How long have you been using the IEN cleanroom?

I began using the IEN cleanroom eight years ago when I started my Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech and I am still using it today.

What tools have/do you use when you are in the cleanroom?

• Hitachi 4700 FE SEM
• SCS G3P8 Spinners
• Tystar Mini
• Vision RIE
• Unaxis RIE
• PlasmaTherm RIE
• PlasmaTherm ICP
• STS ICP
• Obducat Nanoimprinter
• ADT Dicing Saw

What is/has been your favorite project you have worked on in the IEN cleanroom?

My Ph.D. project, “The Dynamic Sampling Platform for Real-time Bioreactor Monitoring,” has been the most satisfying project I have worked on in the IEN cleanroom. I collaborated with my advisor, Mechanical Engineering Professor Andrei Fedorov, and we utilized the Nanoscribe to make micro-3d printed parts. This allowed me to take interesting SEM images using the Field Emissions Scanning Electron Microscopes. My Ph.D. project was probably the most satisfying to "complete," but I am still working on it to this day.

At the core of my work was a microfluidic mass exchanger that I built in the IEN cleanrooms at Georgia Tech. As a result of this project, Professor Fedorov and I co-founded the startup Andson Biotech. The company is growing, and we recently licensed the technology to enable better biopharmaceutical workflows.

What advice would you give to other researchers thinking about using a tool in the IEN cleanroom?

I would say to only use the cleanroom for your research if you have a burning desire to learn about MEMS/microfabrication or you have to do so for your project. There are very rarely "quick" projects inside cleanrooms. In general, I think if you have the opportunity to learn about anything new you should take that chance.

What is your favorite thing about the IEN cleanroom?

My favorite thing about the IEN cleanroom is the people I've met. Some of my best and longest-term friends have been made in these cleanrooms. I really miss working in the cleanroom as often as I used to, because I don't get to interact with all my best friends. Unfortunately, many of my original friends [from the cleanroom] have moved on to other things. While I miss seeing them, I love to see them succeed!

Learn more about Mason’s project, company, and technology - New Startup Makes Developing Gene Therapies Faster and Easier

“There are swimmer micro-robots that move in a fluid with similar size, but these are the smallest ‘walking’ robots that move on a solid surface,” said Azadeh Ansari, the Sutterfield Family Early Career Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

The Georgia Tech study was recently published in the Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics. Currently, most magnetically-actuated micro-bot systems rely on adding multiple electromagnets to enable full control, resulting in higher power consumption and less flexible setups. Being able to demonstrate that a single coil setup is enough for precise bidirectional motion control is a significant hurdle to clear, according to Ansari. With the micro-bots now much easier to operate, the team has been able to demonstrate micromanipulation capabilities.

“With what we’ve shown, we can already think of applying the micro-bots in a lab setting,” said Ansari. “You could have hundreds of robots on the same substrate working akin to ants in a colony.”

In Spring 2019, Ansari’s team showcased larger (two millimeters long) “micro-bristle-bots” that could move by harnessing vibrations. Vibrations are no longer needed to move the micro-bots because of their updated “rocker” design — hence micro-rocker bots. The new design allows the bots to move by performing a stick–slip motion with an out-of-plane magnetic field.

Stick-slip motion basically refers to the two states of the robot; one when the robot is in a pinned/stationary position on the surface and the other when the robot “slips” slightly in one direction and achieves net motion, according to Ph.D. student Tony Wang. When the magnetic field is turned on, the robot will essentially rise and then fall. This motion enables enough kinetic energy to allow the robot to move.

More Than a New Design

Equally as important as the rocker design, the paper demonstrates the novel use of a waveform offset for biasing the direction of the robot's trajectory. The sign of the magnetic field offset (positive or negative), as well as the rocker’s angle with the surface, is what determines the direction the micro-bots will travel. Combined, the rocker design and the magnetic offset make the micro-bots capable of well-controlled, and importantly selectable, movement. The acceleration and deceleration of the micro-rocker bots can further be controlled by changing the frequency of the magnetic field.

The 100-micrometre long micro-bots were 3D printed on to a glass substrate via two-photon lithography and subsequently deposited with a nickel thin film, which acts as a semi-hard magnet in response to external magnetic fields. For many lab applications the robots can be directly printed on the substrate that will go under the microscope, but they can also be printed and transported with a micropipette.

“There are lot of areas the micro-robots can be applied to within the current 2D, under-the-microscope process we’ve established so far,” said Ansari. “But there’s also a future where they can be injected into living organisms to deliver drugs or repair injuries.” 

The team is currently working to equip a micro-bot with a tip that could potentially insert nanoparticles into biological tissue for drug delivery or DNA extraction. Their findings will be presented at the Hilton Head Workshop 2022: A Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Workshop this June.

****

Citation: Tony Wang, DeaGyu Kim, Yifan Shi, and Zhijian Hao, Azadeh Ansari “Bidirectional microscale rocker robots controlled via neutral position offset” (Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics, 2022).  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12213-022-00149-y

Funding: This work is supported by Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN) and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-1650044. The device fabrication was performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology clean room facilities, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant ECCS-1542174). 

The Khan Lab is led by Asif Khan, who is an ECE assistant professor and a recent recipient of a DARPA Young Faculty Award, an NSF CAREER Award, and an Intel Rising Star Award. He and his team of six Ph.D. students and two engineers research microelectronic devices to address the challenges faced by the semiconductor technology due to the end of transistor miniaturization. His group focuses on all aspects of ferroelectricity, ranging from materials physics, growth, and electron microscopy to micro-/nano-fabrication of ferroelectronic devices. This includes ferroelectric circuits and systems for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data-centric applications. 

During the visit with Cabrera on August 18, Khan explained the importance of semiconductor electronics in modern times. 

“Transistors are the most abundant, man-made artifact in history; more than ten sextillion (10²²) transistors have been manufactured since the 1960s,” Khan said. “And they are the basis for the future that technology holds for us, from artificial intelligence, machine learning driven applications, autonomous transportation to space exploration, medicine, and health care.”  

Khan also gave an overview of current challenges in microelectronics. “Cloud infrastructure is estimated to account for 1 to 5 percent of worldwide energy consumption and has a significant carbon footprint equivalent to that of mid-sized countries like the Netherlands and Malaysia. Environmental impacts of microelectronics may skyrocket in the next 10 to 15 years with the massive proliferation of information technologies.” 

Khan and his team are investigating innovative approaches to curb energy usage in electronics. They gave an overview of the concept of negative capacitance, a phenomenon in ferroelectric materials that can reduce the power dissipation in transistors below the ‘fundamental’ thermodynamic limit. Negative capacitance is an area of interest in multiple fields, including materials science, condensed matter physics, and electrical engineering.  

Nujhat Tasneem, a fifth year Ph.D. student, showed a ferroelectric transistor chip fabricated at the Institute of Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN), an interdisciplinary research institute at Georgia Tech. Besides its negative capacitance properties, FEFETs are also an emerging candidate in the embedded memory space for artificial intelligence applications. Tasneem's work involves characterizing the performance of FEFETs as a memory device. Some of her characterization experiments were also shown to Cabrera. The president’s visit also showcased a state-of-the-art 300 mm ferroelectric wafer that was manufactured at a semiconductor company. 

