Professor nominated for prestigious award

Dr. Lei Zhai, associate professor of UCF's Nanoscience Technology Center and the Department of Chemistry, along with postdoctoral associate Jianhua Zou, has been nominated for a Katerva Award for his Frozen Smoke project.

These awards are given for the very best sustainability initiatives on the planet. Also nominated is the team of UCF researchers who he worked with on this project: Dr. Saiful Khondaker, Dr. Sudipta Seal and Dr. Quanfang Chen. They are being recognized for the creation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes aerogel which may potentially be used in improving robotic surgery, storing energy more efficiently and detecting pollutants and toxic substances.

These nanotubes are so small that thousands can fit on a single strand of human hair. The Central Florida Future spoke with Zhai to see how his life has changed since his nomination and his passion for chemistry and educating students.

Central Florida Future: Why did you choose to study chemistry?

Lei Zhai: I am good at imagining things. I can work on things that I can think of. I always have been fascinated by new technology, new materials. That's why I chose chemistry.

CFF: Why did you choose to focus on nanotube research?

Zhai: Right now, we know that carbon nanotubes have all kinds of unique properties; high conductivity, good mechanical properties and all kinds of interesting properties. It has been around for almost 20 years, and it's still a very interesting area.

CFF: Has the Katerva Award evaluation process been difficult for you?

Zhai: It just takes a small amount of my time. It's an award, but it's not everything. I'm still focused on research and education. Also, through this award, I want to promote the research at UCF. UCF can get publicity through this and inspire students.

CFF: Have you been contacted by any other universities regarding your nomination/project?

Zhai: There are some industries and companies that have contacted me and asked about the research and future collaborations. I guess right now we are at a stage to really push the nanoscience technology into the industry. It's been about 10 years since George W. Bush signed the initiative of nanotechnology, so it's about time to kind of push this technology into the industry application.

CFF: Have you been asked to speak anywhere as a result of your nomination?

Zhai: Thursday, I'll give a virtual talk at Materials Today. It's one of the top journals in the materials science field. I was invited to give a virtual seminar over there. I was told that there would be 3,000 in the audience of that seminar.

CFF: The Scialog Award is intended for the person to serve as a national expert to help advance their field. Will you be traveling for this?

Zhai: For Scialog, we have to go to Arizona. There's a meeting for all the awardees, so we talk to each other and develop new ideas. That meeting is required.

CFF: Why did you choose to come teach at UCF?

Zhai: UCF is one of the fastest growing universities. Right now, it's No. 2. Five or six years ago, we started picking up. Forty years ago, we were nobody. Although right now, compared with MIT or Harvard, we still have a lot to catch. I'm sure that we can catch up very fast because all of the faculty and the students are devoted to make the best of the university. Although we are a state university, some of our students are so good that they can go to Harvard, they can go to MIT, but for some reason they stay at UCF. I think teaching such a large student population is an advantage for me to really inspire my students, to guide them in their future careers. When I saw this opportunity here, I said, "Hey, this is a very good place to stay. We can excel in research, and at the same time, have so many students, have so many opportunities to interact with students and make them successful."

CFF: Was the Scialog process very competititve?

Zhai: Right now, there are so many proposals … they have to cut the submission window, because so many proposals come in. It is very competitive, and the expert panel reviews all of the proposals, and their standards have to be transformative.

CFF: How do you balance being a professor with doing the research work that you do?

Zhai: I love teaching. Actually, my parents are teachers, so I guess I have this kind of teaching gene. We not only teach graduate students, but we also have undergraduate students and high school students in our lab. I actually focus a lot on education. Research is important, but again, I think that education, in some aspect, is more important than research because our future depends on what we make, but also what we train — the next generation workforce. That's why I think education is very, very important.

CFF: What would winning the Katerva Award mean to you?

Zhai: First of all, to me, it's a very, very good sign for the impact of our research, the recognition of our research and also provides a platform for us to commercialize our technology. As I mentioned, we are at a stage to push our technology into commercialization.

CFF: Will you be looking to patent your invention?

Zhai: Yes, we are currently under the process of the patent application.