On December 1-2, Director Jeff Neaton and two Molecular Foundry users led a group to Washington D.C. to educate key members of Congress and staff about the DOE nanoscience user facilities. Craig Peters, Co-Founder of PlantPV described the creation of new conductive pastes, and characterization techniques developed along the way, that will make solar cells cheaper and more efficient. Markita Landry, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UC Berkeley spoke about using biomimetic polymers made at the Foundry to functionalize fluorescent carbon nanotubes for sensing and understanding chemical changes in the brain. The group was joined by Branden Brough, Acting Deputy Director of the Molecular Foundry, and Don Medley, Head of Government and Community Relations at Berkeley Lab.
The team met with Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Steve Womack (R-AR), and Mike Honda (D-CA). Senior staff from the offices of Ken Calvert (R-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), David Valadao (R-CA), Gary Palmer (R-AL), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and John Moolenaar (R-MI) also met with the group.