Following Tasneem’s presentation, Prasanna Ravindran, a third year Ph.D. student in the Khan Lab, in collaboration with IEN, demonstrated the use of Microsoft Hololens for remote assistance and effective collaboration for cleanroom activities. The lab started using the technology during the pandemic in order to have discussions with collaborators who were unable to travel, as well as among lab members for remote assistance and for questions about experimental setups and metrology. Khan alluded to the possibilities of using Hololens for many kinds of outreach and general awareness activities, including tours of labs and IEN cleanrooms for K-12 students. Afterwards, Ravindran gave an overview of his cryogenic measurement setup which can measure devices down to 4 K. 

Cabrera shared stories of his personal journey, including his diverse professional training in telecommunications engineering and cognitive psychology, and his different leadership roles spanning two different continents. He also mentioned the changing landscape of the metro Atlanta area, especially with the recent arrival of a couple of big-tech companies. Blough described the important role that the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is playing on the national stage in the areas of semiconductors and nanotechnology.  

The visit concluded with an inspiring note from Cabrera to the students and the attendees: “It is always important to remember the impact of your work on society. During the course of a Ph.D., while you are laser-focused on a specific problem, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture,” he said. “In your case, you are addressing a grand challenge that may in some shape or form impact all of us and the ones who will come after us.” 

Photo credits: Ashlee Gardner

The Georgia Tech IEN is an Interdisciplinary Research Institute (IRI) comprised of faculty and students interested in using the most advanced facilities for fabrication, characterization, and cleanroom processes, to facilitate research in micro- and nano-scale materials, devices, and systems. Applications of this research span all disciplines in science and engineering with particular emphasis on biomedicine, electronics, optoelectronics and photonics, and energy applications. As there can be a learning curve associated with initial proof-of-concept development and testing using cleanroom tools, this seed grant program was developed to expedite the initiation of new graduate students and new research projects into productive activity. Successful proposals to this program will identify a new, currently-unfunded research idea that requires core facility access to generate preliminary data necessary to pursue other funding avenues.

Program Eligibility

This program is open to any current Georgia Tech or GTRI faculty member as project PI. The graduate student performing the research should be in the first 2 years of their graduate studies, and preference will be given to students who are new users of the IEN facilities. The student’s research advisor (project PI) does not need to be a current user of the IEN cleanroom/lab facilities. Current PI awardees cannot apply in consecutive funding periods. Please make sure that the student will be available to use the facility during the majority of the grant period.

Award Information

Each seed grant award will consist of free core facility access to the student identified in the proposal over a 12-month period (4 consecutive billing quarters) up to a maximum of $6600 in charges. This award amount is based on the current access rates and the academic cap on quarterly charges and equates to two free billing quarters spread over one year in order to provide maximum flexibility in access. This maximum award amount is still in effect even if IEN non-cleanroom (lab) equipment, electron beam lithography (EBL), or tools in the Materials Characterization Facility (MCF) are required. Access to facilities other than IEN/MCF are not covered by the seed grant.

In addition, each student will be offered up to $500 in travel support to attend a scientific conference where they will present (oral or poster) the work resulting from this seed grant. This travel can be used during the award period or up to a period of 6 months following.

The number of awards for each proposal submission cycle will depend on the number and quality of the proposals.

Expectations

The seed grant will begin with a group kickoff meeting (mandatory for students) with IEN technical staff and will also include periodic check-in meetings as required. Members of the IEN processing staff will also be available to consult as needed during the project period. The designated student user is expected to only utilize the seed grant for core facility access while working with the PI on the proposed project. A short progress report is submitted at the mid-point of the project, and a longer report describing the research activities and outcomes is required at the completion of the award period. Students may also be requested to present a poster at the annual IEN User Day event.

Submission Schedule

This Seed Grant program is offered in two competitions each year with due dates on October 1, 2021 and April 1, 2022 for research activity that will begin on December 1, 2021 and June 1, 2022, respectively.

Proposal Requirements (2 pages max)

The proposal (submitted as a PDF file of no more than 2 pages) should do the following:

1. Provide a project title. List name of faculty PI and student at the top of the proposal.

2. Identify the research problem and specify the proposed methods.

3. Indicate the IEN research tools necessary to conduct the research. It is recommended that you obtain assistance with this component from members of the IEN or MCF technical staff.

4. Describe the relationship of this research to the PI’s other research activity and how it is distinct from and not an extension of ongoing work.

5. Identify the PI and the graduate student involved (including year of graduate work), and if there will be a mentoring relationship with the PI’s other students. Note if there are collaborative relationships with Georgia Tech faculty that bear on this research project.

6. Specify the potential for follow-on funding based on the results of this initial work.

Some helpful hints: Proposals should not excessively discuss the motivation and impact of the research. While this is helpful for understanding the importance of the work, please be brief. More important is a detailed description of what you propose to actually do (fabrication and/or characterization) in the core facilities so that this can be assessed for how feasible and realistic it is within the scope of IEN’s capabilities. We understand that this research is being undertaken by a beginning graduate student with limited experience who will likely require staff assistance. In addition, there may be multiple approaches to the research problem. However, you should clearly describe at least the most promising approach in detail within the page limitations.

Submit the PDF file by the specified due date to Ms. Amy Duke (amy.duke@ien.gatech.edu).

Review Criteria

Proposals will initially be reviewed by IEN staff for technical feasibility within the time frame. Rating of proposals will be done by a review committee of Georgia Tech faculty, with final selection of awardees by IEN staff. Review criteria include novelty of the research, clarity of the proposed work, work that is technically achievable within the time constraints, and likelihood of positive outcomes (future funding).

For more information, please contact Dr. David Gottfried, dsgottfried@gatech.edu, (404) 955-9733.

Avula is a Ph.D. student in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). The title of his award-winning poster was “Augmented finite element method (AFEM) for the linear steady-state thermal and thermomechanical analysis of heterogeneous integration architectures.”

Continuous size reduction of transistors, while achieving higher performance, has been the hallmark of electronic product evolution. With transistor scaling starting to slow down, heterogeneous integration at the package level has become a necessity to continue the trend. Heterogeneous integration involves miscellaneous components integrated onto the same package, which results in both compact system and high-performance. The benefits, however, come at the cost of multi-physics design challenges, such as thermomechanical and electrical reliability.  In ascertaining the reliability of a package, traditional modeling methods rely on time-stepping procedures and suffer from long computation times. In Avula’s paper, a novel frequency domain-based methodology for linear thermal and thermomechanical analysis is presented. The method exploits the periodic nature of loading conditions often used for reliability analysis and is shown to be 200x faster, as compared to current methods.

In addition to this paper being selected for the Best Overall Poster Award at ITherm 2021, it also received the Best Paper Runner-up and Best Poster awards in the mechanics and reliability track at the conference. Avula’s coauthors on the poster are his advisors – Madhavan Swaminathan, who holds the John Pippin Chair in Microsystems Packaging and Electromagnetics in ECE, and Vanessa Smet and Yogendra Joshi, both faculty members in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Smet is an assistant professor and Joshi is the John M. McKenney and Warren D. Shiver Distinguished Chair.

In addition to student research skill development, this bi-annual grant program gives faculty with novel research topics the ability to develop preliminary data to pursue follow-up funding sources. The Facility Seed Grant program is supported by the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC), a member of the National Science Foundation’s National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI).

Since the start of the grant program in 2014,  sixty-eight projects  from ten different schools in Georgia Tech’s Colleges of Engineering and Science, as well as the Georgia Tech Research Institute and 3 other universities, have been seeded.

