Three Members of Nanosys Named as World's Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT Technology Review

Palo Alto, CA - (September 15, 2003).Nanosys, Inc., a leader in nanotechnology-enabled systems, announced today that two of its employees, Dr Stephen Empedocles and Dr. Xiangfeng Duan, and one member of its exclusive Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Peidong Yang, have been named to the prestigious 2003 TR100 list of the world’s 100 Top Young Innovators by MIT’s Technology Review.

The TR100 is an annual award given by MIT’s Magazine of Innovation, Technology Review and recognizes 100 individuals under the age of 35 whose innovative work in business and technology has a profound impact on our world. Nominees are recognized for their contribution in transforming the nature of technology in industries such as biotechnology, computing, energy, manufacturing, nanotechnology, novel materials, telecommunications and transportation and are regarded as having the most potential to shape significant technological innovations in the 21st century. The nominees are selected by an elite panel of judges consisting of current business and technology leaders from leading academics to technology executives and investors.

Dr. Paul Alivisatos, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley and one of the leading pioneers in the field of nanotechnology, remarked: "What distinguishes the TR100 award is that it is looking ahead into the next century and identifying the leaders of tomorrow. The ability of Nanosys to attract and cultivate three of the top 100 people in the field is a remarkable accomplishment."

Drs. Empedocles, Duan, and Yang are recognized for their work in the field of nanotechnology, having each contributed to the discovery, development and integration of nanomaterials with fundamentally unique electronic, optical and magnetic properties into nano-enabled systems applicable in fields as varied as life and physical sciences, information technology, electronics, and renewable energy. Driven by curiosity, talent and determination, Drs. Empedocles, Duan, and Yang have created innovative inorganic semiconductor nano-systems that are already reshaping industry's thinking and approach to developing new technologies in the nanoscale world.

"It’s a very special honor and a great joy to receive this TR100 award," said Dr. Xiangfeng Duan, a Scientist in Nanosys Advanced Technology Group “After years of academic work on the fundamental development of nanowires at Harvard University, it is especially exciting to turn nanowire technology into commercial reality with the group of outstanding scientists at Nanosys.”
Dr. Stephen Empedocles, Nanosys Co-founder and Director of Business Development, commented: "It’s an honor for all of us to be selected among the great innovators in the TR100. It’s also exciting to see that the world recognizes the contribution to innovation being made by the Nanosys team as a whole, and the importance of the nanotechnology industry to the future of innovation."

“These three awards highlight our successful approach to developing truly avant-garde technologies with a team of the world’s most innovative researchers”, commented Larry Bock, Nanosys President and CEO, “They recognize the great strides the Nanosys team has achieved towards converting the promises of nanotechnology into reality.”

About Xiangfeng Duan

Dr. Duan is a founding scientist in the Advanced Technology Group at Nanosys, Inc. He is leading efforts in expanding the core technology platform, identifying new applications and advancing the newest ideas into compelling commercial demonstrations. Dr. Duan has carried out pioneering work in developing methods for rational synthesis and hierarchical assembly of semiconductor nanowires into increasingly complex architectures, and investigating and developing new nanoscale device concepts based on these assembled nanostructures. Dr. Duan has received the Collegiate Inventors Competition Award and the MRS Graduate Student Award Gold Medal. Dr. Duan has published key papers in Science, Nature, and Nano Letters, which have been highlighted by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and cited as Breakthrough of the Year (2001), by Science magazine, Chemistry Highlights 2001, and by Chemical and Engineering News. Dr. Duan received his M.A. and Ph.D. Degree from Harvard University, and B.S. Degree from the University of Science and Technology of China.

About Stephen Empedocles

Dr. Empedocles is a Co-founder and Director of Business Development at Nanosys Inc. He has spent several years in the field of nanotechnology, working on the fundamental study of nanomaterials and the commercialization of nanotechnology-enabled products and systems. Dr. Empedocles was an early employee at Quantum Dot Corporation, developing novel nano-based fluorescent tags and detection systems for use in biological testing. Most recently, he was part of the start-up team at Ultraphotonics, developing nano-based telecommunications technologies. Dr. Empedocles is widely published in the field of nanoscience, including articles appearing in premier journals such as Science, Nature and Physical Review Letters. He has also co-authored over 15 patents and patent applications in the field of nanotechnology, covering areas from biotechnology to optics and telecommunications. Dr. Empedocles received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

About Peidong Yang

Dr. Yang is a Founding Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Nanosys Inc. He is a ChevronTexaco Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, where his group concentrates on the synthesis of new classes of materials and nanostructures, with an emphasis on developing new synthetic approaches and understanding the fundamental issues of structural assembly and growth that will enable the rational control of material composition, micro/nano-structure, property and functionality. Dr. Yang is a leading expert in optoelectronics and nanoelectronics. Dr. Yang has received numerous awards, among them the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, Beckman Award, 3M Untenured Faculty Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and the NSF Career Award. Dr Yang has published numerous articles in premier journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Materials and Nano Letters. Professor Yang completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Harvard University and his B.A. in Chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China.

About Technology Review Inc.

Technology Review Inc., a MIT Enterprise, delivers essential information about emerging technologies on the verge of commercialization. Since 1998, paid circulation for the company's magazine, Technology Review, has more than tripled, climbing from 92,000 to 315,000. Combined with its signature events, newsletters, and online businesses, Technology Review reaches over a million senior technology thinkers and influencers – including venture capitalists, chief scientists, MIT alumni and students, researchers, senior corporate executives, investors, and innovators – throughout the world each month.

About Nanosys

Nanosys, Inc. is a rapidly growing advanced technology company, leading the burgeoning nanotechnology industry through the development of nano-enabled systems. These systems incorporate novel and patent-protected nanostructures that integrate functional complexity directly into each individual nanoparticle, enabling the low-cost fabrication of revolutionary high-value, high-performance applications in a broad range of industries from life and physical sciences to information technology and communications to renewable energy and defense. These nanostructures include nanowires, nanorods, nanotetrapods, and nanodots formed from all of the industrially important semiconductor materials as their principal active elements. These systems exploit the fundamentally new and unique electronic, optical, magnetic, interface, and integration properties associated with materials on the nanometer-scale. The initial applications include exquisitely sensitive chemical and biological sensors, high performance large area macroelectronics, and lightweight high-efficiency conformal photovoltaics. Nanosys, Inc. is a highly innovative company combining the best talent and the strongest intellectual property position in the field of nanotechnology.