Potember's recent achievements have focused on
biotechnology and
biomedical engineering. He performed pioneering work that demonstrated individual living nerve cells can be grown into controlled geometric patterns on substrates and these neurons can form true synaptic connections.[13][14][15] He also invented a pathogen neutralization technology[16] that can be used to destroy viruses, bacteria and spores real-time in ventilated air, and in heating or air conditioning systems.
Potember has two sons and lives with his wife in Maryland.
Awards and achievements
His inventions in the field of biodefense were the basis for the formation of the Biodefense Research Group Inc., (BDRGI).[32] Potember was the recipient of the APL Master Inventor Award in 2007 and the APL Inventor of the Year Award in 2004.[33][34] He received a commendation from the United States Air Force,
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1989 for his work on optical switching materials.[35]
Community involvement
Potember served as a trustee at
Goucher College for a full ten-year term (1996–2005).[36] He served on
Howard County, Maryland Economic Development Authority Center for Business and Technology. He delivered hands-on science and engineering lectures to students in the Howard County, Maryland, school system. He served as a youth sailing instructor at the Potapskut Sailing Association, Pasadena, Maryland.
^"Richard Potember". Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals. 6 March 2017.
^Miyasaka, Hitoshi; Campos-Fernández, Cristian S.; Galán-Mascarós, José Ramón; Dunbar, Kim R. (2000). "One-Dimensional Assemblies of Dirhodium Units Bridged byN,N'-Dicyanoquinonediimine Ligands". Inorganic Chemistry. 39 (25): 5870–5873.
doi:
10.1021/ic0007097.
PMID11151392.
^O'Kane, Shannon A.; Clérac, Rodolphe; Zhao, Hanhua; Ouyang, Xiang; Galán-Mascarós, José Ramón; Heintz, Robert; Dunbar, Kim R. (2000). "New Crystalline Polymers of Ag(TCNQ) and Ag(TCNQF4): Structures and Magnetic Properties". Journal of Solid State Chemistry. 152 (1): 159–173.
Bibcode:
2000JSSCh.152..159O.
doi:
10.1006/jssc.2000.8679.
^Potember, R. S.; Poehler, T. O.; Cowan, D. O. (1979). "Electrical switching and memory phenomena in Cu‐TCNQ thin films". Applied Physics Letters. 34 (6): 405–407.
Bibcode:
1979ApPhL..34..405P.
doi:
10.1063/1.90814.
^Potember, R. S.; Poehler, T. O.; Benson, R. C. (1982). "Optical switching in semiconductor organic thin films". Applied Physics Letters. 41 (6): 548–550.
Bibcode:
1982ApPhL..41..548P.
doi:
10.1063/1.93591.
^Matsuzawa, Mieko; Weight, Forrest F.; Potember, Richard S.; Liesi, Päivi (1996). "Directional Neurite Outgrowth and Axonal Differentiation of Embryonic Hippocampal Neurons Are Promoted by a Neurite Outgrowth Domain of the B2-Chain of Laminin". International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience. 14 (3): 283–295.
doi:
10.1016/0736-5748(96)00014-7.
PMID8842805.
S2CID10905123.
^Antoine, Miquel D.; Bryden, Wayne A.; Ko, Harvey W.; Scholl, Peter F.; Potember, Richard S.; Cotter, Robert J. (1998). "Real Time Sampling and Analysis of Biological Biomarkers by TOF Mass Spectrometry". SAE Technical Paper Series. Vol. 1.
doi:
10.4271/981740.