The 3 winning projects in this round were awarded IEN cleanroom and lab access time to be used over the next year. In keeping with the interdisciplinary mission of IEN, the projects that will be enabled by the grants include research in biodevice development, new methodologies for tissue imaging, and design of water filtration membranes.

The Spring 2021 IEN Facility Seed Grant Award winners are:

Development of Lab-on-a-Chip Platform to Study the Extracellular Electron Transfer Processes
Student: Mourin Jarin | PI: Xing Xie
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Correlative 3D Metabolic and Structural In Situ Imaging of Human Tissues
Student: Thomas Hu (ECE) | PI: Ahmet Coskun
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Machine Learning-Assisted Design of Sustainable Nanofiltration Membranes for Wastewater Resource Recovery
Student: Dylan Lambeth | PI: Yongsheng Chen
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

- Christa M. Ernst

The Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC), a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), is funded by NSF Grant ECCS-2025462

As a result of this cooperative plan the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN, 2004-2015) was established by the NSF to provide access to specialized nanotechnology resources to all researchers, including smaller academic institutions, as well as to small and medium size commercial entities, who could not afford the expense of in-house nanotechnology infrastructure. Additionally, nanotechnology education and outreach activities, as well as components for the social and policy implications of nanoscience advancements, were added to the program’s goals.

The Georgia Institute of Technology was a foundational member of the 14-site NNIN user facility network. Georgia Tech Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor James Meindl served as director of the Georgia Tech site from 2004 until his retirement in 2013. This decade included the opening of Georgia Tech’s Marcus Nanotechnology Building in 2009, which still houses one of the largest academic cleanrooms in the country as well as a state-of-the-art materials characterization facility. During this same period, the NNIN Education and Outreach Office was located at the Georgia Institute of Technology and led by Dr. Nancy Healy.

The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), established in 2015, is the latest version of this NSF nanotechnology resource and builds on the legacy of the NNIN, which enabled major discoveries, innovations, and contributions to education and commerce for more than 10 years. With initial funding of $81 million over five years to support 16 sites and a coordinating office, NNCI affords cross-disciplinary research support in electronics, materials, biomedicine, energy, geosciences, environmental sciences, consumer products, and more. The geographical positions of the sites and partner institutions are strategically located in 15 states and involve 27 universities, giving access to as many users as possible across the U.S. The toolsets of sites were designed to accommodate explorations that span the continuum from materials and processes through devices and systems. Micro/nano fabrication, conducted in cleanroom environments, as well as extensive characterization capabilities, provide resources for both top-down and bottom-up approaches to nanoscale science and engineering.

To enhance the impact of NNCI sites as a national network of user facilities and aid access to these assets via a unified entry point to the user community \, the NSF selected Georgia Tech to be the NNCI Coordinating Office in 2016. The NNCI Coordinating Office also uses the expertise of the network to develop and disseminate best practices for national-level education and outreach programs and activities in societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology.

On August 24, 2020, NSF announced that it will invest a further $84 million over five years in a renewal of the NNCI Program. In March 2021, the NSF again selected Georgia Tech to lead the Coordinating Office with participation from Arizona State University and Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech will receive $3.5 million over five years for this coordinating role.

Plans for this next phase of the NNCI include establishing Research Communities focused on specific research topics which are designed to connect researchers with the NNCI resources available, as well as determine what challenges and opportunities exist in these areas for adding capabilities to NNCI facilities. These Research Community topics are: Transform Quantum, Understanding the Rules of Life, Nano-Enabled Internet-of-Things, Nanotechnology Convergence, and Nano Earth Systems.

Additionally, the successful integration of nanotechnology into consumer technologies rests on the ability for industry to adopt novel processes into existing manufacturing platforms or easily scale-up a new technique. To help technologies bridge the “valley of death” to commercialization, a new Associate Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship position has been established to implement programs across the network that will assist users in this area and thus improve the economic impact of NNCI and connect users to the existing translational ecosystem.

With continued support from the Coordinating Office at Georgia Tech, the NNCI will train a globally competitive nanotechnology workforce and provide efficient access to resources for research, innovation, and commercialization of nanotechnology. The network will also help to inform and educate future scientists and the public on fundamentals and advances in nanoscience and engineering and their societal and ethical implications.

• Christa M. Ernst

Leading Voices in Nanotechnology – Small + Shared = Super Science

For a perspective from IEN Leadership on the importance of the Shared Infrastructure Model for innovation in academia see the article co-written by IEN Executive Director Prof. Oliver Brand & IEN Senior Assistant Director for Nanotechnology Dr. David Gottfried here: The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI): A Model for Shared Resources

For the first time, a microscopy system has been able to demonstrate super-resolution imaging of living cells in flow.

Walter H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Shu Jia, along with his Laboratory for Systems Biophotonics, recently introduced their super-resolution optofluidic scanning microscopy system (OSM). It can view sub-diffraction-limit details of flowing cells and includes a high-quality microscope, a microfluidic system, and a micro lens array. These elements combine to create a grid of light spots that illuminate the sample inside a microfluidic channel.  

Current microscopy technologies often sacrifice high-resolution images for a high throughput rate — the number of cells moving through the system to be analyzed. These systems need to stop the flow of cellular material in order to obtain a high-resolution image and therefore disturb the throughput rate. The flaws inherent in the current systems pose problems to researchers who need to analyze a large number of samples and want to take high-resolution images continuously. Jia’s new OSM system provides users the ability to do both.

“When you want to look at a cell, much of its organelles and structures are smaller than the conventional limit of the microscopes,” Jia said. “You want to have a higher resolution so that you can resolve finer structures. We’re trying to provide a system that can generate super-resolution images of the cells in flow so that you can learn more information from the cells and glean more biological insights.”

Jia and his team described their optofluidic scanning microscopy technology in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Lab on a Chip. Their study appeared on the back cover of the third issue for 2021.

The OSM system illuminates the flowing sample in a pattern called multi-focal excitation, which provides super-resolution images of the sample and allows the team to extract even more information during analysis. Multi-focal excitation allows the system to take images without disrupting the flow of samples and makes it a revolutionary addition to the field of microscopy.

Another unique feature of the OSM is its platform accessibility, which is currently a topic of concern in the field of super-resolution microscopy. Jia’s lab created OSM to be compatible with various types of devices and samples so that its use can be broad and interdisciplinary.

“Just like a regular microscope, a lab can use it to image any sample it needs,” said Biagio Mandracchia, the paper’s first author and a postdoctoral fellow who works in Jia’s lab. “It offers a variety of opportunities for different disciplines and levels of research.”

Looking forward, OSM could be applied to fundamental biology studies, providing super-resolution images of large cellular populations and the individual organelles within a single cell.  It could also be used to analyze tissue samples in biopsies. Jia said the technology could be used in preclinical and clinical studies, offering large amounts of diagnostic information faster.

“Our technique is simple, so we expect to see it used by physicians for obtaining diagnostics and analyzing samples, which will potentially have a large impact in both fundamental and clinical research,” he said.  

SENIC facilities are utilized annually by more than 1,300 individual researchers and, since the program’s inception, a total of 2,800 unique users have used its resources, including more than 650 external users from 200 small and large companies and nearly 50 colleges and universities. SENIC members have access to more than 300 nanotechnology fabrication and characterization tools to assist in their research. SENIC’s unique approach and tool-set allows users to explore the full continuum of a project, from nanomaterials and nanostructures, to nano-enabled devices and full (packaged) systems, assisting with the transition of nanoscale research achievements into high-impact applications in medicine, energy, communication, smart transportation, textiles and smart agriculture. Additionally, research undertaken at SENIC facilities aims to meet national priorities, including NSF’s 10 Big Ideas and encompassing topics such as quantum science, convergence research, and biomedical technologies.

