{"id":2575,"date":"2009-04-10T06:39:53","date_gmt":"2009-04-10T06:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/2009\/04\/reactions-ted-sargent.html"},"modified":"2011-12-20T11:08:22","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T11:08:22","slug":"reactions_ted_sargent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/2009\/04\/reactions_ted_sargent.html","title":{"rendered":"Reactions – Ted Sargent"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. What made you want to be a chemist \u2013 or scientist\/engineer in your case?<\/em><\/p>\n

From an early age I loved applied physics \u2013 particularly the opportunity to solve a diverse range of application-oriented problems using a strikingly compact set of mathematical tools and physical ideas. And I grew up in town where III<\/span>-V compound semiconductor quantum optoelectronics (quantum well lasers etc) was hot and exciting.<\/p>\n

2. If you weren\u2019t a chemist\/scientist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?<\/em><\/p>\n

A dog walker. Fun to get outdoors and hang out with the dogs.<\/p>\n

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?<\/em><\/p>\n

(1) We are trying to break the solar energy compromise: today, solar cells are either efficient, or low-cost, but not both. We are working towards breaking the compromise by harvesting the sun\u2019s full spectrum, including the infrared rays, using spectrally-tunable solution-processed colloidal quantum dots incorporated into photovoltaic devices.<\/p>\n

(2) Working with chemist Prof. Shana Kelley, we are endeavouring to build chips that can detect a panel of nucleic acid biomarkers that are the harbingers of disease. We use a diverse range of nanostructures to display the molecular bait sequences; the Kelley team\u2019s electrocatalytic reporter system to gain up the signal; and a merger of top-down lithography and bottom-up materials chemistry to integrate the nanostructures on chip. Together we are building low-cost, high-sensitivity, wide-dynamic range molecular detection systems.<\/p>\n

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?<\/em><\/p>\n

George Washington. The more I read about him, the more it becomes clear that he united practical brilliance with a lack of pretention. And I loved the fact that he clearly worried a lot \u2013 even despaired \u2013 yet triumphed. He was confident in himself without taking success for granted.<\/p>\n

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Back when I was a grad student. Some of my last experiments involved lowish-temperature (30\u2013250 K) measurements of lateral current injection laser current-voltage-light characteristics. Temperature turned out to be a power experimental degree of freedom that helped us elucidate the inner workings of this new class of devices.<\/p>\n

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?<\/em><\/p>\n

Book: New York Times: The Complete Front Pages: 1851-2008<\/p>\n

Music Album: Glenn Gould – Bach – The Partitas, Preludes, Fugues & Fughettas<\/p>\n

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions \u2013 and why?<\/em><\/p>\n

Harry Atwater and David Ginger \u2013 both astonishingly capable and versatile interdisciplinary fusions of {materials scientist \u2013 applied physicist \u2013 chemist \u2013 engineer}. In both cases I\u2019d love to know how on earth they honed and fused so many remarkable talents and so much knowledge.<\/p>\n

Ted Sargent<\/a> is in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering<\/a> at the University of Toronto<\/a>, and works on colloidal quantum dot photodetectors and photovoltaics, as well as multiplexed nucleic acids biosensors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. What made you want to be a chemist \u2013 or scientist\/engineer in your case?  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}