In the meantime...

Since January 2010 (when I got back from my semester in Australia), I have been working as a research assistant in the Barron Research Group at Rice University.  I work with Alvin Orbaek, a PhD candidate in Chemistry, investigating the growth of carbon nanotubes, a very interesting new material with incredible properties.  They are very small - 50,000 times thinner than a human hair - and very strong, while also having incredible thermal and electrical conduction properties.

Recently, a paper that I helped with was published in Nano Letters - Increasing the Efficiency of Single Walled Carbon Nanotube Amplification by Fe-Co Catalysts Through the Optimization of CH4/H2 Partial Pressures.  It is pretty interesting work (if you're into that sort of thing), and if it can be developed more, it could have some very important implications in the nanotechnology industry.  Basically, we're looking for a way to make the nanotubes grow longer so that they can be used in power lines, since they can transport electricity much more efficiently than the copper wire that is currently used.

Recently, the paper was featured in Dateline Rice, the Rice University news digest:

Breakthrough in development of cable for ultra-efficient electricity grid of the future
A scientific breakthrough at Rice University could boost our electricity supply without the construction of any additional power plants. Andrew Barron, the Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science, and Alvin Orbaek, a graduate student in chemistry, are quoted. Sid Richardson College senior Andrew Owens is mentioned. Barron also appeared on KRIV-TV to discuss this research. Orbaek is mentioned in the Irish Examiner article.
Gizmag.com (Editor's note: Gizmag.com has been contacted about the misidentification of Owens.)
http://www.gizmag.com/armchair-quantum-wire-breakthrough/19232/
KRIV-TV (This story also appeared on KUQI-TV [Corpus Christi, Texas].)
http://tinyurl.com/64x29xk
Road safety system drives Irish team to tech success
Irish Examiner
http://tinyurl.com/6fsvp7p
Armchair Quantum Wire to reduce electricity transmission losses
CrazyEngineers.com
http://tinyurl.com/6jok87l
Nanotubes set foundation for future power grids
Softpedia.com
http://tinyurl.com/6cc55ej