SENIC also engages the broader community with its integrated K-12 education/outreach program and studies of the societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology. During its initial five years, SENIC has reached over 45,000 students (K-12, undergraduate, graduate), professionals, and the general public via hands-on classroom activities, teacher training, short courses, seminars, research experiences, and public nanotechnology awareness events . These activities are focused on the development of a strong workforce capable of meeting the needs of a growing nanotechnology-enabled economy. SENIC’s unique resources are also used to provide educational experiences that encourage STEM participation, in particular among underserved populations. The SENIC societal and ethical implications (SEI) program, coordinated by Jan L. Youtie (GT School of Public Policy), is embedded in the Corridor’s mission and operations to address the intellectual, societal, and economic impact of nanoscale science and engineering enabled by the NNCI.

SENIC’s renewal funding will allow the partners to continue developing an interdisciplinary research ecosystem that is strengthened by collaboration, sharing of best practices, scholarly interaction, and mutual support. “With this renewal funding, the SENIC partners at Georgia Tech and JSNN can continue to offer a state-of-the-art nanotechnology tool set and tremendous staff expertise to our diverse user base from industry, academia and government labs, strengthening nanotechnology R&D and its translation into products, particularly in the Southeastern US, while helping to develop the needed strong workforce,” says Oliver Brand, executive director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, and a Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

SENIC is an integral member of the NNCI’s network of user facilities, providing access to users in the Southeast Region and beyond. "NNCI helps scientists and engineers in diverse fields solve challenging convergent research problems" said Dawn Tilbury, NSF assistant director for Engineering. "Research and education through NNCI will continue to yield nanotechnology innovations -- from interconnects for quantum systems to high-resolution imaging to brain-implanted sensors -- that bring economic and societal benefits to us all."

In addition to PI and Site Director Prof. Oliver Brand, Co-PIs at Georgia Tech include Dr. David Gottfried, Deputy Site Director and a Principal Research Scientist at IEN and Dr. Quinn Spadola, Education and Outreach Director and an Academic Professional at IEN, as well as JSNN Co-PIs Prof. Sherine Obare and Prof. Shyam Aravamudhan.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and the Georgia Institute of Technology are teaming up through the Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME POCT) . 

The Atlanta center was selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate COVID-19 detection tests utilizing a portion of a $1.5 billion investment from federal stimulus funding under a newly launched Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative. This initiative will infuse funding into early, innovative technologies to speed development of rapid and widely accessible COVID-19 testing with a mandate that tests be deployed to Americans this fall.

“The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) is urging all scientists and inventors with a rapid testing technology to compete in a national COVID-19 testing challenge for a share of up to $500 million over all phases of development that will assist the public’s safe return to normal activities,” said Wilbur Lam, M.D., Ph.D., pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s and principal investigator of ACME POCT. 

As one of only five NIH-funded point-of-care technology centers in the nation within the Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network (POCTRN), ACME POCT will receive a $10 million to $20 million supplement to work closely with relevant technology developers and the medical diagnostics industry across the country to meet the deadline. The technologies will be put through a highly competitive, rapid three-phase selection process to identify the best candidates for at-home or point-of-care tests for COVID-19. The goal is to make millions of accurate and easy-to-use tests per week available to all Americans by the end of summer 2020 and in time for the flu season.

The Center will operate on the frontlines assessing, validating and conducting clinical trials as well as advising in manufacturing and scale-up of relevant COVID-19 tests. They expect hundreds of technology developers and companies to apply for the RADx program and will be involved in clinical validation and shepherding successful projects to meet this national need, making Children’s, Emory and Georgia Tech frontline warriors in this effort.

ACME POCT fosters the development and commercialization of microsystems (microchip-enabled, biosensor-based, microfluidic) diagnostic tests that can be used outside the traditional hospital setting, in places such as the home, community or doctor’s office. Lam and his team will evaluate the tests for the NIBIB as they urgently solicit proposals. 

Lam is the principal investigator of ACME POCT and also serves as associate professor of the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. Greg Martin, M.D., is co-principal investigator along with Oliver Brand, Ph.D., executive director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology and a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Together the team makes up the only point-of-care center in the nation dedicated to developing microsystems with sensors, smart phones and wearable technologies. Dr. Martin is also a professor with the Emory University School of Medicine and Chair of Critical Care for Grady Health System. 

About Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta: As the only freestanding pediatric healthcare system in Georgia, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is the trusted leader in caring for kids. The not-for-profit organization’s mission is to make kids better today and healthier tomorrow through more than 60 pediatric specialties and programs, top healthcare professionals, and leading research and technology. Children’s is one of the largest pediatric clinical care providers in the country, managing more than one million patient visits annually at three hospitals, Marcus Autism Center, the Center for Advanced Pediatrics and 20 neighborhood locations. Consistently ranked among the top children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has impacted the lives of kids in Georgia, across the United States and around the world for more than 100 years thanks to generous support from the community. Visit www.choa.org for more information.

About Emory University School of Medicine: Emory University School of Medicine is a leading institution with the highest standards in education, biomedical research and patient care, with a commitment to recruiting and developing a diverse group of students and innovative leaders. Emory School of Medicine has more than 2,800 full- and part-time faculty, 556 medical students, 530 allied health students, 1,311 residents and fellows in 106 accredited programs, and 93 MD/PhD students in one of 48 NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Programs. Medical school faculty received $456.3 million in external research funding in fiscal year 2018. The school is best known for its research and treatment in infectious disease, neurosciences, heart disease, cancer, transplantation, orthopaedics, pediatrics, renal disease, ophthalmology and geriatrics.

About the Georgia Institute of Technology: The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation’s leading research universities — a university that embraces change while continually Creating the Next. The next generation of leaders. The next breakthrough startup company. The next lifesaving medical treatment. Georgia Tech provides a focused, technologically based education to more than 36,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The Institute has many nationally recognized programs, all top-ranked by peers and publications alike, and is ranked among the nation’s top five public universities by U.S. News & World Report. It offers degrees through the Colleges of Computing, Design, Engineering, Sciences, the Scheller College of Business, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech has more than 100 centers focused on interdisciplinary research that consistently contribute vital research and innovation to American government, industry, and business.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Doolittle is a proud, two-time Georgia Tech alumnus, earning his B.E.E. degree with highest honors in 1989 and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1996. After graduating with his doctorate, he worked as a research engineer in ECE for five years and then joined the School's academic faculty in 2001. Doolittle leads the Advanced Semiconductor Technology Facility, which has an estimated equipment capitalization of $6 million. 

Doolittle advises eight Ph.D. students who work in the areas of microelectronic fabrication, materials growth, characterization, neuromorphic computational devices, power, high frequency transistors, and optoelectronic devices. To date, he has graduated 23 Ph.D. students, 12 master’s students, and 45 undergraduate students.      

Doolittle pioneered the area of hyper doping of wide bandgap semiconductors, which has enabled the creation of new devices that use quantum mechanical processes to reduce power losses and to allow new ways of interconnecting advanced power and optoelectronic devices. He also pioneered the synthesis of lithium-metal-oxides, which have recently gained traction for very low power neuromorphic devices; these devices emulate human brain functionality.

