Dr. Alex Punnoose joined the faculty at Boise State University in 2002. Before coming to the United States, Dr. Punnoose was educated in India, earning a B.S in Physics from Mahatma Gandhi University, and then his M.S. in Solid State Physics and Ph.D. in Physics from Aligarh University. In addition to teaching and mentoring students from the undergraduate to the post-doctoral level, he served in many capacities at the University, and in the greater scientific community.

In 2005, Dr. Punnoose received the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for early career faculty — a $400,000 grant that recognized his effectiveness at integrating education and research. The CAREER award, given to outstanding faculty from across the nation who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century, supported Dr. Punnoose’s research. The grant also provided funding for as many as 15 Boise State graduate and undergraduate students to work in his lab over five years.

Dr. Punnoose researched ways to make semiconductor devices smaller (nanotechnology), more effective by making use of the magnetic behavior of electrons (spintronics) and by manipulating the optical properties of materials (photonics), and by investigating the interactions of the high surface area nanoparticles with gaseous/chemical environments (nanosensors; catalysis) and with biological systems including eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells (nano-biotechnology). All of these research areas are at the intersection of physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, and engineering, and require collaboration with experts in these disciplines. Among his many research endeavors, he collaborated with Boise State biology professors in a new area of nano-biotechnology. This collaboration led to the project, “Novel Nanoparticles That Kill Cancer Cells”, being honored as a finalist for Early-Stage Innovation of the Year at the 2010 Idaho Innovation Awards.