{"650762":{"#nid":"650762","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Faces of Research - Meet Oliver Brand","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeet Oliver Brand\u003C\/strong\u003E, executive director of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN) at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIEN\u0026nbsp;is one of Georgia Tech\u0026#39;s 10 interdisciplinary research institutes (IRIs) within the Georgia Tech Research enterprise.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your field of expertise and why did you choose it?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMy research is in the area of Micro\u0026nbsp;Electro Mechanical\u0026nbsp;Systems or MEMS and,\u0026nbsp;in particular, the\u0026nbsp;development of micro-scale physical, chemical and biological sensors, which are fabricated using processes\u0026nbsp;similar to\u0026nbsp;the ones used to make integrated circuits. I was first introduced to this area at the beginning of my Ph.D. in the early 1990s and was initially fascinated by images of these micrometer-sized devices. We quickly learned that these beautiful, tiny structures and devices can have many useful applications.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat makes the way in which your IRI\u0026nbsp;enables campus research unique?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMy field of\u0026nbsp;research\u0026nbsp;MEMS and micro\/nanotechnology in\u0026nbsp;general\u0026nbsp;rely on expensive equipment to fabricate these tiny devices and systems. To enable research in this area, IEN maintains extensive core facilities for fabrication and characterization at the micro- and nanoscale. These facilities are not only used by Georgia Tech researchers, but by dozens of companies and other academic institutions. Many of these companies are start-ups that couldn\u0026rsquo;t do the work they do without access to these facilities. In addition, nanotechnology is a highly interdisciplinary field and the IRIs help bring together the interdisciplinary teams to tackle big problems.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat couldn\u0026rsquo;t have happened without your IRI?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIEN supports an incredibly talented team of research faculty and staff that have the goal of enabling nanotechnology research, development and commercialization done by Georgia Tech faculty, students, and external partners. Many nanotechnology research accomplishments at Georgia Tech and beyond could have simply not happened without the dedication of this team.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat impact is your research having on the world?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nLet me pick a timely example, the development of COVID-19 tests. Many of these tests have nanotechnology components in order to detect the virus that has nanometer dimensions by itself. Over the past year, we have been heavily involved in an NIH-funded program called Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics or\u0026nbsp;RADx, where we assist project teams developing novel tests with engineering expertise but also access to the core facilities I mentioned earlier. Some of the tests we have supported now already are commercially available.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ien.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ELearn more about IEN.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Faces of Research - Meet Oliver Brand"}],"uid":"27561","created_gmt":"2021-09-15 15:30:17","changed_gmt":"2021-09-20 18:40:08","author":"Angela Ayers","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"650761":{"id":"650761","type":"image","title":"Faces of Research - Meet Oliver Brand","body":null,"created":"1631719337","gmt_created":"2021-09-15 15:22:17","changed":"1631719337","gmt_changed":"2021-09-15 15:22:17","alt":"Faces of Research - Oliver Brand","file":{"fid":"246946","name":"faces of research banner-oliver-layout-1.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/faces%20of%20research%20banner-oliver-layout-1.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/faces%20of%20research%20banner-oliver-layout-1.png","mime":"image\/png","size":462637,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/faces%20of%20research%20banner-oliver-layout-1.png?itok=EIcDjGQj"}}},"media_ids":["650761"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"197261","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"12701","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}