From 2003-2009, Doolittle was the first assistant professor at Tech to win a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) award, and in fact, he was the lead PI on two MURI programs during this period. These initiatives focused on the development of next generation epitaxial systems for three-dimensional epitaxy. Doolittle and his team developed and exploited epitaxial multifunctional oxides, a newly developing family of materials that seek to interconnect at the atomic scale using more than one environmental force in order to facilitate the development of new sensors and actuators. One example of materials that were birthed out of this field are “multiferroics,” where electric fields can tune magnetic moments. The latter MURI was an extension of his NSF CAREER Award from 2004 and led to a new branch of science in multifunctional materials.    

Doolittle currently leads a third MURI program aimed at building nanoscale devices that operate in a way that is similar to various brain functions. His MURI team’s goal is to develop an artificial retina that can learn autonomously and be used for advanced image recognition cameras for national defense and police work. He is a co-PI on a fourth MURI, led by Samuel Graham, the Eugene C. Gwaltney Chair and Professor of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. This program examines the nanoscale engineering of thermal interfaces, so as to improve heat dissipation in power electronics.

Over the years, Doolittle and his colleagues have raised approximately $38 million in research funding from multiple government agencies and industry. He has published 157 refereed journal and conference papers, and he has been issued nine patents. For his hard work and dedication to research, Doolittle was recognized with the Georgia Tech Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development Award in 2008, the 2002-2003 Student Government Faculty of the Year Award, and the 2005 ECE Outstanding Junior Faculty Member Award.

An excellent classroom teacher, Doolittle earns teaching ratings from undergraduate and graduate students that consistently exceed the School’s norms. He has taught 1,009 undergraduates and 178 graduate students with teaching effectiveness ratings of 4.7 out of 5 in courses such as Microelectronics Circuits, Semiconductor Devices, Renewable Energy Devices, and Introduction to Microelectronic Technology. 

Doolittle is a two-time recipient of the Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Award, an honor determined by a majority vote of the ECE senior class, in 2003 and 2011. He also received the 2006 Georgia Tech W. Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher Award and the 2005 Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Over the years, he has made his lab available for campus and ECE outreach tours and has advised high school teachers through various programs.           

Doolittle has long been internationally recognized as a leader in his field. He has chaired the two biggest conferences in his area of expertise, the International Workshop on Nitride Semiconductors and the International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors, and he has also been chair and program chair for these and other semiconductor conferences several times.

Citrin’s  seminar “Teasing out the hidden layers of an old master painting using terahertz imaging” presented research led by ECE graduate student Junliang Dong using terahertz imaging to measure for the first time multiple paint layers in a 17^th century easel painting Madonna in Prayer by Italian painter Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferatto.*  The painting, loaned by the Musée de la Cour d’Or in Metz, provided quite a challenge, as the paint layers measured are between 0.03 and 0.13 mm thick.  In fact, the measurement was a minor part of the work; most of the effort was to tease out useful information from rather blurry data using advanced signal-processing techniques, applied here for the first time to this type of problem.

In addition to work on several paintings, Citrin’s group is looking at manuscript pages, cloisonné enamels, Gallo-Roman ceramics, and Romanesque lead objects (terahertz can see below an obscuring layer of corrosion with the aim to read hidden inscriptions).  Ever since graduate school, where he explored doing his PhD research in archeometry (he did not), Citrin has sought ways to apply his laboratory’s capabilities to contribute to our knowledge and preservation of cultural heritage.

This is our sixth installment of interviews with the students who spent their summer conducting research at Georgia Tech. Ronald Reliford Jr. is the first-generation college attendee from his family and hails from Campti, Louisiana. Ronald is attending Northwestern State University; Natchitoches, LA, majoring in Electronics Engineering and Technologies. Mr. Reliford worked with mentor Chuan-Wei Tsou in the laboratory of Professor Shyh-Chiang Shen (ECE).

1. What sparked your interest in engineering and what problems are you hoping to help solve as an engineer?

I have always been a problem solver, so engineering naturally sparked my interest. The idea that I could possibly change the world for the better via engineering and electronics design is exciting and inspiring.

2. What research are you conducting at GT and what applications do you feel this research may have?

I am working in the lab of Professor Shen conducting research on bio-inspired optoelectronics devices. The work I am participating in is to further the understanding of why biological organisms, such as fire-flies, produce certain colors of light and how these biologically based light sources may be applied to optoelectronics for compact light sources. These low to no heat emitting light sources may be beneficially applied in healthcare diagnostics and other harsh environments where light with minimal thermal effect is necessary.

3. What has been your favorite lab activity/ tool training/ etc. thus far and why?

As my career goal is centered on circuit board design and manufacture, my favorite activity has been the access to hands-on, industry grade tools for research. I loved training on the K & S Ball-Bonder, a circuit board wiring and fabrication tool. 

4. Do you feel this REU experience has helped prepare you for working in a collaborative laboratory environment and furthered your education goals?

Yes, I believe the REU program has tremendous benefits! The hands-on experience and wealth of knowledge available here have definitely pushed me to realize my educational goals. The resource availability, whether it be a lab, tool, PI or mentor, have allowed me to be able to take the electrical engineering concepts learned in the classroom and apply it to actual experimentation. This ability to go beyond theory to practice is invaluable for undergraduate students who often do not have the chance to work in a laboratory environment.

5. What are your plans post-undergraduate?

My plans post-undergraduate include attending graduate school and pursuing a career in industry, targeting Apple or Samsung. As far as where I will attend for graduate studies, I would love to come back to Georgia Tech! Closer to home, I am considering application at the University of Texas at Dallas.

 6. What is your favorite thing about/impression of GA Tech and ATL?

My favorite thing about Georgia Tech is how the campus environment is so intellectually stimulating. Everyone I’ve interacted with has been incredibly friendly and helpful. Additionally, although the workload kept me busy, I did have a chance to see a bit of the city and it is truly quite beautiful, with great scenery and tons to do. Off campus, I truly enjoyed a trip to Stone Mountain to celebrate the 4^th of July.

The SENIC REU program is funded by NSF award EEC-1757579.

Prof. Khan gave the welcome note and explained that the brains of our electronic gadgets, the chips, are made in the clean room by showcasing a 300 mm silicon wafer and a video on how sand is transformed into silicon chips. Prof. Ansari gave a brief talk on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices that are used in cell phones for sensing, navigation and communication, followed by Dr. Hang Chen (GT-IEN) who gave tutorial on basic cleanroom safety and environmental protocols and the reasons for “gowning up”. After the lecture portion, the Gwinnett students joined Georgia Tech graduate students Anthony Gaskell, Nujhat Tasneem, and Mingyo Park in the gowning room to suit up and tour the various areas of the cleanroom and fabrication tools.

The event was a winner with the students, as some of their comments made clear. When asked about their favorite part of the site visit there was a definite theme, “…putting on the clean room suits and touching the pure gold…”  One student stated, “The best part was going into the clean room looking like I was about to go to space. I had never thought about how clean an environment needs to be so that the chips that go into our phones and computers can be properly processed.” another noted, “The best part of the visit was actually preparing to enter the clean room. I would have never guessed a person would have to wear a lot of protective gear to prevent the releasing of particles in the air.”

