Naomi Halas教授于1980年获美国La Salle大学化学学士学位；1987年获Bryn Mawr大学物理学博士学位。在结束AT&T贝尔实验室的博士后工作后，任教于Rice大学。现任电子和计算机工程系Stanley C. Moore教授，化学系、生物医学系、物理系教授，纳米光子学实验室主任。她最重要的贡献是发明了一种新型的光学性质可调控的纳米颗粒—纳米壳层结构，该结构尤其适用于生物技术上的应用。她获得了美国和国际上的多种奖项和荣誉，例如美国自然科学基金会杰出青年奖金，三个 Hershel Rich 发明奖。她在国际重要期刊上发表160多篇文章，作邀请报告170多次，有9项专利。她是美国物理学会成员、美国光学学会成员、SPIE成员和IEEE成员，Nano Letters副主编。

Halas教授是徐红星研究员推荐的中科院外国专家特聘研究员，一直以来与我组有着紧密的合作。此次来访一方面是与我组在设计和制备具有特殊光学特性的金/银纳米结构方面进行合作研究，另一方面参加ChinaNANO会议，在徐红星研究员作为联合主席的7分会上做了邀请报告，还在物理所做了题为“When plasmons interact, worlds collide: the emerging field of Nanophotonics”的纳米实验室学术报告。报告摘要如下：

Perhaps the most important and potentially far-reaching outcome of the many nanotechnology initiatives worldwide is the birth of the new field of Nanophotonics. Our growing abilities to generate and manipulate light at nanoscale dimensions based on the properties of metals springs from the confluence of scientific disciplines, from condensed matter physics to electromagnetism, including chemistry and modern materials science. The impact of this emerging field is already evident in applications spanning the spectrum from chemical sensing for homeland defense, solar light harvesting for alternative energy, new device concepts for state-of-the-art computer chips to new and revolutionary biomedical applications. In my talk I will discuss how metallic nanostructures, known since antiquity for their remarkably vivid and colorful optical properties, are now being designed and engineered as new nanoscale optical components that successfully serve a role in all these applications.