Clemson professor named American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow

Published: January 31, 2012

Apparao Rao image by: Clemson University

CLEMSON — Apparao Rao, a physics professor at Clemson University, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science, the association bestows the honor on individuals for "distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications."

"Election as a AAAS fellow is an exceptionally high honor and one that is well deserved by Dr. Rao," said Mark Leising, interim chairman of Clemson's physics department. "This is a clear indication of how valued his research is to the science community. His Clemson colleagues are proud and pleased to congratulate him."

Rao is leader in developing nanoscale materials. At a scale of 10 to the negative ninth, or one-billionth of a meter, these materials have a much greater surface-to-volume ratio than other materials, which can lead to unusual and often very useful properties.

For example, Rao and his team invented a way to make tiny, shock-absorbing carbon springs that can protect delicate electronics like cell phones and have advanced the development of electromechanical nanosensors that can warn of toxic chemicals in the air.

Rao has created a variety of methods of synthesizing carbon nanotubes, extremely light and strong structures that are being investigated for a wide range of potential engineering uses. He also has explained many of the fundamental properties of nanostructures through Raman spectroscopy.

The science association cited Rao for his "contributions to carbon science, particularly fullerenes and carbon nanotubes through synthesis and Raman spectroscopy, and elucidating their structure-application and fundamental properties."

The tradition of American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows began in 1874. Members are nominated for the rank and then approved by the association council, its policymaking body.

Founded in 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science includes 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals.

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