{"id":1748,"date":"2007-07-16T17:11:35","date_gmt":"2007-07-16T21:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=1748"},"modified":"2014-12-16T17:12:16","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T22:12:16","slug":"back-classroom-alumni-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2007\/07\/back-classroom-alumni-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Classroom at Alumni College"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alumni01\"<\/a>
Alumni listen intently during Alumni College, a series of faculty lectures that were offered during Homecoming and Reunion in April.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur goal,\u201d said Peter Searson, director of Johns Hopkins\u2019 Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), \u201cis to establish Hopkins as the world leader in nanobiotechnology. Or, as I like to say, world domination.\u201d The 40 or so alumni gathered in Hodson Hall appreciated Searson\u2019s humor, especially at the beginning of an intensive, hourlong lecture on the characteristics of the very tiny things the INBT faculty researches.<\/p>\n

Searson, who helped launch the INBT in 2006, was one of two Whiting School professors who hosted Alumni College during the Johns Hopkins Homecoming and Reunion in April. He and civil engineering professor Tony Dalrymple, who spoke on \u201cNatural Hazards: Lessons Learned from the Tsunami and the Hurricane,\u201d led independent sessions open to all alumni, during which they explained their research and the latest developments in their fields.<\/p>\n

Mac McLeod \u201957 and his wife, Lenore Danielson, who were visiting from their home in New Jersey, attended Searson\u2019s morning lecture. \u201cProfessor Searson is one of the best lecturers I\u2019ve heard,\u201d McLeod commented. \u201cIt\u2019s a fascinating field and he\u2019s a fascinating teacher. It makes you feel like you\u2019d like to go back to school and be in his class. It leaves you with a lot to think about, and it\u2019s amazing to learn that the cost of solving the problems they\u2019re working on is so high.\u201d His wife interjected, \u201cAnd to realize that the cost of not solving them is equally high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/a>
Peter Searson, professor of materials science and engineering and director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology, presents a lecture to alumni.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Searson\u2019s presentation began with talk of size and scale. He explained that a \u201cbuckey ball\u201d\u2014a fundamental building component in the world of nanobiotechnology\u2014is only a nanometer wide. By comparison, a single strand of a human hair is 100,000 nanometers wide. \u201cWe can make materials that are smaller than cells, which means that we can build things that can go into cells and deliver drugs,\u201d he noted. He went on to discuss how nanobiotechnology engineers and scientists are searching for new therapies, new diagnostic tools, and a better understanding of the relationship between cells and disease.<\/p>\n

While alumni from ages 30 to 90 listened intently, Searson continued on to explain the logistics of shrinking things to the nano scale, such as the discovery that when something gets smaller, a higher percentage of its atoms are on the surface. The result? Everything from fibers for athletic clothing that \u201cwick away\u201d liquid to drug delivery systems that target cancer cells.<\/p>\n

Searson\u2019s lecture ended with projections for what the future of nanobiotechnology holds in store for the world. \u201cWe will be able to take a \u2018smart pill\u2019 that will be programmed to report on its position and status in the body before releasing the correct dose of drugs,\u201d he predicted.<\/p>\n

Searson believes Johns Hopkins will be at the forefront of such discoveries, and he predicts we will see this technology hit the marketplace within decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur goal,\u201d said Peter Searson, director of Johns Hopkins\u2019 Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), \u201cis to establish Hopkins as the world leader in nanobiotechnology. Or, as I like to say, world domination.\u201d The 40 or so alumni gathered in Hodson Hall appreciated Searson\u2019s humor, especially at the beginning of an intensive, hourlong lecture on the characteristics…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-leadership","issue-summer-2007"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBack to the Classroom at Alumni College - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2007\/07\/back-classroom-alumni-college\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Back to the Classroom at Alumni College - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cOur goal,\u201d said Peter Searson, director of Johns Hopkins\u2019 Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), \u201cis to establish Hopkins as the world leader in nanobiotechnology. 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