The “gowns-on” approach to the STEM outreach was, perhaps, best summed up by this testimonial, “A firsthand experience as to what they do at the school (Georgia Tech) for that field, rather than just a presentation and Q&A (Going inside a clean room!). I personally loved this trip because this experience helps me see my possible future major, and even school!”

Professors Khan and Ansari would also like to thank graduate student Zheng Wang (ECE), who helped with organizing the visit.

IEN is the organizational home for Georgia Tech's professional nanotechnology support team and physical infrastructure, which includes several research buildings and shared user laboratories valued in excess of $400MUS. IEN also enables research for individual Principal Investigators in addition to several fundamental applied research centers, engineered systems laboratories, and strategic research programs. Additionally, Georgia Tech is proud to be the primary location of the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC), one of the sites in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), as well as the home of the NNCI Coordinating Office.

The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology began in 2007 as a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) charter school. Gwinnett County Public Schools sought to create a new high school with a rigorous, authentic STEM-focused curriculum. The district conducted national research of existing secondary school programs, reviewing curriculum, visiting campuses, and meeting with school leaders. In March of 2006, the Gwinnett County Board of Education approved a charter that allowed for the flexibility in curriculum design and scheduling needed to realize the vision for the school.

A member of the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty since 2001, Rincón-Mora was recently named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. This is the second time that he has been named an IEEE-CASS Distinguished Lecturer.

Rincón-Mora was a circuit designer and design team leader at Texas Instruments from 1994-2003, an adjunct professor at Georgia Tech from 1999-2001, director of the Georgia Tech Analog Consortium from 2001-2004, and has been a professor at Georgia Tech since 2001 and a visiting professor at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan since 2011. His scholarly products include 9 books, 4 book chapters, 42 patents, over 170 articles, over 26 commercial power-chip designs, and over 130 international speaking engagements.

Rincón-Mora was inducted into Georgia Tech's Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni and named one of "The 100 Most Influential Hispanics" by Hispanic Business magazine. He received the National Hispanic in Technology Award from the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Charles E. Perry Visionary Award from Florida International University, Commendation Certificate from the Lieutenant Governor of California, and Orgullo Hispano and Hispanic Heritage awards from Robins Air Force Base.

Rincón-Mora has also received a Service Award and a Certificate of Appreciation from IEEE CASS. He has served as Distinguished Lecturer, General Chair and Co-Chair, Technical Program Chair and Co-Chair, Associate Editor, Guest Editor and Co-Editor, Chapter Chair and Vice-Chair, International Liaison, Steering Committee Member, and Advisory Panel Member on multiple occasions for many IEEE and other international conferences and workshops.

The mission of the CASS Distinguished Lecturer Program is to serve the needs of the members of the CAS Society and to enhance their professional knowledge and vitality by keeping them informed of the latest research results and their practical applications.

Azadeh Ansari is a member of the electronic design and applications and microelectronics/microsystems technical interest groups, and her office is located in TSRB 544. Her research interests lie in N/MEMS and integrated micro-systems with a focus on III-V electro-acoustic devices and integrated circuits, nonlinear and nonreciprocal devices, and resonators for timing and sensing applications.

Prior to joining our faculty, Ansari was a postdoctoral researcher in the Physics Department at Caltech from 2016-2017. She received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 2010 and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2016.

Sam Coogan is member of the systems and controls technical interest group and holds a joint appointment in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering; his office is located in TSRB 437. Coogan’s research is in dynamical systems and autonomy and focuses on developing scalable tools for verification and control of networked, cyber-physical systems. He is interested in applying these tools to create efficient, intelligent, and autonomous transportation systems.

Coogan received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Georgia Tech, he was an assistant professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at UCLA from 2015-2017. Coogan is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Brendan Saltaformaggio is a member of the computer systems and software technical interest group and has a courtesy appointment in the School of Computer Science. He is located in Klaus 2314. Saltaformaggio’s research interests are in computer systems security, cyber forensics, and the vetting of untrusted software. His research group develops new capabilities for the investigation of advanced cyber crimes and the analysis and prevention of next-generation malware attacks, particularly in mobile and IoT environments.

Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Saltaformaggio earned his Bachelor of Science with Honors in Computer Science from the University of New Orleans in 2012. He received his Master’s and Ph.D. in Computer Science at Purdue University in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

“Please be sure to check out the faculty profiles for Azadeh, Sam, and Brendan on the ECE website and introduce yourselves as you see them in our buildings and around the campus,” said Steven W. McLaughlin, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and ECE Professor. “I am excited to have all three of them on our faculty and look forward to them having long and productive careers with us.”

Over the next months, IEN will be highlighting the undergraduate participants, their research topics and experience in the labs, as well as what they gained from the program and their time at Georgia Tech, and in Atlanta.

Our first interviewee from the program is Melanie A. Brunet Torres, an undergraduate in Chemical Engineering at Universidad de Puerto Rico.

Name: Melanie A. Brunet Torres
Mentor: Patrick Creamer
PI: Shannon Yee

1. What sparked your interest in engineering and what problems are you hoping to help solve as an engineer?

 Since I was in school science and technology has always fascinated me. One of my personal and professional goals is to contribute significantly to the scientific community. After completing my bachelor’s degree in biomedical science, I decided to study chemical engineering. Having knowledge in both fields will help me carry out investigations of great impact and significance. Acquiring new scientific knowledge and using it to solve problems that affect humanity is something that has always motivated me to study.

In the future I will carry out research in the area of bioengineering such as disease treatment, characterization of new materials for medical applications such as artificial organs, etc. Scientific knowledge has the potential to help solve problems that afflict humanity and somehow allows us to contribute so that many people in the world can have a better quality of life. This is the main motivations why I have decided to study chemical engineering and do research.

2. What research are you conducting at GT and what applications do you feel this research may have?

I’m working on manufacturing a thermal conductivity measurement device, it has about fifteen steps which can be broken down into deposition steps, photolithography and etching. This device has four suspended heater lines composed of platinum and silicon nitride. It allows us to calculate the resistance of a desired material. By introducing a known current value, we can find the voltage drop and using Ohm’s Law, we can find the materials resistance. Once we know the resistance we can find the temperature of the material and calculate the thermal conductivity. Our goal is to investigate if the polymer fiber synthesized by Prof. Wudl’s group behaves as a thermal rectifier.

Electronics cooling is a huge challenge for electronic industries. Keeping electronic devices such as computers and cellphones from overheating is important for proper functioning. Electronic components depend on the passage of electric current to perform their duties, and they become potential sites for excessive heating due to the Joule heating effect. Thermal rectifiers can control the direction in which heat flows. In most applications, thermal rectifiers need to conduct heat efficiently in one direction to carry heat away from heat generating components and insulate in the other direction to insulate the heat sensitive components.

3. What has been your favorite lab activity/ tool training/ etc. thus far and why?

My favorite lab activity has been going to the cleanroom and doing the photolithography process. It has been a challenge getting it done to perfection. I’ve faced several problems during this step and I’ve succeeded on getting it right by thinking clearly and testing out possible solutions.

One of my favorite tools is the Denton explorer E-beam evaporator. This tool evaporates metals and deposits a layer in your sample. What I like about this tool is that you can watch the metal change from solid to liquid. I’ve had the opportunity to work with gold and it turns bright yellow like lava. Another tool that I’ve enjoyed using is the Hitachi SU8230. It’s amazing the resolution and details that you can see in your sample using this tool. I’ve been trained in 10 tools so far and I enjoy using each one of them.

