Jump to content

Richard S. Potember

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Stanley Potember
Born
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMerrimack College (BS) Johns Hopkins University (MA, MS, Ph.D.)
Occupation(s)Scientist and Inventor
Known forMolecular electronics

Nonlinear optics

Biomedical engineering

Biological neural networks

Biotechnology

Richard S. Potember is an American scientist and inventor. He is currently a principal systems engineer at MITRE. Prior to this he was a program manager in the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He has been an instructor at the Whiting School of Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University[1] since 1987. He was a member of the principal professional staff at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, from 1981 to 2015. He served as an adjunct professor at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies from 1995 to 1998. He is best known for his pioneering work in developing electrical and optical materials and devices, as well as for his biomedical and biodefense research.

Education

[edit]

Potember was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed his B.S. in chemistry from Merrimack College in 1975 and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in chemistry in 1979, where his adviser was Dwaine O. Cowan. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in 1980. He received an M.S. in technical management from the Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University in 1986.[2]

Research

[edit]

Potember was first known for his groundbreaking work in molecular electronics.[3][4] He invented the first two-terminal molecular non-volatile memory or memristor[5][6][7][8] as well as an optical disc technology[9][10] that can store multiple bits of information at one location. He also co-invented a sol-gel processed switchable vanadium(IV) oxide thin film coating for energy conservation applications.[11][12]

Potember's recent achievements have focused on biotechnology and biomedical engineering. He performed pioneering work that demonstrated individual living nerve cells can be grown into controlled geometric patterns on substrates and these neurons can form true synaptic connections.[13][14][15] He also invented a pathogen neutralization technology[16] that can be used to destroy viruses, bacteria and spores real-time in ventilated air, and in heating or air conditioning systems.

Potember has also conducted research and development in the areas of time-of-flight mass spectrometry[17][18] and solid propellants.

Commercial activities

[edit]

Potember holds fourteen U.S. patents.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] His inventions have been licensed to industry five times.

Personal life

[edit]

Potember has two sons and lives with his wife in Maryland.

Awards and achievements

[edit]

His inventions in the field of biodefense were the basis for the formation of the Biodefense Research Group Inc., (BDRGI).[32] Potember was the recipient of the APL Master Inventor Award in 2007 and the APL Inventor of the Year Award in 2004.[33][34] He received a commendation from the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1989 for his work on optical switching materials.[35]

Community involvement

[edit]

