Nick was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA in 1980.  In nearby Fairview, he attended K-12 schooling.  He began his professional schooling at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College and subsequently transferred to Penn State, University Park where he completed his B.S. in Engineering Science in 2004. Under the guidance of Professor Galen Stucky, Nick received his Ph.D. from the Materials Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2009. Currently, Nick is conducting postdoctoral research in Professor Nate Lewis's group at Caltech.

Nate Lewis Research Group at Caltech
Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara
Galen Stucky Research Group at UCSB
Engineering Science, Pennsylvania State University

Materials Research Laboratory Diversity Award (With Graduate Students for Diversity in Science), 2009
Materials Research Laboratory Education Program Service Award, 2008
Fenlon Award for Most Outstanding Engineering Science Thesis, 2004
Mindbend Penn State, First Place Undergraduate, 2004

Rise Program Mentor, UCSB, 2007-2009
NNIN NIMS Program Mentor, UCSB, 2008
Research Experience For Teachers (RET) Program Mentor, UCSB, 2008
Monte Vista Science Night, Santa Barbara, CA, 2005-2009
Materials Research Laboratory UCSB, ScienceLine Scientist, 2005-2009
Materials Research Laboratory UCSB, General Outreach, 2005-2009
Graduate Students for Diversity in Science (UCSB, MRL), 2006-2009
Expanding Pathways to Science, Engineering and Mathematics (EPSEM) Mentor UCSB, 2005
VOSHPA Volunteer eye care in Peten, Guatemala, 2002-2003

American Chemical Society
Materials Research Society
Surfrider Foundation
Natural Resources Defense Council

Strandwitz, N.C., Stucky, G.D., “Hollow Microporous Cerium Oxide Spheres Templated By Colloidal Silica”, Chemistry of Materials, 21(19), 4577-4582, 2009.
10.1021/cm901516b.

Baker, S.E., Sawvel, A. M., Fan, J., Shi, Q., Strandwitz, N.C., Stucky, G.D., “Blood-Clot Initiation by Mesocellular Foams: Dependence on Nanopore Size and Enzyme Immobilization”, Langmuir, 24(24), 14254-14260, 2008.
10.1021/la802804z.

Boettcher, S.W., Berg, S.A., Schierhorn, M., Strandwitz, N.C., Lonergan, M.C., Stucky, G.D., “Ionic Ligand Mediated Electrochemical Charging of Gold Nanoparticle Assemblies”, Nano Letters, 2008.
doi: 10.1021/nl8021412.

Strandwitz, N.C., Khan, A., Boettcher, S.W., Mikhailovsky, A.A., Hawker, C.J., Nguyen, Q., Stucky, G.D., “One- and Two-Photon Polymerization of Methymethacrylate Using Semiconductor Quantum Dots”, Journal of the American Chemical Society 130(26), 8280, 2008.
doi: 10.1021/ja711295k.

Khan, A., Campos, L.M., Mikhailovsky, A., Toprak, M., Strandwitz, N.C., Stucky, G.D., Hawker, C.J., “Holographic Recording in Cross-Linked Polymeric Matrices through Photoacid Generation”, Chemistry of Materials 20(11), 3669-3674, 2008.
doi: 10.1021/cm800500q.

Boettcher, S.W., Strandwitz, N.C., Schierhorn, M., Lock, N., Lonergan, M.C., Stucky G.D., “Tuneable Electronic Interfaces Between Bulk Semiconductors and Ligand-Stabilized Nanoparticle Assemblies”, Nature Materials 6(8), 592 - 596, 2007.
doi:10.1038/nmat1943.

Zide, J.M.O., Kleiman-Schwarsctein, A., Strandwitz, N.C., Zimmerman, J.D., Steenblock-Smith, T., Gossard, A.C., Forman, A., Ivanovskaya, A., Stucky, G.D., “Increased efficiency in multijunction solar cells through incorporation of semimetallic ErAs nanoparticles into the tunnel junction” Applied Physics Letters 88, 162103, 2006.
doi:10.1063/1.2196059.

Rose, J.L., Hay, T.R., Strandwitz, N.C., 2002, "Recent Progress and Future Work on Small Crack and Corrosion Detection in Aircraft," 5th International Aircraft Corrosion Workshop, Solomons Island, MD, August 20-23, 2002.

Strandwitz, N.C., Li, H., Fonash, S.J., "Nano-scale gas/vapor sensor"; 2003 NNUN REU Research Accomplishments, p.68-69, Nov. 2003.
http://www.nnun.org/REU.html

Strandwitz, N.C. and Rose, J.L., "Fabrication of a Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (cMUT)", Undergraduate Thesis, The Pennsylvania State University. May 2004.

Strandwitz, N.C., Nonoguchi, Y., Boettcher, S.W., Stucky, G.D., "In Situ Photopolymerization of Conducting Polymers in Mesoporous Titania", Oral, Gordon Research Conference, Graduate Research Seminar, Ventura, CA. Feb. 2009.

Strandwitz, N.C., Khan, A., Boettcher, S.W., Mikhailovsky, A.A., Hawker, C.J., Nguyen, Q., Stucky, G.D., "Semiconductor Quantum Dot Sensitized Multiphoton Polymerization", Oral, ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA. Apr. 2008.

Strandwitz, N.C., Boettcher, S.W., Schierhorn, M., Khan, A., Mikhailovsky, A.A., Hawker, C.J., Nguyen, Q., Stucky, G.D., “Utilizing Excitations in Semiconductor Quantum Dots”, Oral, Corning Incorporated. Sept. 2007.

Strandwitz, N.C., Boettcher, S.W., Stucky, G.D.,“Quantum Dot Photovoltaics”, Poster, Gordon Research Conference (Solar Fuels), Ventura, CA. Jan, 2007.

Strandwitz, N.C., Boettcher, S.W., Stucky, G.D., “Quantum Dot Photoelectrochemical Devices”, Poster, ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 2006.

Strandwitz, N.C. and Rose, J.L., "Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for Structural Health Monitoring", Oral, Mindbend Penn State, 2004.