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Smalley-Curl Institute

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Smalley-Curl Institute

Home of the Applied Physics Graduate Program and provides members support in forging new, cross-cutting and interdisciplinary research areas.

The Smalley-Curl Institute (SCI) was created in 2015 from the merger of two of Rice multidisciplinary research institutes, the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the Rice Quantum Institute. SCI is the home of the Applied Physics Graduate Program and of several endowed postdoctoral research fellowships. It participates in establishing strong industrial collaborati

ons, and takes part in novel educational and outreach programs, such as the Professional Science Master’s Program in Nanoscale Science. The Institute assists its members in forging new, cross-cutting and interdisciplinary research areas, and in seeking new means of supporting their work. Research in SCI encompasses advanced materials, quantum magnetism, plasmonics and photonics, biophysics and bioengineering, ultracold atom physics, condensed matter and chemical physics, and all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

05/12/2026

Save the date! The 40th annual SCI Summer Research Colloquium will be Friday, August 7th. Registration details coming soon.

05/09/2026

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the APP travel awards for Summer 2026! We had many excellent applications this year for these competitive awards. Students will receive funding to cover a portion of expenses incurred for travel to and/or participation in a conference or scientific meeting related to their research this term. Thank you to all nominating faculty and congratulations to the recipients!

05/05/2026

Masters Thesis Defense: George Tomaras
Date & Time: Friday, May 8 at 9:00 am
Location: Brockman Hall for Physics, BRK200 (+Zoom)

Host Department: Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Guido Pagano
Committee: Thomas C. Killian, Songtao Chen

Title: Individual Addressing of Trapped Ions for Quantum Simulation of Coherent and Dissipative Dynamics

Abstract:
Trapped ions interacting with electromagnetic radiation have been a successful platform for the simulation of quantum systems. This thesis details the design and characterization of an optical system that enables individual addressing of trapped ions for quantum simulation of coherent and dissipative dynamics via stimulated Raman transitions. The shared harmonic motion of the ions is utilized for selective entanglement and sympathetic cooling. To realize this architecture, active stabilization of the power, repetition rate, and pointing were implemented for a 355-nm pulsed laser. Optical manipulation delivers an array of 1 × 11 beams with horizontal waists of ∼ 1.2 µm, spacing of ∼ 4.4 µm, and optical crosstalk of ∼ 10−12. This versatile apparatus will enable the simulation of complex phenomena, including exciton transfer in biological systems, three-body couplings in lattice field theories, and digital-analog hybrids with the aid of a spatial light modulator.

Zoom link
https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/94535512945?pwd=5V4fMeqQ6EbqJ6sCld8d230EmOvXeE.1

04/28/2026

3rd year APP student George Tomaras in the Pagano Lab, presented at last week's RQI Quantum Group meeting.

04/27/2026

Masters Thesis Defense: Luke Kay
Date & Time: Thursday, April 30, 2026 10:00 am
Location: BRK 300 (+Zoom)

Host Department: ECE
Advisor: Naomi Halas
Committee: Peter Nordlander, Alessandro Alabastri

Title: Engineering Tunable Plasmonic Materials for Near- and Mid-Infrared Nanophotonics

Abstract
Mid- and near-infrared spectral regions are critical for emerging applications in photodetection, chemical sensing, and photocatalysis, where plasmonics enables strong electromagnetic field enhancement and confinement. However, the development of plasmonic materials in these regimes remains limited by incomplete understanding of their optical permittivities and morphological variability, leaving some spectral regions largely unexplored. In this thesis, tunable plasmonic platforms are developed for the design of next-generation nanophotonic devices and metasurfaces. Titanium oxynitride (TiOxNy) is investigated as a near-infrared material, with its plasmonic behavior tailored through controlled synthesis pathways. Gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) is explored as a mid-infrared plasmonic material, where its optical response is tuned via gallium doping concentration. Spectroscopic ellipsometry is employed to extract the complex permittivity of these materials, providing detailed insight into their optical behavior across a broad spectral range. These results enable accurate modeling and optimization of plasmonic structures, establishing a pathway toward scalable, tunable platforms for infrared nanophotonics.

