< BACK TO PEOPLE
Jason Hafner

Jason Hafner

Professor

Physics and Astronomy

CONTACT

hafner@rice.edu

WEBSITE(S)| Hafner Lab

SURF Mentoring

Potential projects/topics: Our lab uses laser light scattering to detect cholesterol and other lipids for structural biology, biomedical applications, and detection of biosignatures in astrobiology and recently even archaeology. You could get experience with optical spectroscopy measurements, optical microscopy, and simple benchtop sample preparation of lipid mixtures. We routinely have undergraduates working in the lab, including freshman and sophomores. The experience would be good for potential phys/chem/eng majors, but could also benefit geoscience or other majors who want to see how analytical methods work.

Potential skills gained: Raman spectroscopy, optical microscopy, benchtop sample prep.

Required qualifications: Curiosity.

Direct mentor: Faculty/P.I.

Research Areas

Jason Hafner earned his Ph.D. from Rice University in 1998 under Richard Smalley for work on carbon nanotubes, and pursued postdoctoral studies at Harvard University with Charles Lieber. He returned to Rice in 2001 to join the faculty where his lab studies nanophotonics and interfacial biology. Hafner was named a Beckman Young Investigtor in 2002, and won the Norman Hackerman Award for Chemical Research from the Welch Foundation in 2011. He is currently a Professor of Physics and Astronomy and of Chemistry. Hafner is a Member of Scientia at Rice and has served as an Associate Editor for ACS Nano from 2010 - 2017. He has taught freshman and sophomore physics for the past nine years, and is a member of Rice's Center for Teaching Excellence.