Speaker Bios

Speaker Bios

 Laura Hodson, CIH, FAIHA is the Coordinator of NIOSH’s nanotechnology research center. She is certified in the practice of industrial hygiene and has a BS in Chemistry and Environmental Studies, and a MSPH in Industrial Hygiene. Laura has over 30 years of chemistry and industrial hygiene experience including the evaluation of nanomaterial facilities, and is the document manager of several NIOSH nanotechnology guidance documents. She is a Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), co-recipient of the AIHA 2015 Edward J. Baier Technical Achievement Award for the nano field team efforts, and an active member of the AIHA Nanotechnology Working Group.

 Catherine J. Murphy holds the Larry R. Faulkner Endowed Chair in Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She earned two B.S. degrees from Illinois (chemistry and biochemistry) in 1986, and her Ph.D. from Wisconsin in 1990.  After postdoctoral fellowships at Caltech, Murphy began her independent career as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of South Carolina in 1993.  After promotions to associate and full professorships at South Carolina, she was recruited back to Urbana-Champaign in 2009. She is presently the Associate Director of the Materials Research Laboratory at Illinois and the Deputy Director of the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

Murphy’s laboratory has pioneered the colloidal synthesis of shape-controlled gold and silver nanoparticles in aqueous solution.  In the 5-100 nm range, gold and silver exhibit brilliant shape-dependent optical properties that enable applications in chemical sensing, biological imaging, mechanically improved polymer nanocomposites, and photothermal therapy for the ablation of pathogenic cells.  Her research interests also include environmental sustainability and nanotoxicology. She has co-authored 250+ research publications that have been cited ~35,000 times.

Murphy’s honors include election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2015), the TREE (Transformational Research and Educational Excellence) Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (2015), the Carol Tyler Award of the International Precious Metals Institute (2013), and ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry’s Inorganic Nanoscience Award (2011) and numerous young investigator awards.  She is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the Materials Research Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  She was ranked #32 in Thomson Reuters Sciencewatch List of “Top 100 Chemists for the Decade 2000-2010” and #10 on their list of “Top 100 Materials Scientists of the Decade 2000-2010.”

David Wasescha is the Product Manager for Labconco particulate enclosures for nanotechnology and pharmaceuticalapplications. David works closely with academic and industrial researchers and safety personnel to provide containment solutions for hazardous materials processes. He is a contributing member of the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST)Recommended Practice for Testing Aerosol-Nanomaterial Containment Devices. David is also a member of the Controlled Environment Testing Association (CETA), the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) and participates in the NSF/ANSI Standard 49 Joint Committee. David joined Labconco in 2015.