Inorganic Semiconductor Nanowires: Rational Synthesis, Functional Assemblies and Novel Properties Peidong Yang Department of Chemistry University of California Berkeley, CA Nanowires are of both fundamental and technological interest. They exhibit interesting electronic and optical properties intrinsically associated with their low dimensionality and the quantum confinement effect. Meantime, they also represent the critical components in the potential nanoscale electronic and photonic device applications. Major challenge, however, remains in order to fully exploit these 1-dimensional nanostructures, namely, the development of suitable chemical strategies for the general synthesis, organization and integration of these nanoscale building blocks. In this talk, I will introduce the vapor-liquid-solid crystal growth mechanism for the general synthesis of nanowires of different compositions, sizes, orientation and doping profile. Synthesis and organization of different types of heterostructured nanowires will be discussed. I will also discuss some of the unique linear and nonlinear optical properties of the nanowires and their potential applications including nanolaser, nanosensor and optical switch.