Potember served as a trustee at Goucher College for a full ten-year term (1996–2005).[36] He served on Howard County, Maryland Economic Development Authority Center for Business and Technology. He delivered hands-on science and engineering lectures to students in the Howard County, Maryland, school system. He served as a youth sailing instructor at the Potapskut Sailing Association, Pasadena, Maryland.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Richard Potember". 2017-03-06.
  2. ^ "Richard Potember". Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals. 6 March 2017.
  3. ^ Miyasaka, Hitoshi; Campos-Fernández, Cristian S.; Galán-Mascarós, José Ramón; Dunbar, Kim R. (2000). "One-Dimensional Assemblies of Dirhodium Units Bridged by N,N'-Dicyanoquinonediimine Ligands". Inorganic Chemistry. 39 (25): 5870–5873. doi:10.1021/ic0007097. PMID 11151392.
  4. ^ O'Kane, Shannon A.; Clérac, Rodolphe; Zhao, Hanhua; Ouyang, Xiang; Galán-Mascarós, José Ramón; Heintz, Robert; Dunbar, Kim R. (2000). "New Crystalline Polymers of Ag(TCNQ) and Ag(TCNQF4): Structures and Magnetic Properties". Journal of Solid State Chemistry. 152 (1): 159–173. Bibcode:2000JSSCh.152..159O. doi:10.1006/jssc.2000.8679.
  5. ^ Potember, R. S.; Poehler, T. O.; Cowan, D. O. (1979). "Electrical switching and memory phenomena in Cu-TCNQ thin films". Applied Physics Letters. 34 (6): 405–407. Bibcode:1979ApPhL..34..405P. doi:10.1063/1.90814.
  6. ^ Potember, R. S.; Poehler, T. O.; Benson, R. C. (1982). "Optical switching in semiconductor organic thin films". Applied Physics Letters. 41 (6): 548–550. Bibcode:1982ApPhL..41..548P. doi:10.1063/1.93591.
  7. ^ Yamaguchi, Shoji; Potember, Richard S. (1996). "Optical spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy of thin films of the metal-tetracyanoquinodimethane derivatives". Synthetic Metals. 78 (2): 117–126. doi:10.1016/0379-6779(96)80111-1.
  8. ^ Potember, R.S.; Poehler, T.O.; Rappa, A.; Cowan, D.O.; Bloch, A.N. (1982). "A current-controlled electrically switched memory state in silver and copper-TCNQF4 radical-ion salts". Synthetic Metals. 4 (4): 371–380. doi:10.1016/0379-6779(82)90007-8.
  9. ^ Hoffman, Robert C.; Potember, Richard S. (1989). "Organometallic materials for erasable optical storage". Applied Optics. 28 (7): 1417–21. Bibcode:1989ApOpt..28.1417H. doi:10.1364/AO.28.001417. PMID 20548672.
  10. ^ "US Patent 4825408A". Google Patents. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  11. ^ "US Patent 4957725A". Google Patents. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  12. ^ Speck, K.R.; Hu, H.S.-W.; Sherwin, M.E.; Potember, R.S. (1988). "Vanadium dioxide films grown from vanadium tetra-isopropoxide by the sol-gel process". Thin Solid Films. 165 (1): 317–322. Bibcode:1988TSF...165..317S. doi:10.1016/0040-6090(88)90702-X.
  13. ^ Kaku, Michio (1998). Visions : how science will revolutionize the 21st century (1st Anchor Books trade pbk. ed.). New York: Doubleday. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-385-48499-2.
  14. ^ Matsuzawa, Mieko; Potember, Richard S.; Stenger, David A.; Krauthamer, Victor (1993). "Containment and growth of neuroblastoma cells on chemically patterned substrates". Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 50 (2): 253–260. doi:10.1016/0165-0270(93)90014-I. PMID 8107505. S2CID 3781587.
  15. ^ Matsuzawa, Mieko; Weight, Forrest F.; Potember, Richard S.; Liesi, Päivi (1996). "Directional Neurite Outgrowth and Axonal Differentiation of Embryonic Hippocampal Neurons Are Promoted by a Neurite Outgrowth Domain of the B2-Chain of Laminin". International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience. 14 (3): 283–295. doi:10.1016/0736-5748(96)00014-7. PMID 8842805. S2CID 10905123.
  16. ^ US Patent 20040120845.
  17. ^ Antoine, Miquel D.; Bryden, Wayne A.; Ko, Harvey W.; Scholl, Peter F.; Potember, Richard S.; Cotter, Robert J. (1998). "Real Time Sampling and Analysis of Biological Biomarkers by TOF Mass Spectrometry". SAE Technical Paper Series. Vol. 1. doi:10.4271/981740.
  18. ^ "Miniature Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer - NSBRI". NSBRI. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  19. ^ "Current controlled bistable electrical organic thin film switching device".
  20. ^ "Electrical organic thin film switching device switching between detectably different oxidation states".
  21. ^ "Multistate optical switching and memory using an amphoteric organic charge transfer material".
  22. ^ "Method of fabricating a current controlled bistable electrical organic thin film switching device".
  23. ^ "Optical storage and switching devices using organic charge transfer salts".
  24. ^ "Multistate optical switching and memory apparatus using an amphoteric organic charge transfer material".
  25. ^ "Vanadium dioxide formed by the sol-gel process".
  26. ^ "Optical storage and switching devices using organic charge transfer salts".
  27. ^ "Electron density storage device and method using STM".
  28. ^ "Electron density storage device using a stm".
  29. ^ "Ventriculoperitoneal shunt with pressure responsive element".
  30. ^ "Enhanced optically sensitive medium using organic charge transfer materials to provide reproducible thermal/optical erasure".
  31. ^ "Biocompatible article for the treatment of water and production of energy".
  32. ^ "Press Release".
  33. ^ "Press Release".
  34. ^ "Press Release".
  35. ^ Hoffman, Robert C.; Potember, Richard S. (1989). "Organometallic materials for erasable optical storage". Applied Optics. 28 (7): 1417–1421. Bibcode:1989ApOpt..28.1417H. doi:10.1364/AO.28.001417. PMID 20548672.
  36. ^ "Outcomes Assessment" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-01-23.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_S._Potember&oldid=1237696466"