Harold Craighead to Direct Cornell's Nanobiotechnology Center

Harold Craighead, Cornell University's Charles W. Lake Jr. Professor of Engineering and professor of applied and engineering physics, has returned to the post of director of the Cornell Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC), the university announced. When the center was created in January 2000, Craighead was its first director. After a stint as interim dean of the college of engineering from June 2001 to March 2002, he became NBTC co-director. Craighead received his BS in physics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1974, and his PhD in physics from Cornell in 1980. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1989. His research focuses on improving the techniques of nanofabrication and using nanostructures as tools in biological research. His research group has created devices that can detect and identify single bacteria and viruses, nanoscale gas sensors and nanofluidic devices that can separate, count and analyze individual DNA molecules. NBTC is a National Science and Technology Center of the National Science Foundation, the only one of its kind in the nation, that applies the tools and processes of nano- and microfabrication to build devices that operate on the same scale as biological systems to advance research in molecular and cell biology. As the home of NBTC, Cornell leads a research consortium that includes Princeton University, Clark Atlanta University, the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health, Howard University and Oregon Health Sciences University.