Andrew Bleloch, (Halcyon), Matt Francis (UC-Berkeley), Sir J Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern), William Goddard (CalTech), Chris Schafmeister (Temple)
Tough to characterize and see what you are working on. Takes a long time
Interface control is tough
Molecules have to be put together with the other materials to get a device
Interdisciplinary challenges
Need to have the people trained with seamless collaboration
What tool is holding you back (if it was an order of magnitude of order better)
characterization of soft materials (electron microscope will not work that well)
Prediction of self assembly of larger objects is problematic
Need more oddballs who do not fit into certain categories who can bridge and glue the specialties.
microscopy service center could characterize a material and change the intellectual content by 180 degrees, but the academic or company that brought the material would give no credit to the microscopy group that put them on the right path
undergrads are still put into the regular categories
Successful grads hitch their wagon to the most successful research group. And over the course of few months or a year become an equal contributor.
Promote and tolerate risk taking
A lot of potential using AI for molecules with well defined shapes.
Schafmeister is using programming on the Teragrid to find the best geometry for his molecules – reaction groups that they can place where they want in 3D
Need to have room for serendipity
Use computation to reduce the search set of synthesizable molecules
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