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LIVERMORE, Calif. – November 29, 2007 – Though he loves the great outdoors, aspiring chemical engineer Vincent Holmberg’s world gets incomprehensibly small when he is in the laboratory, where he studies materials so tiny they can be seen only through the lens of an electron microscope.  Holmberg, who recently won a full five-year graduate fellowship from the prestigious Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, will pursue his interest in nanotechnology as part of his ongoing chemical engineering PhD research at the University of Texas, Austin.

“The key to better and faster computing technology, or to future medical advances, may well lie in nanoscience,” Holmberg, 23, says.  “I’m especially interested in the synthesis of semiconductor nanowires, which can be grown in the lab under extreme pressure and temperature.  Nanowires have excellent electrical properties, and may one day be used as the basic building blocks for electronics.”  Nanowires are so small, Holmberg adds, that a bundle of 50 million would form a fiber only as thick as a single strand of human hair. 

Holmberg, who was born in Montana and raised in Circle Pines, Minn., is one of 15 graduate students selected from more than 580 across the country to receive the Hertz graduate fellowship.  Of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, Hertz Fellows each receive up to $240,000 over five years to pursue their own scientific interests at top universities in the United States.  This no-strings-attached support gives Hertz Fellows financial independence and freedom to conduct innovative research because, unlike many other grants, university and study choices are not limited by strict funding requirements.

“Hertz Fellows represent the very best young scientific talent in our nation,” says John Holzrichter, PhD, Hertz Foundation president.  “These students embody the drive and curiosity to solve the most difficult problems our world faces, and we are pleased to support them as they grow in their chosen disciplines.”

Inspired by his grandfather, who was a math teacher, Holmberg admits that he is addicted to research and to building things on the smallest scale.  “If we can fundamentally understand what is going on in the synthesis of semiconductor nanowires, we can perfect it and make the materials more accessible for a wider range of practical applications,” he says.  One research goal is to perfect the synthesis of semiconductor nanowires -- which by themselves are smaller than the wavelength of light and are invisible to the naked eye – so that they can be produced continuously in bulk quantities of at least an ounce at a time.  “If we can do that reliably, semiconductor nanowires could be used for many commercial purposes, from new transistors and better flat panel displays to medical applications.”

Though he gets immersed in the perplexing, infinitesimal laboratory world, Holmberg seizes all the opportunities possible to head outdoors.  Being from Montana, the mountains are always with him, and he enjoys downhill skiing and hiking, and was an intramural Ultimate Frisbee champion as an undergraduate.  Also a musician, Holmberg played the saxophone throughout high school and still enjoys going to concerts of all kinds.

Holmberg graduated as valedictorian of his class from Centennial Senior High School, Circle Pines, in 2002.  He double majored in chemistry and chemical engineering while at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where he graduated summa cum laude with high distinction in 2006.  Among many honors received in college, Holmberg won the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the University’s Presidential Scholarship, two of their Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Grants and a National Merit Scholarship.  In addition to the Hertz Fellowship, he is a fellow of the National Science Foundation.

Holmberg’s father, Robert Holmberg, is an employee at Deluxe Corporation, Shoreview, Minn., and his mother, Daveda Holmberg, is a medical technologist at HealthEast, Maplewood, Minn.  Holmberg’s sister, Angela, 19, is a student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and his brother, Neil, 17, is attending Centennial Senior High School, Circle Pines, Minn.

About the Hertz Foundation