Curriculum Vitae

Personal Description

Dr. Saraf's training is in polymer science, optics and Silicon processing. For the past fifteen years his research interests have been in the interfacial properties of materials, nanometer scale devices & their processing and, more recently, biophysics and bioengineering. An author/coauthor of 31 US Patents and 64 scientific publications, Saraf has focused on research in the basic sciences in order to solve practical problems. Before joining UNL he spent five years at Virginia Tech and 10 years at IBM's corporate research lab, the Thomas J. Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights. His Ph.D./M.S. is in Polymer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his B.S is in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

Education

• 1987 Ph.D., Polymer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• 1986 M.S., Polymer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• 1980 B.S., Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

Research Interests

• Electronic Skin: Using tunneling phenomena, we are developing an ~100 nm thin film nanodevice that converts applied pressure to light and electric current. The spatial resolution that images stress is 100-fold better than the current state of the art devices. These devices have pressure sensitivity and resolution to sense texture on a level comparable to a human finger.
  
• Electronics on Bacterium: Using the highly specialized structure of bacterium surface and the physiology of a specified microorganism, we are building an active electronic device made of nanoparticles and nanorods piggybacked on the organism. We have demonstrated our approach and built a humidity sensor with a 10-fold greater sensitivity than current microelectronic devices.
  
• DNA and Protein Chip: Using the fundamental principles of optics, we are developing a novel chip that probes DNA and protein without using any labels. The uniqueness of the design is that it is relatively "blind" to non-specific binding and is quantitatively proportional to percent binding.
  
• Dance of Ions at the Electrode: We have developed a special interferometer to measure ion motion close to the electrode within its ~3 nm thick electric double layer. The highly versatile apparatus is being used to study enzymatic binding reactions, redox processes and ions motion in confined media, i.e., nanopores.
• Nanomaterials on DNA and Polymer Scaffold: Using DNA and polymers as scaffold we are exploring the construction of long, continuous, electrically conducting nano-wires to use in single electron nanodevices that can easily be wired to form logic circuits.

Recent Publications

• V. Berry, A. Gole, S. Kundu, C.J. Murphy, RF. Saraf*, 'Deposition pf CTAB terminated nanorods on bacteria to form highly conducting hybrid system', J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127, 17600-17601.
• V. Berry, R.F. Saraf, "Self-Assembly of Nanoparticles on Live Bacterium: An Avenue to Fabricate Electronic Device," Angewandte Chemie, Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 6668-6673.
• V. Berry, S. Rangaswamy, and R.F. Saraf, "Highly selective, electrically conductive monolayer of nanoparticles on live bacteria," Nano Letters, 2004, 4, 939-942.
• S. Elhadj, G. Singh, R.F. Saraf, "Optical Properties of Immobilized DNA Monolayer from 255 to 700 nm," Langmuir, 2004, 20, 5539-5543.
• For additional publications, please visit the Digital Commons.

Patents

• R.F. Saraf, S. Niu, Bio-Chip Photoluminescenct Method for Identifying Biologicla Material, and Apparatus for Use with such Methods and Bio-Chips, US Patent 6,706,479 B2, issued 03/16/04
• R.F. Saraf, H.K. Wickramasinghe, "Self assembled Nano-devices using DNA," US Patent 6,656,693, issued 12/02/03.
• R.F.Saraf, et al., Radio Frequency (RF) Transponder ((TAG) With Composite Antenna, US Patent 6,271,793, 8/7/01.
• R.F. Saraf, J.M. Roldan, Lead Free Conductive Composites for Electrical Interconnections, US Patent 6,197,222, 03/06/01.
• A. Gupta, R.F. Saraf, Micro Goniometer for Scanning Microscopy, US Patent 6,100,523, 8/08/00.
• A. Gupta, R.F. Saraf, Ultra High Density Storage Media And Method Thereof, US Patent 6,005,292, 12/21/99.
• Fuad E. Doany, Gary W. Grube, Ravi Saraf, Unzippable Polymer Mask for Screening Operations, US Patent 5314709, 05/24/94; 2045187 (Japan).
• E.J. O'Sullivan, T.R. O'Toole, J.M. Roldan, L.T. Romankiw, C.J. Sambucetti, R. Saraf, Electroless Metal Adhesion to Organic Dielectric Material with Phase Separated Morphology, US Patent 5310580, 05/10/94.

Awards and Honors

• 2002 "Researcher of the Year", Carilion Biomedical Institute, Virginia
• 1990-99, Ten "Technical Achievement Awards" at IBM