Alain Diebold

Title: Empire Innovation Professor of Nanoscale Science at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and executive director of the Center for Nanoscale Metrology and NC3.

Age: 57

Passion outside work: Keeping saltwater fish. Maintaining a 120-gallon tank for a saltwater fish collection is a lot harder than it sounds, but Alain Diebold is the perfect person for such a hobby.

That's because a saltwater fish tank requires constant measurement and monitoring, including weekly water changes, regular filter cleaning, and constant monitoring of the temperature and pH and salinity levels. That's similar to what the metrology field is like in the world of semiconductors and nanotechnology, which also deals with precise measurement.

Although Diebold kept freshwater fish when he was a child, he didn't start raising saltwater fish until he was an adult, although he had to leave his first tank in Texas when he was recruited to the NanoCollege several years ago. He assembled a new tank at his Niskayuna home about a year and a half ago.

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He now has six fish, including a clownfish and a foxface, and he also has live corals, snails, spiny sea urchins and star fish. He's extremely proud of the fact that he has gotten the coral to grow, a feat he says is not easy.

In fact, making sure the fish themselves live and thrive is also a challenge, and Diebold suggests that others who want to take up the hobby should do their homework in advance and spend a lot of time not only reading books and searching the Internet on the subject, but also making lots of trips to the local pet store to ask lots of questions.

He says after the animated movie "Finding Nemo" came out in 2003, a lot of people went out and bought clownfish without knowing how to properly take care of them, and many died. Diebold says that with proper care some fish can live for 15 years.

Although the hobby is not cheap, Diebold says it helps him relax after a long day at work, and the fish themselves are extremely colorful and beautiful.

Quote: "It's a bit more challenging (than freshwater fish). You can feel accomplishment."