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Biographical Sketch
Prof. Conwell received her B.A. in Physics (1942) from Brooklyn College, her M.S. in Physics (1945) from the University of Rochester, and her Ph.D. in Physics (1948) from the University of Chicago. She was an instructor in physics at Brooklyn College (1946-1951), a researcher at Bell Laboratories (1951-1952), and a staff member at GTE Laboratories (1952-1972). In 1972 Prof. Conwell joined the Xerox Wilson Research Center, where she was a Research Fellow from 1981 to 1998. In 1998, Prof. Conwell joined the University of Rochester, where she is currently a Professor of Chemistry and of Physics.
Prof. Conwell is the recipient of numerous honors and distinctions. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (1980), the National Academy of Sciences (1990), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992). She received an honorary D.Sc. from Brooklyn College in 1992, and the Thomas A. Edison Medal of the IEEE in 1997. In November 2002, Discover Magazine listed Prof. Conwell as one of the 50 most prominent female scientists, in 2005 she recevied a Dreyfus Senior Scholar Mentor Award. She was featured in the Rochester Museum of Science Exhibit "Who makes Things work in Rochester in 2006, and received the 2006 University of Rochester Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award.
Research
Prof. Conwell's interests lie in the general areas of Chemical, Biological and Condensed Matter Physics. She and her group have been doing research on electrical and optical properties of organic semiconductors, particularly conjugated polymers such as poly(phenylene vinylene), PPV, for some years. Recently they have extended that work to the study of transport along the base stack in DNA, also a polymer, of course. Transport of charges in DNA is important because (1) It may lead to mutations or carcinogenesis and (2) If the transport is good, DNA could play a useful role in assembling very tiny circuits (nanocircuits), while doubling as wires. Measurements of conduction in DNA have led to controversial results, some characterizing it as an insulator, some as a metal, and still others as a semiconductor. Prof. Conwell believes the weight of evidence favors the latter. Because they are polymers the conjugated polymers and DNA are essentially one-dimensional semiconductors. When a charge is added to a one-dimensional semiconducting chain it lowers its energy by deforming the chain. The charge and the deformation move together as a kind of particle, a polaron. Prof. Conwell and her group have been calculating the properties of polarons and how they contribute to conduction in PPV and in DNA. More recently, they have been concerned with optical absorption and emission of DNA. They plan to work closely with Prof. Rothberg and his group who are measuring these properties of DNA.
Recent Publications
- Effect of Water Drag on Diffusion of Drifting Polarons in DNA
E. M. Conwell and D. M. Basko
J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 23603-23606 (2006)
(abstract | download)
- Base Sequence Effects on Transport in DNA
Esther M. Conwell and Steven M. Bloch
J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 5801-5806 (2006)
(abstract | download)
- Polarons in DNA: Transition from Guanine to Adenine Transport
E. M. Conwell, J.-H. Park, and H.-Y. Choi
J. Phys. Chem. B 109, 9760-9763 (2005)
(abstract | download)
- Charge transport in DNA in solution: the role of polarons
Conwell E.M.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 102, 8795-8799 (2005)
(abstract)
- Transport and optical properties of DNA, in organic nanophotonics
Basko, D.M., Conwell, E.M.
Kliewer Academic Publishers, Netherlands 193-206 (2003)
For further details, go to Prof. Conwell's home page at: http://www.chem.rochester.edu/faculty/pages/conwell.html
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