Hari Singh Nalwa

Hari Singh Nalwa (born January 15, 1954) is an American scientist working in the fields of nanotechnology and materials science. He has authored more than 150 scientific articles, 25 book chapters, 18 patents (Hitachi Ltd., Japan), and 114 scientific books in the fields of nanotechnology, materials science and polymer science.

Nalwa received a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in bio-sciences from the Meerut University in 1974, a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Organic Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 1977, and his PhD degree in Polymer Science/Physical Organic Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1983. In his PhD, he studied the electrical and the thermal properties of macromolecular systems such as thiourea-based polymers and metallophthalocyanines. He worked as a guest scientist at the Hahn Meitner Institute (HMI) in West Berlin, West Germany in 1983–1984, and moved to the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California in 1984 as a research associate. He moved to the State University of New York, Buffalo in 1987 and worked on nonlinear optics. In 1988, he joined the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan, as a lecturer/assistant professor and worked on conducting polymers and organic materials. In October 1990, he joined Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi City, Japan as a staff scientist. While working at Hitachi Ltd., he was concurrently an honorary visiting professor at IIT Delhi. He resigned from Hitachi Ltd. in 1999 and returned to the United States. He worked as the head of department and R&D manager at Ciba Specialty Chemical Corporation (Ciba-Geigy, Switzerland) in Los Angeles, California for a year (1999–2000), thereafter, he resigned to start his own business entitled "American Scientific Publishers" focused on nanotechnology.

Nalwa’s research includes electrically conducting polymers, nonlinear optical materials for integrated optics, ab initio calculations, electroluminescent materials, low and high dielectric constant materials for microelectronics packaging, organic semiconductors, nanocrystalline and nanostructured materials, Langmuir-Blodgett films, high-temperature resistant polymer composites, epoxy-based photopolymers, rapid modeling, and stereolithography. He has made contributions to a wide spectrum of research areas from polymer science to materials science to nanotechnology and published many outstanding research papers and books. The "Handbook of Advanced Electronic and Photonic Materials and Devices", 10-Volume Set edited by Nalwa was published by Academic Press in 2001.

(1) CONDUCTING POLYMERS: Nalwa has worked on a variety of electrically conducting polymers including polyacetylene, poly(diacetylene), polypyrrole, polythiophene, polyfuran, polyaniline, and heteroaromatic ladder polymers, their copolymers, and their-based composites. The "Handbook of Organic Conductive Molecules and Polymers" (4-Volume Set, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1997) edited by Nalwa, is a major reference source that has received much attention from researchers and professionals working in the field of conducting polymers.

(2) NONLINEAR OPTICS: Nalwa worked for over a decade in the field of nonlinear optics (NLO), focused on the synthesis, characterization, ab initio calculations, and study of second- and third-order NLO properties of organic materials, including aromatic polyureas, polyazine, polythiophene, porphyrazine, metallophthalocyanine, and naphthalocyanine derivatives. The book entitled "Nonlinear Optics of Organic Molecules and Polymers", edited by H. S. Nalwa and S. Miyata, published by CRC Press in 1997, is one of the top reference sources in this research field.

(3) NANOTECHNOLOGY: In 1992, in a collaboration between Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., and Research Institute for Polymers and Textiles at Tsukuba Science City, Nalwa worked for one year on the synthesis of nano/microcrystals of organic conjugated chromophores. This was the first study by Nalwa to nanostructured materials/nanotechnology, when only a handful of scientists around the world were involved in the field of nanotechnology. Thereafter, he has published many outstanding major-reference books, encyclopedias, and review articles focused on emerging new aspects of nanotechnology including toxicological impact of nanomaterials on human health and the environment, applications of nanotechnology in cancer diagnosis and therapy, nano-energy, applications of biomaterials in nanobiotechnology, soft nanomaterials, and nanodrugs, etc. Nalwa has edited 60 books in the field of nanotechnology. The "Handbook of Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnology" (5 Volumes, Academic Press, San Diego, 2000) edited by Dr. Nalwa, was the first multi-volume handbook ever published in the field of nanotechnology. Likely, the "Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology" (25 Volumes, American Scientific Publishers, Los Angeles, 2004/2011) edited by Nalwa, is the one and only such major landmark reference work in the world.

Working for over 30 years, Nalwa has authored over 150 scientific articles, 25 book chapters, 18 patents (Hitachi Ltd., Japan), and 114 scientific books in the fields of nanotechnology, materials science and polymer science mainly focused on functional electronic and photonic materials and their-based device applications. Dr. Nalwa is an international authority and an expert in editing multivolume major reference works, he has written and edited/co-edited 114 (single-volume) scientific books for the scientific community, and he is one of the most cited scientists in the world. His great reputation in the scientific community is evident by a long list of research publications, multivolume scientific books and encyclopedias that he has published in crossdisciplinary research areas of nanotechnology, materials science, polymer science, biological sciences, chemistry, and physics. He has Edited/Co-edited 114 Scientific Books.

Nalwa is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (www.aspbs.com/jnn), Advanced Science Letters (www.aspbs.com/science), and Advanced Science, Engineering and Medicine (www.aspbs.com/asem). He is well known throughout scientific community for his monumental editorial work on "Handbook of Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnology" (5-Volume Set, Academic Press, San Diego, USA, 1999) which received the "Award of Excellence" from the Association of American Publishers. After the publication of this multivolume handbook, he started the most ambitious publication project of the Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in summer 2000 to bring the World's first encyclopedia in the field of nanotechnology. Nalwa is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines published by John Wiley (1997–2000). He has served on the editorial board of Journal of Macromolecular Science-Physics, Applied Organometallic Chemistry (1993–1999), International Journal of Photoenergy, and Photonics Science News. He has been a referee for many international journals that includes Journal of American Chemical Society, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Applied Physics Letters, Journal of Applied Physics, Chemistry of Materials, Journal of Materials Science, Coordination Chemistry Reviews, Applied Organometallic Chemistry, Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, Journal of Macromolecular Science-Physics, Applied Physics, Materials Research Bulletin, Optical Communications, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology. Nalwa helped organize the First International Symposium on the Crystal Growth of Organic Materials (Tokyo,1989) and the Second International Symposium on Phthalocyanines (Edinburgh,1998) under the auspices of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He also proposed the first conference on porphyrins and phthalocyanines to the scientific community that, in part, was intended to promote public awareness of the Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, which he founded in 1996 and remained the Editor-in-Chief until December 2000. As a member of the organizing committee, he helped effectuate the First International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, which was held in Dijon, France in 2000. He was on the organizing committee of the BioMEMS and Smart Nanostructures, (December 17 19, 2001, Adelaide, Australia).

Nalwa received the "Award of Excellence" from the Association of American Publishers for his editorial work on "Handbook of Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnology" (5-Volume Set, Academic Press, San Diego, US, 1999). The World's first Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (10-Volume Set, American Scientific Publishers, Los Angeles, US, 2004) edited by Nalwa received the "2005 Best Reference Work Award" of the American Society for Engineering Education (USA) and was also selected as the "2005 Outstanding Academic Title" by the CHOICE magazine from the American Library Association (USA). Dr. Nalwa has been cited in the "Who’s Who in Science and Engineering", "Who’s Who in America", "Who’s Who in the World", "Dictionary of International Biography" and "2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century Order of Excellence and “Top 100 Scientists-2008” (International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England).