Professor Wayne H Knox, University of Rochester
Abstract
There is a growing recognition that ubiquitous production, consumption and disposal of plastics has resulted in their presence essentially anywhere that we look, in a microscopic form and even smaller. The author has sampled and analyzed water (and beer, etc.) samples from the Rochester region and developed new ways to quantify the microplastic contents. He and colleagues at the University of Rochester have started a program to study better ways to identify microplastics, and begin to understand their effects on humans. This talk is a summary of the project and the results obtained so far, as well as projected future studies.
About the speaker
Wayne H. Knox obtained BS (1979) and PhD degrees (1983) at The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. He went to Bell Labs in Holmdel NJ in 1984 and worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow, was promoted to Member of Technical Staff in 1985 and to Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 1990. In 1997, he was promoted to Director of the Advanced Photonics Research Department where he was responsible for forward-looking research in a number of areas related to advanced technologies in telecommunications in long-haul, access and Metro networks. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a Fellow and Life member of the American Physical Society, in 1990 won the National Academy of Sciences W.O. Baker Award for Initiatives in Research. In 1999 he won the Richtmyer Award for Physics teaching from the American Association of Physics Teachers. He has authored over 200 publications and has 51 or more patents granted or pending, and has chaired many international professional society meetings. In April 2001 he returned to The Institute of Optics as Director (2001-2011) and Professor of Optics where he currently carries out a research program in ultrafast nonlinear optics and applications in vision correction. He is also Professor of Physics, Materials Science and Vision Science, and Chief Science Officer at Clerio Vision, and startup company that he co-founded. At the University of Rochester he teaches Optical Engineering Senior Design and is always looking for new customers for senior design projects.
Pre-talk dinner
