, Advanced Materials, Physical Review Letters, Journal of Optics, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics Letters, Materials, Optics and Lasers Engineering, Optics Communications, Laser & Photonics Reviews, Optics Communications, Nano Energy, Journal of Material Chemistry C, Nanoscale, Computer Physics Communications, Polymers, Applied Surface Science, Applied Thermal Engineering – publons: merit 95th percentile Member of: Italian Optical Society for Optics and Photonics (SIOF) – Italian branch of the European Optical Society (EOS), NEWT (Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment) Consortium, SPIE – The International Society for Optical Engineering MAIN SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS Predicted the role of temperature non-linearities in plasmonic nanostructures. The study led to the realization of high-aspect ratio antennas which can be used to self-limit light absorption for optoelectronics applications (Materials, 6, 2013, ACS Photonics, 2(1), 2015, Nano Lett., 17(9), 2017 ). Investigated field gradients in metallic particles for dipole-forbidden transitions. The strong electric field gradients at the surface of particles can excite dipole-forbidden modes in nearby molecules for sensing applications (ACS Nano, 10(4) ,2016). Conceived and optimized the use of light-absorbing nanoparticles for scalable solar water desalination systems. The technology is named Nanophotonics Enabled Solar Membrane Distillation (NESMD) and exploits heat localization to vaporize and purify water (PNAS, 114(27), 2017, PNAS, 116(27), 2019). INVITED - TALKS AND SEMINARS [17] 2020 scheduled - Symposium ‘Frontiers of Plasmonics and Nanophotonics’ - Nanoscale heating for macroscale challenges: light harvesting for water desalination, Invited Speaker, PQE (Physics of Quantum Electronics), (January, Snowbird UT, USA) [16] 2020 scheduled, Colloquium (Dept. of Physics) - From sunlight to fresh water: nanoscale photothermal effects for desalination, The University of New Mexico, (Albuquerque, USA) [15] 2019 scheduled – Seminar (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering) – Photothermal effects: from nanoscale effects to water desalination, Rice University (Houston TX, USA) [14] 2019 Focus Session: Thermoplasmonics and Photo-thermal Applications - Photothermal epoxy curing with plasmonic nanoparticles: From modeling to experiments, META 2019 (July, Lisbon, Portugal) [13] 2019 Focus Session: Thermal-photonics for information and energy applications - Light, Heat, Water: from plasmonic particles to solar powered desalination, PIERS 2019 ( Rome, Italy) [12] 2019 Webinar: Modeling of Nanophotonics Enabled Solar Membrane Desalination, – to appear in IEEE Spectrum [11] 2019 - expected - Heat dissipation non linearities in metallic nanostructures, 6th Thermal Probe Workshop (March, Zurich, Switzerland) [10] 2018 - Heat Dissipation in Nanostructures: from plasmonic particles to Solar-Powered Desalination Device, Invited Speaker, COMSOL Days, (Houston TX, USA) [9] 2018 - Heat dissipation and hot carriers in nanostructures, Seminar Presenter, Berkeley Lab, (Berkeley CA, USA) [8] 2018 - Heat dissipation, hot carriers in nanostructures and Nanophotonic Distillation Systems, Seminar Presenter, Holosense, (Seattle WA, USA) [7] 2018 - Nanophotonics Enabled Solar Membrane Distillation: refining membrane distillation strategies, Invited Speaker, MRS Spring Meeting, (Phoenix AZ, USA) [6] 2018 - Heat dissipation in nanostructures: from plasmonic particles to solar powered distillation devices, Invited Speaker at Optical Science & Engineering seminar, The University of New Mexico, (2018, Albuquerque NM, USA) [5] 2017 - Plasmon Induced Hot Carrier Generation, Invited Oral Presentation, SPIE Optics+Photonics, (San Diego, USA) [4] 2017 - Quantum Plasmonics, Invited Oral Presentation, SPIE Optics+Photonics, (2017, San Diego, USA) [3] 2017 -Nanoparticles induced light to vapor conversion for off-grid water purification: full multiphysics modeling, SPIE Optics+Photonics, Invited Oral Presentation, (San Diego, USA) [2] 2016 - High Temperature Nanoplasmonics, SPIE Optics+Photonics,