Sarah Helen Tolbert is an American chemist who is a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. Her research considers self-assembled nanomaterials, which includes inorganic phases and colloidal materials.

Early life and education

Tolbert's father, Bert Tolbert, was a professor of chemistry at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado s ...

. She was one of four daughters. Tolbert was an undergraduate student at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. She moved to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

for graduate studies, where she studied the structural, optical and cooperative properties of nanomaterials. She was a postdoctoral scholar at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the ...

Research and career

Tolbert is interested in the nanoscale assembly of materials, and how these nanostructures give rise to novel phenomena. In particular, Tolbert has investigated arrays of colloids.

Colloids A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

assemble into closely-packed areas that can be used to create large scale periodic photonics materials. Tolbert is interested in inorganic/organic co-assembly. To this end she combines block co-polymers or organic surfactants with short-chain inorganic oligomers. Her early work involved the development of novel conjugated polymer morphologies for efficient

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light ( ...

s. Amongst these morphologies, Tolbert showed it was possible to embed polymers in a silica host matrix, where stretching the matrix results in aligned polymer chains that emit linearly polarized light. Tolbert works on self-assembled nanomaterials. She is particularly interested in introducing structure and periodicity to composite materials. Tolbert has studied phase transitions in inorganic solids. She has created novel, nanostructured electrodes to allow the fast charging of batteries. These include molybdenum disulphide nanocrystal composites, where internal atomic-scale pathways allow lithium ions to speedily move through the electrode. The nanostructure electrodes not only support the efficient charging of batteries but also stable charge and discharging cycles. Tolbert is a developer for Battery Streak, a spin-out company who look to reduce that charging time of electronic devices.

Awards and honors

Alfred P. Sloan Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. ( ; May 23, 1875February 17, 1966) was an American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a long-time president, chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation. Sloan, first as a senior executive and la ...

Fellowship (2001) *

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...

(2000) *

Beckman Young Investigators Award The Beckman Young Investigators Award was established by Mabel and Arnold Beckman in 1991, and is now administered by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. The Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Program is intended to provide research support to ...

(2000) *

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to pla ...

Young Investigator Award (1999)

Selected publications

* * *

Personal life

Tolbert's three sisters are all academics, including atmospheric chemist Margaret Tolbert, political scientist

Caroline Tolbert Caroline Tolbert is an American political scientist. She is a professor of political science at the University of Iowa. She studies elections, voting, and civic engagement in American politics. Much of her work deals with peoples' capacity to use ...

and ethnomusicologist

Elizabeth Tolbert Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

. She was one of four daughters. Tolbert met her husband, Benjamin Schwartz, whilst a graduate student at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolbert, Sarah Helen Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of California, Los Angeles faculty Yale University alumni UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni American women chemists Inorganic chemists American materials scientists Women materials scientists and engineers 21st-century American women