4. Do you feel this REU experience has helped prepare you for working in a collaborative laboratory environment and furthered your education goals?

This REU experience has given me the opportunity to experience what graduate students do. It has been interesting to see how often we’re faced with new problems in our project and by brainstorming we start coming up with possible solutions and testing them out in the lab. If you want to be good in what you do you have to work intense to obtain the results that you want. Thanks to this experience I know that research is meant for me. I’ve enjoyed going every day to the lab, working hard, reading papers and learning new information about my project. I’m more than sure that after I finish my undergraduate studies I’ll be going to grad school. I want to gain as much knowledge as possible in a specific field so that one day I can use that knowledge to change the world.

5. What are your plans post-undergraduate?

After finishing my bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, I wish to continue my studies in graduate school doing a PhD in bioengineering. Among my future plans are also to do postdoctoral research and be a university professor and researcher.

6. What is your favorite thing about/impression of GA Tech and ATL?

 The first thing that impressed me was how big and beautiful the campus is. I enjoy walking in campus and watching the birds and squirrels, it’s very relaxing. Another thing that impressed me is the modern buildings that they have. I work in the Marcus building and it’s equipped with the latest technology, also it has an amazing cleanroom filled with a variety of tools. One thing that I liked about visiting Atlanta was going to the Centennial Olympic Park and the aquarium, it was my first time visiting one so I was very excited.

Dr. Nancy Healy, Director of SENIC Education and Outreach, will be providing a two day workshop for pre-service teachers at Georgia Southern University.  This continues a collaboration that we have had for the past three years with Georgia Southern’s Institute for Interdisciplinary STEM Education.  The workshop will take place May 9 and 10, 2016.

IEN’s tabletop SEM, the Hitachi TM3000, has been used in multiple outreach events this spring.  Not only was it featured during our Atlanta Science Festival event in March, but it recently spent the day at the Atlanta International School, where it was used to demonstrate the capabilities of scanning electron microscopes.  On May 16 the SEM will travel to Allgood Elementary, Paulding County, where it will be demonstrated to all fifth grade students.  In addition, the Allgood students will use our digital video microscopes and participate in several hands-on activities.

Summer is always a busy time at IEN and the SENIC office.  At the end of May our six SENIC Undergraduate Interns in Nanotechnology (SUIN) participants will arrive on campus for their 10 weeks of summer research.  SUIN students will be placed in a variety of labs and will participate in professional development provided by the College of Engineering’s SURE program.  Details about the SUIN participants will be forthcoming on the SENIC website.  Another program we support each summer is Campus College Tours. This program provides cultural and educational experiences to help students in the college selection process. The program’s students will visit us once in May and twice in June.

In order to foster interdisciplinary communication among its users, IEN will be hosting its third IEN User Day on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 (8:30 AM to 4:45 PM). This special event will provide an opportunity to learn about the latest research activities from academic and industry organizations that use IEN facilities. This venue will also offer a great opportunity to share a glimpse of your work with the diverse audience in attendance. While registration for the event is required, there is no cost to attend and continental breakfast and a box lunch will be provided.

As a user of our facility, we invite and highly encourage you to submit an abstract to be considered for one of the two poster sessions scheduled for this event. Outstanding posters will be recognized at the end of the day. The topics for contributed work include, but are not limited to: electronics, optics/photonics, material, biomedical devices, fabrication technologies, sensors, and next generation devices. Users interested in presenting their research are requested to submit a 1-page abstract (no more than 500 words and 1-2 figures) describing their research activities using IEN facilities. The abstract must include a title, authors (indicating clearly the presenting author), and their affiliations. Abstracts will be reviewed by a panel of faculty and research staff, and those selected will be notified by email. The deadline for submission of the abstracts is Tuesday, April 19, 2016. Please email your abstract to amy.duke@ien.gatech.edu.

Important Dates:
April 19: Abstract submission deadline (email to amy.duke@ien.gatech.edu)
May 3: Notification of abstract acceptance
May 5: Agenda finalized and registration opens
May 13: Registration deadline

Program Eligibility

Georgia Tech Applicants
This program is open to any current Georgia Tech or GTRI faculty member as project PI. The graduate student performing the research should be in the first 2 years of his/her graduate studies, and preference will be given to students who are new users of the IEN facilities. The student’s research advisor (project PI) does not need to be a current user of the IEN cleanroom/lab facilities.

External (non-Georgia Tech) Applicants
Recent funding from the NSF to create the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC, http://senic.gatech.edu/) as part of the NNCI has allowed IEN to open this program to external (not affiliated with Georgia Tech) users currently at an academic institution in the southeastern US. The graduate student performing the proposed research cannot be a current user of the IEN facilities. The student’s research advisor (project PI) may have a current project in place for use of the IEN cleanroom/lab facilities, but this is not a requirement. If awarded, a specialized service agreement will need to be arranged with the user’s home institution.

Past awardees of a seed grant may submit additional proposals for different students/projects, but not in consecutive funding cycles. It is the responsibility of the project PI and student to determine their ability to make use of the awarded time during the grant period. Extensions requested once the project has begun will not be granted.

Award Information
Each seed grant award will consist of free cleanroom access to the student identified in the proposal for 2 (consecutive) billing quarters. Based on current access rates and the academic cap on hourly charges (https://cleanroom.ien.gatech.edu/rates/), this comprises a maximum award of $6000 for the 6 month period. This maximum award amount is still in effect even if IEN non-cleanroom (lab) equipment or electron beam lithography (EBL) is required. The designated student user is expected to only utilize the cleanroom/tool access while working with the PI on the proposed project. Members of the IEN Advanced Technology Team (ATT) will be available to consult during the project period. The number of awards for each proposal submission date will depend on the number and quality of the proposals. A short report describing the research activities is required midway and at the completion of the award period.

Submission Schedule
This Seed Grant program is offered in two competitions each year with due dates on April 1 and October 1. While it is expected that research activity will begin on June 1 and December 1, respectively, there is flexibility in scheduling the 2 quarters of research work, as long as they conform to the IEN billing quarters.

Proposal Requirements (2 pages max)
The proposal (submitted as a PDF file of no more than 2 pages) should do the following:
1. Provide a project title.
2. Identify the research problem and specify the proposed methods.
3. Indicate the IEN research tools necessary to conduct the research. If assistance is needed with this component, members of the IEN Advanced Technology Team are available for consultation.
4. Describe the relationship of this research to the PI’s other research activity.
5. Identify the PI and the graduate student involved (including year of graduate work), and if there will be a mentoring relationship with the PI’s other students. Note if there are collaborative relationships with Georgia Tech faculty that bear on this research project.
6. Specify the potential for follow-on funding based on the results of this initial work.
Submit the PDF file by the specified due date to Ms. Amy Duke (amy.duke@ien.gatech.edu).

Review Criteria
Proposals will initially be reviewed by IEN staff for technical feasibility within the 6-month time frame. Rating of proposals will be done by a review committee of Georgia Tech faculty, with final selection of awardees by IEN staff.

For more information, please contact Dr. David Gottfried, dsgottfried@gatech.edu, (404) 894-0479.

Directing kids to the vast opportunities that await them in the future of the high tech workforce is the goal of Meindl’s “Teachable Moments” Legacy Program. The project allows the general public and students to go online and fund a laboratory based graduate student research project being conducted in the multidisciplinary cleanroom space housed at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech. After the project is funded, the student donors have the opportunity to actively participate in the research with the graduate student mentor in charge of the project.