Zoom link:
https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/96778429842?pwd=wbtEcHwjnxSRw6uwnnhKIocWhoFepF.1

Meeting ID: 967 7842 9842
Passcode: 092888

04/23/2026

The next RQI meeting will be this Friday, April 24th, at noon, in SST 300. This meeting's presentation is "Individual Addressing of Trapped Ions for Simulation of Coherent and Dissipative Dynamics" by APP student George Tomaras in the group of Prof. Guido Pagano.

For more details on this and other RQI seminars, please visit the RQI website: https://quantum.rice.edu/seminars.

04/15/2026

Doctoral Thesis Defense: Alex Lathem
Date: Monday, April 20 at 10:00 am
Location: O'Connor Engineering and Science, 510

Host Department: Chemistry
Advisor: James Tour
Committee: Sibani Lisa Biswal, Richard Baraniuk

Title: Lightning in a Bottle: Underwater Electric Arc Synthesis of Ammonia and Machine Learning Guidance for Synthesis of Antimicrobial Aminocyanines

Abstract:
Increasing demand for ammonia is expected in future years due to its potential as an electrochemical fuel and continued use in growing food for billions of people. Meanwhile, there is a growing need for novel antibiotics in the face of antimicrobial resistance worldwide. In this thesis, new methods to address both challenges are explored. First, a new method of ammonia synthesis is demonstrated using a nitrogen stream running through an underwater electric arc. Variation in ammonia yield is shown for a wide array of parameters, including electrode material and geometric configuration. Yield and energy efficiency are compared to other prominent bench-scale ammonia synthesis techniques in the literature. Second, machine learning analysis is conducted on a dataset of cyanine-derived molecules and their inhibition of bacterial growth. The most performant model is blind-tested against additional data, and the same analysis is also conducted using commercially available large language models (LLMs). Two models – Grok 3 Think and ChatGPT o1 – have superior classification performance to the traditional models. Using insights from the models, promising candidate molecules are offered for future synthesis and testing.

04/10/2026

Doctoral Thesis Defense: Tyler Nelson
Date: Friday, April 10 at 2:00 pm
Location: SST 106 (+Zoom)

Host Department: Chemistry
Advisor: Anna-Karin Gustavsson
Committee: Anna-Karin Gustavsson, Kevin Kelly, Michael Diehl

Title: Development of single-molecule microscopy tools for study of nanoscale dynamics in live endothelial cells

Abstract:
The structural integrity of human tissues is built upon dynamic, nanoscale interactions on a cellular and sub-cellular level – cytoskeletal proteins like actin connect with focal adhesion complexes to anchor cells to a substrate, while cell-to-cell junctions, like in vascular endothelial cells, maintain structure in part through the concerted action of transmembrane adhesion proteins called cadherins. Proper functioning of these protein complexes is of vital consequence in many physiological systems, and dysfunction can lead to severe pathologies like cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorder, even increased risk of cancer metastasis, but many of the details of these complexes are too small to be studied with conventional microscopy techniques. The overarching goal of this work was to create a high-performance, multimodal microscopy platform with advanced super-resolution imaging capabilities and apply it to investigate the biophysics behind these critical systems. Conventional single-molecule super-resolution microscopes are typically limited by uneven Gaussian illumination profiles, leading to suboptimal photophysics, and out-of-focus back- ground fluorescence, degrading performance. To overcome these limitations, I developed a 3D-capable super-resolution microscope featuring a light sheet for optical sectioning and a flat-field total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) illumination system. I validated this platform through high-precision, dual-channel 3D reconstructions of actin stress fibers and focal adhesion complexes. I then used the platform to investigate the nanoscale dynamics of VE-cadherin, an adherens junction protein crucial to the regulation of vascular permeability. By developing a custom analysis pipeline for highly parallelized single-particle tracking (SPT) in live human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), I was able to quantify the diffusive behavior of VE-cadherin in response to targeted pharmacological perturbations of the actin network. Analysis revealed VE-cadherin’s sensitivity to different types of actin reorganization, including some unexpected responses suggesting a previously unknown relationship between SLK/LOK inhibition and junctional remodeling. Ultimately, this work establishes a robust technological foundation for advanced 3D super-resolution imaging and provides biophysical insights into the complex mechanoregulation of endothelial barriers.

03/23/2026

Congratulations on your defense, Doctor Gagliano!

03/16/2026

APP is now accepting travel award applications for APP students who will be participating in Summer conferences!

Address

6100 Main Street
Houston, TX
77005

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm

Website

http://sci.rice.edu/

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