Dr. Ranganathan Shashidhar of
the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Center for Bio/Molecular
Science and Engineering (CBMSE) is the recipient of the 1999
Federal Laboratory Consortium Award (FLC) for Excellence in Technology
Transfer. FLC presented the award to Dr. Shashidhar at the 25th
Anniversary National Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, in
April.
Dr. Shashidhar, who heads CBMSE's
Laboratory for Molecularly Engineered Materials and Surfaces,
has made significant contributions to the development of advanced
liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and has been instrumental in
transferring these technologies to industry through cooperative
research and development agreements (CRADAs) and licensing
agreements.
Advanced liquid crystals are
of major importance to the Navy, DoD and the commercial sector
for such applications as hand-held displays for book and field
applications, ambient readable displays for outdoor use; electronic
maps for navigation, as well as electronic manuals for on-site
maintenance and repair for fleets of vehicles, including trucks,
airplanes and ships.
With his colleagues, Dr. Shashidhar
has developed several new classes of materials that have revolutionized
liquid crystal technology. For example, Dr. Shashidhar and his
group designed and developed a whole new family of electroclinic
liquid crystals with at least 256 grayscales and response times
of less than 100 microseconds, both of which are critical to
fast, high resolution displays. Four CRADAs are currently in
place with commercial companies to develop reflective, high resolution
displays using these new crystals.
Liquid crystal molecules must
be aligned uniformly on conducting glass substrates in order
for any type of liquid crystal display to operate. Current LCD
manufacturing uses an alignment technology that will not support
displays of the future. Dr. Shashidhar, working with other researchers
at CBMSE, has developed a novel alignment technology that will
support higher resolutions, plastic-based displays and infrared
displays. Following a two-year CRADA with the Shipley Company,
this technology has been patented and licensed for commercial
use.
Through Dr. Shashidhar's investigation
of polymer films, and as a result of an approach that he and
others at NRL developed to increase the conductivity of these
films, it will be possible to substitute plastic substrates for
glass substrates, thereby allowing displays to be made that are
far lighter, more durable and more shock resistant than displays
now available.
Working under a one-year program
funded by the Office of Naval Research in the mid 1990s, Dr.
Shashidhar demonstrated the first fully multiplexed plastic display,
with over 25,000 independently addressed pixels. Since that
time, Dr. Shashidhar and his colleagues have demonstrated displays
with 50% higher resolution than is available in commercial laptop
computers. With current research continuing under an ongoing
CRADA, polymer-based plastic technology is expected to begin
a new generation of LCD products.
Dr. Shashidhar holds a B.S.,
M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Mysore in
India. In 1971, after completing his education, Dr. Shashidhar
served first as a lecturer at the University of Mysore, then
as a scientist/professor at the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore,
India, and later as a senior visiting professor at the Ruhr University
in Bochum, West Germany. Between 1983 and 1987, Dr. Shashidhar
worked as a visiting scientist at AT&T Bell Labs and as a
visiting professor at M.I.T. From 1988 until 1993, Dr. Shashidhar
was both a research professor at Georgetown University and a
senior scientist at Geo-Centers. In 1993, Dr. Shashidhar joined
NRL in his current position.
Dr. Shashidhar has received three
NRL Alan Berman publication awards, an NRL Edison patent award,
and the 1984 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Physical Sciences,
India's highest award. He has also served on the Board of Directors
of the International Liquid Crystal Society, as the editor of
the international publication Liquid Crystals, and as
a member of the International High Pressure Association's executive
committee.
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