UCSB SCIENTIST TO TELL HOW NANOSTRUCTURES ARE BUILT

The microscopic structures formed by biological and physical processes in nature are created by combining groups of even tinier building blocks.

When science tries to imitate such construction, it often must start with bigger blocks and cut them down to size.

Evelyn Hu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials at UCSB, will tell how that is done in "Shaping Small Wonders: The Craft of Forming Nanostructures," a lecture in the UCSB Affiliates Science Lite series at 7:30 p.m., Monday, May 6 at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St. in Santa Barbara.

Tickets are $5 for members of UCSB Affiliates or the Chancellor's Council and $8 to the general public.

Advance registration is required and can be made by calling the Community Affairs office at (805) 893-4388.

Hu, scientific co-director of California Nanosystems Institute located at both UCSB and UCLA, said there have been great advances in nanosystems science recently.

"We have become so adept in this fabrication that we can control the positions of single atoms," she said.

Hu's lecture is the second in the Science Lite Small Wonders series.

The final lecture, "Small Wonders of Evolutionary Engineering: From Abalone Shells to Bone," will be given Monday, May 13.