The College's Aerogel Research
Team is well represented in a special, peer-reviewed issue of the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids:
Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Aerogels.
Two faculty members – Ann Anderson
of mechanical engineering, and Mary Carroll of chemistry – are co-authors with a
total of five recent alumni, one exchange student and one current student.
The full citations for the papers
are:
·
Ben M. Gauthier ('02),
Smitesh D. Bakrania ('03), Ann M. Anderson, and Mary K. Carroll, “A
Fast Supercritical Extraction Technique for Aerogel Fabrication.”
J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 2004, 350, 238-243.
·
Ann M. Anderson,
Smitesh D. Bakrania ('03), Jan Konecny (exchange student from Czech Republic),
Ben M. Gauthier ('02), and Mary K. Carroll, “Detecting Sol-Gel Transition
using Light Transmission.” J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 2004, 350,
259-265.
·
Desiree L. Plata
('03), Yadira J. Briones ('04), Rebecca L. Wolfe ('03), Mary K. Carroll,
Smitesh D. Bakrania ('03), Shira G. Mandel ('05), and Ann M. Anderson,
“Aerogel-Platform Optical Sensors for Oxygen Gas.” J. Non-Cryst.
Solids, 2004, 350, 326-335.
Anderson and Carroll were the only
faculty from a liberal arts college or predominantly undergraduate institution
to participate in the conference. The other attendees were from
graduate-degree-granting institutions and national labs in the U.S. and Europe,
or from companies working in aerogel-related fields. Anderson and Carroll also
served as peer reviewers for other papers in the special issue.
Anderson, the Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and Emma
Watson-Day Associate Professor and chair of mechanical engineering; and
Carroll, associate professor of chemistry, lead the interdisciplinary research
project. It began in 2001, when Anderson and a student, Ben Gauthier '02, began
experimenting with a process to create the ultra-light matrix materials. After
consulting chemistry faculty for help in understanding the chemical processes,
students and faculty from both departments joined forces.
The challenge for the aerogel researchers
is to devise a manufacturing method that will make production of the material
more cost effective. Current applications are widely used in the space program,
where aerogels have been used as insulators on the Mars rover and to collect
comet dust.