century focuses on noble metal nanoshells covering semiconducting or insulating cores. Her research was the first to experimentally show that nanoshells with different dimensions and shapes have different plasmonic resonances, and that these resonances could therefore be tuned by changing nanoparticle geometries. Controlling light-matter interaction of these plasmonic nanoparticles includes applications in chemical sensing, catalysis, and energy harvesting, as well as photodynamic therapy and other biomedical applications. In 2003, Halas and her colleague Jennifer L. West were awarded the Nanotechnology Now Best Discovery Award for their groundbreaking work to develop a cancer therapy based on metallic nanoshells. Halas also received the Innovator Award from the US Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Breast Cancer Research Program, and was awarded a four-year $3 million grant to conduct further research into the treatment. Other research Her research also looks at how to integrate plasmonic particles with other photonic systems. The Halas groups collaborates with the Energy Frontier Research Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to study using plasmonics to improve the energy harvesting properties of semiconductor quantum dots and nanocrystals. They use surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and surface-enhanced infrared absorption to develop single-molecule sensing techniques. Awards and honors 2018 Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize 2017 Willis E. Lamb Award 2017 Weizmann Women and Science Award 2015 R. W. Wood Prize, Optical Society of America 2014 SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award 2014 Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids, American Physical Society 2012 Doctor of Science honoris causa, University of Victoria, Canada 2012 Alexander M. Cruickshank Award, Gordon Research Conferences 2010 R. E. Tressler Award, Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University 2007 Doctor of Science honoris causa, La Salle University 2003 Nanotechnology Now Best Discovery Award She has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (2013), National Academy of Engineering (2014), National Academy of Inventors (2015), American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), and American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009). She is a fellow of the American Physical Society (2001), the Optical Society of America (2003), SPIE (2007), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2008), and the Materials Research Society (2013). Selected publications References External links Naomi Halas Rice webpage The American Hungarian Federation: Featured Member CNN biography and interview with Naomi Halas, June 2007 An SPIE video interview with Naomi Halas about metallic nanoparticles Nanotechnology Now article of Best Discovery Award Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans eds History