Professional Career

• 2007-present: Postdoctoral Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• 2005-2006: Postdoctoral Associate, University of Chicago

Education

• 2005: PhD Inorganic Chemistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
• 2001: BS (Honors) Chemistry, UNAM, Mexico City

Awards

• 2007-2009: Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• 2006: ACS Inorganic Young Investigator Award
• 2004: Messersmith Graduate Fellowship, University of Rochester
• 2004: ACS Inorganic Division Travel Award, Anaheim, CA
• 2003-2004: Elon Huntington Hooker Graduate Fellowship, University of Rochester
• 2001-2005: Sherman-Clarke Fellowship, University of Rochester
• 1997-2001: Academic performance distinction, UNAM
• 2000: University of Helsinki-UNAM undergraduate exchange scholarship
• 1999: University of California-UNAM Education Abroad Program
• 1999: Summer undergraduate research scholarship, Mexican Academy of Sciences
• 1996-2000: TELMEX Foundation Award
   

Contact Information MS-J567, C-PCS Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM 87545 phone: 505 664 0604 e-mail: jvelab@lanl.gov

Current Research:

My current research involves the synthesis and characterization of semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots and wires, as well as lanthanide doped nanophosphors, for applications in biology, gas sensors, thermoelectrics and photovoltaics.

Previous Research:

My previous research experience was in the areas of olefin polymerization, organometallic chemistry and catalysis, and synthetic bioinorganic chemistry.

Selected Publications

• Chen, Y.; Vela, J.; Htoon, H.; Casson, J. L.; Werder, D. J.; Bussian, D. A.; Klimov, V. I.; Hollingsworth, J. A. "Giant Multishell CdSe Nanocrystal Quantum Dots with Suppressed Blinking" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 5026-5027.
• Vela, J.; Lief, G.; Shen, Z.; Jordan, R. F. "Ethylene Polymerization by Palladium Alkyl Complexes Containing Bis(aryl)phosphino-toluenesulfonate Ligands" Organometallics 2007, 26, 6624-6635.
• Vela, J.; Cirera, J.; Smith, J. M.; Lachicotte, R. J.; Flaschenriem, C. J.; Alvarez, S.; Holland, P.L. "Quantitative Geometric Descriptions of the Belt Iron Atoms of the Iron-Molybdenum Cofactor of Nitrogenase and Synthetic Iron(II) Model Complexes" Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 60-71.