Edward Van Keuren, associate professor and chair of the physics department at Georgetown, has found himself in the middle of groundbreaking research in two vital areas: medicine and energy.
“I guess I got to the right places at the right times,” Van Keuren says of his involvement in both of these important fields.
Since coming to Georgetown in 1999, he has published more than 20 articles in science journals and amassed a body of work filled with physics and optical research. He is collaborating with the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis. And his work with a solar energy company will examine materials for developing organic solar cells.
“I tend to work on about five or six different research projects at a time,” Van Keuren says. “But these two are the ones I’m working on the most these days.”
Van Keuren’s project with Lombardi is two-fold. The first part involves examining new microscopic nanoparticles to create contrast agents to help more easily detect small, hard-to-see tumors in a magnetic resonance image (MRI).
As early diagnosis has been defined as crucial in successful cancer treatment, Van Keuren hopes this research, being carried out in collaboration with members of the university’s chemistry department, will assist in that effort.
“Small tumors are difficult to see in MRIs,” Van Keuren explains. “We are focused on creating contrast agents that will help to make an image brighter so one can see it, and thus a small tumor, more clearly.”
While the first part of this project involves early cancer diagnosis, the second part examines the uses of nanoparticles for cancer treatment.
“We are trying to use nanoparticles in conjunction with some of the cancer center’s new technology to actually kill cancer cells,” Van Keuren says.
On the energy side, Van Keuren is working with Virginia-based Luna Nanoworks on developing materials for solar technology, specifically through the use of organic solar cells. The solar cells will convert sunlight directly to electricity.
“The organic part means that it can be made from inexpensive, flexible materials that enable use in many new applications,” Van Keuren explains. “Right now, this is really a project of gradual improvement. We knew from the beginning that this material would be perfect for capturing the sun’s energy, and it’s looking very promising.”
Van Keuren didn’t start off with aspirations to work at the university level.
“I had spent summers interning at IBM and Kodak, so I really wanted to work in the industry,” Van Keuren says.
Van Keuren received his bachelor’s degree in physics in 1984 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Two years later, he earned his master’s degree in physics from Carnegie Mellon University. He focused on optics -- a branch of physics that studies light. Van Keuren’s optics studies focused on the use of lasers to either fabricate materials or characterize materials in a way that can make them easier to understand.
After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a Ph.D. in physics, Van Keuren followed his dream to work in the corporate sector, accepting a visiting science position in Germany with the world’s largest chemical company, BASF.
While stationed in Germany, he took advantage of the long-term optics research relationship Germany had developed with the Japanese government and companies there. He received a job offer from a Japanese national lab and later moved back to BASF’s Japan offices, where he developed materials for telecommunications through the use of optics and optical switches. As the project reached completion, BASF wanted Van Keuren to return to Germany to a more managerial function, something that didn’t appeal to him.
“While I was working in Japan, I had gotten married and had children, so I either wanted to settle in Japan or return to the U.S.,” Van Keuren recalls about his decision to enter academia. “So when Georgetown started a new graduate program that focused on industrial physics, it seemed like the right place to be.”
In addition to his research, the professor provides guidance to the next generation of scientists by teaching undergraduate physics courses in experimental methods and mechanics and advising his undergraduate and graduate students on their own research projects.
“Ed is one of the best teachers in the department, having won the College Dean’s Teaching Award this year,” says James Freericks, physics professor and co-director of undergraduate studies. “He is great in the classroom, but truly excels with teaching undergraduate students how to do research in the laboratory.”
Andrew Molchan (C’10), who had Van Keuren last fall for Methods of Experimental Physics, says he has benefited from the physics professors’s instruction.
“In class, he presents material in a very straightforward way,” he says. “He takes the time to fully explain concepts, rather than just giving outlines of an idea and leaving the student to piece everything together.”
Molchan received a Lisa J. Raines and AAP Summer Research grant last summer to work on experiments in hyperthermia therapy -- an emerging cancer treatment -- in the physics department, where Van Keuren also served as his adviser.
“Professor Van Keuren understands the difficulties of doing research as an undergraduate, and he really makes an effort to provide guidance and support,” the physics major adds. “Even though he is the chair of the department and has numerous other duties, he always took the time to schedule weekly progress meetings with me to check in on my research.”
As a graduate student in Van Keuren’s lab,
Maki Nishida (C’05, G’10) attests to the professor’s enthusiasm in teaching. Nishida not only learned from Van Keuren in the classroom, but also as his teaching assistant.
“He constantly seeks ways to teach students physics in the interesting, yet challenging, ways that motivate students to explore the subject deeper,” says Nishida. “His passion to teach has encouraged me to learn and explore challenging subjects.”
Van Keuren hopes his efforts will continue to contribute to advancements in both medicine and energy. To ensure that he does all he can to work toward that goal, he has joined colleagues from Lombardi and other science faculty at the university in an organization called GC Fit -- a center for cross-campus collaboration where faculty members combine resources across the different sciences to see if they can address medical problems.
“It feels really good to contribute,” Van Keuren says. “I would do this anyway, but it’s nice to have it mean something more than just research for research’s sake.”
This story was contributed by Research News, an online publication for Georgetown College.
