UAlbany to Honor Research Pioneers at CNSE

A combined image that includes the UAlbany Research and Entrepreneurship Week and four professional headshots of Janet Paluh, Christophe Vallee, Weilan Zhang and Sukanta Basu.
From the top left, clockwise: Associate Professor Janet Paluh, Professor Christophe Vallee, Assistant Professor Weilan Zhang and Professor of Empire Innovation Sukanta Basu.

The pioneering research of four professors at UAlbany’s College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering will be honored during Research & Entrepreneurship Week 2025.

Each will receive an award on the final day of the week. Collectively, they represent two of CNSE’s four departments. Here’s a closer look at the honorees by department:
 

Nanoscale Science & Engineering

Associate Professor Janet Paluh applies neurotechnologies to understand neurodevelopment and to repair human central and peripheral nervous systems for therapeutic applications. Her recognition is for research on artificial intelligence and human stem cell translational technologies.

Professor Christophe Vallee develops and optimizes plasma etching, plasma deposition and atomic scale processes for targeting materials or devices. His recognition is for research on atomic layer processing and area-selective deposition in semiconductors and microelectronics.
 

Environmental & Sustainable Engineering

Professor of Empire Innovation Sukanta Basu studies atmospheric boundary layer processes, atmospheric optics, machine learning, numerical weather prediction, renewable energy and turbulence modeling. His recognition is for research on boundary layer physics, turbulence, renewable energy forecasting and machine-learning for reliable weather protection.

Assistant Professor Weilan Zhang examines the environmental risk assessment and remediation of PFAS (aka forever chemicals), the transport and fate of emerging contaminants, the environmental health and safety of engineered nanomaterials and the environmental applications of engineered nanomaterials. His recognition is for research integrating environmental engineering, chemistry and plant biology to understand PFAS contamination and its impacts on environmental health and food safety.
 

The college’s other two departments are Computer Science and Electrical & Computing Engineering. For more on all of its research and educational programs, please visit the CNSE website.

Research & Entrepreneurship Week 2025 runs from Oct. 27 to 31, and includes the Albany Nanotechnology Symposium on Oct. 29 and 30, and the research awards on Oct. 31. In addition to the recognition of faculty research excellence on Friday afternoon, Nanoscale Science & Engineering Professor Susan Sharfstein will deliver one of the Pathbreaking Research Talks on the morning of Oct. 31.  For the full schedule, please go to the week’s event page.