Hochella Group

Former group member Kevin Rosso talks with Energy Secretary Steven Chu at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, August 10, 2009 (photo courtesy of the Tri-City Herald).

We are a research group directed by University Distinguished Professor Michael Hochella within the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech. Our work is in the field of nanoscience applied to environmental geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and mineralogy. We are a core member of the national Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT). We also study other complex environmental systems including mineral-microbe interactions and mineral surface science.

For more information on our research, our lab, and the group itself, please follow the links below.

Latest News and Events

(last updated: Nov. 09)

Congratulations to Saumya Bose (2006) and his wife Divya on the birth of their daughter, Sana! Saumya also has a new job at Arcadis, US, Inc in Emeryville, CA.
Mike gave the William Smith Lecture, entitled "New Hidden Earth: Nanoparticles and their Global Role in the Environment, Pollution, and Human Health" at the William Smith Meeting 2009 hosted by the Geological Society at the Burlington House in London England (Sept 21-23, 2009).
Mike, Rebecca and Carol all presented work at the 1st annual International Conference on the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology in Washington, D.C. (Sept. 8-9, 2009).
Kelly Plathe recently gave a talk at the 4th International Conference on Environmental Effects of Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials in Vienna, Austria (Sept. 6-9, 2009).
Dr. Takuya Echigo from the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences in Ibaraki, Japan, recently joined us as a new post-doctoral scholar. Welcome Takuya!
Former PhD student Juan Liu (2009) has recently started a post-doc position at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory working with former PhD student Kevin Rosso (1998) and Don Baer.
Former PhD student Nick Wigginton (2008) is now an Associate Editor at Science Magazine. He is presently working out of the Science office in Cambridge, England, but will be moving to the main Washington, D.C. office in the next few months.
Former PhD student Treavor Kendall (2003) has recently taken a professorship at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

Last summer, Mike (and a few of his colleagues) appeared on the science radio program Pulse of the Planet. The program, featured on NPR stations across the country, airs as two-minute clips of Earth-related research, news, and interviews. Mike is the focus of several episodes as part of the 'Science Diaries' series. To listen to the audio files and read a transcript of each episode, follow this link. Individual links are also provided below. You can read Mike's 'Science Diary' Blog here and a VT press release here.

Note: If you use iTunes, you can subscribe to the Pulse of the Planet Podcast by clicking here.

Individual episode links : Clark Fork River, Hours in the Library, Headwaters, Restoration, Comparison, Shelved, Samples, and Found It!

Update: Pulse of the Planet now charges a small fee ($0.49) to listen to the programs through their website. They are still free from iTunes.

Mike was one of the inaugural Principal Editors of Elements – a magazine of mineralogy, geochemistry, and petrology. Check out the new issue online for news and review articles relating to all things geochemistry.

Mike is the Principal Investigator of The EIGER Project (Exploring Interfaces through Graduate Education and Research). EIGER is funded by NSF’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program.

Our group is now part of ICTAS, VT's new Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. Construction on the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory, which houses the new FEI Titan 300 TEM, is complete. Additionally, our lab has now expanded into the recently completed main ICTAS headquarters building as a part of the 'Environmental Nanoscience and Technology' Lab with faculty members from Environmental Engineering, Chemistry, and Geosciences.