To fund the projects, $1,000 stipends have been created with cost share commitments from Meindl, the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), the ACE/Sloan Legacy Project, and the Vice President of Institute Diversity. To engage the public in sponsoring these activities, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) crowd funding website has set aside space where the public can contribute funds to any of 20 graduate student projects. Donors get to be involved with desired “Teachable Moments” in various ways, ranging from Skype time with the researcher to research lab tours. In addition to the outreach training and kits, graduate students involved will receive a stipend to create a demonstration and will gain public exposure for their research.

To learn more about the “Teachable Moments for the Future STEM Workforce” project, visit the website at this link.

- Christa Ernst

The IEN Characterization team opened a visual door to these minuscule works of art last month in their inaugural Monthly Image Contest. From intentionally engineered objects to happy accidents caught on film, here are the winners of the May round –

“Grape cluster"
by Payam Alipour, PI:  Ali Adibi

A nanocluster (particle diameter ~100 nm) of random contamination on a layer of TiO₂ deposited on a silicon piece using e-beam evaporation. Image taken with the Zeiss Ultra 60 SEM located in the Marcus Microscopy Suite, level 0 of the Marcus Building.

"Soccer Ball"
by Jamey Gigliotti, PI: Farrokh Ayazi and Z.L. Wang

Photo of a ZnO Nanowire Sphere with a particle diameter of 3.95µm. Image taken with the Hitachi S4700 FE-SEM in the Marcus Inorganic Cleanroom, level 1 of the Marcus Building.

"Blue Paisley"
by Majid Sodagar, PI: Ali Adibi

Top view of bonded SiN/SOI wafers (through thermal glue under pressure) after backside etching of the handle layer. Image taken with the Olympus MX61 located in the Pettit Cleanroom, level 1 of the Pettit Building.

Congratulations to the winners, who will get 5 free hours on the tool of their choice and be entered into a bi-annual Grand Prize selection for cash prizes!  Also, thanks to all those who submitted.

To see a slideshow of all of the entries, please follow this link.

The second round of the Image Contest is underway so, if you have a mini masterpiece, see the contest details below or contact Walter Henderson at walter.henderson@ien.gatech.edu or Jie Xu at jie.xu@gtri.gatech.edu.

 Image Contest Submission Dates
 Open June 1^st – June 27^th and the 1^st –the 27^th of each month thereafter.

Contest Rules

• Images must be taken on an IEN tool
• Images should not be previously published
• Photographer must provide details with image such as the tool, sample type, PI etc.
• Photo-enhancement is allowed
• Up to 4 entries per user per month
• Submit images as a .bmp file to walter.henderson@ien.gatech.edu

Program Eligibility
This program is open to any current Georgia Tech or GTRI faculty member as project PI. The graduate student performing the research should be in the first 2 years of his/her graduate studies. Preference will be given to students who are new users of the IEN facilities. The student’s research advisor (project PI) does not need to be a current user of the IEN cleanroom/lab facilities. Past awardees of a seed grant may submit additional proposals for different students/projects, but not in consecutive funding cycles.

Award Information
Each seed grant award will consist of free cleanroom access to the student identified in the proposal for 2 (consecutive) billing quarters. Based on current access rates and the academic cap on hourly charges (https://cleanroom.ien.gatech.edu/rates/), this comprises a maximum award of $6000 for the 6 month period. This maximum award amount is still in effect even if IEN non-cleanroom (lab) equipment or electron beam lithography (EBL) is required. The designated student user is expected to only utilize the cleanroom/tool access while working with the PI on the proposed project. Members of the IEN Advanced Technology Team (ATT) will be available to consult during the project period. Up to three awards will be made for each proposal submission date. A short report describing the research activities will be requested midway and at the completion of the award period.

Submission Schedule
This Seed Grant program is offered in two competitions each year with due dates on October 1 and April 1. While it is expected that research activity will begin on December 1 and June 1, respectively, there is flexibility in scheduling the 2 quarters of research work, as long as they conform to the IEN billing quarters.

Proposal Requirements (2 pages max)
The proposal (submitted as a PDF file of no more than 2 pages) should include the following
information:
1. Identify the research problem and specify the proposed methods.
2. Indicate the IEN research tools necessary to conduct the research. If assistance is needed with this component, members of the IEN Advanced Technology Team are available for consultation.
3. Describe the relationship of this research to the PI’s other research activity.
4. Identify the PI and the graduate student involved, and if there will be a mentoring relationship with the PI’s other students. Note if there are collaborative relationships with other Georgia Tech faculty that bear on this research project.
5. Specify the potential for follow-on funding based on the results of this initial work.
Submit the PDF file by the specified due date to Ms. Amy Duke (amy.duke@ien.gatech.edu).

Review Criteria
Proposals will initially be reviewed by IEN staff for technical feasibility within the 6-month time frame. Final selection of awardees will be done by a review committee of Georgia Tech faculty.

For more information, please contact David Gottfried, dsgottfried@gatech.edu, (404) 894-0479.

 The Seed Grant program’s secondary purpose is to give faculty with novel research topics the ability to develop preliminary data in order to pursue follow-up funding sources.

The 4 student winners from various schools across campus, along with their Principal Investigator mentors, were awarded no-cost blocks of IEN cleanroom and lab access time. In keeping with the interdisciplinary mission of IEN, the projects that will be enabled by the grants include micro- and nano-scale sensing research, biomedical research, optoelectronic research, and packaging applications research.

The Fall 2013-2014 IEN Seed Grant Award winners are Virginia Liao, working with PI Brent Wagner of The Georgia Tech Research Institute, for A Thin Film Sensor for the Selective Detection of Low Hydrogen Concentrations; Harrison Norman, working with PI Ross Ethier of the School of Biomedical Engineering, for Lamina Cribrosa on a Chip; Jared Schwartz, working with PI Paul Kohl of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, for Materials and Structures Enabling Vanishing Optically Triggered Sensors;  and David Brown, working with PI Satish Kumar of the School of Mechanical Engineering, for On-Chip Thermoelectric Generators Using Si Nanowire Arrays.  Awardees will present the results of their research efforts at the annual IEN User Day in 2014.

Another round of Seed Grants will be offered in the spring of 2014. A request for proposals will be issued with a proposal submission deadline of April 1^st, 2014.

To view the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology's 2013-14 Fall Seed Grant Announcement and Guidelines follow this link.

The event was hosted in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building, which houses one of Georgia Tech’s state-of-the-art shared-user facilities with cleanrooms for micro- and nano-fabrication, as well as facilities for biotechnology, characterization, and metrology needs.  This unique laboratory suite stimulates new interdisciplinary research by bringing together engineering and science faculty and research teams to develop nano-enabled next-generation technology, devices, and systems that will provide benefits for healthcare, environment, energy, and national security.

The IEN USER Day opened with a welcome by IEN Interim Executive Director Dr. Oliver Brand, followed by a keynote lecture by Dr. Mina Rais-Zadeh, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan.  Dr. Rais-Zadeh’s lecture focused on her research in RF (radio-frequency) MEMS and microsystems and was followed by four sessions with oral presentations on a variety of topics including MEMS sensing, biomedical devices, fabrication technologies, and next generation devices.

Best speakers awards were presented to Toby Xu, a graduate student from the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, for his lecture Investigation of Dual Mode Side and Forward Looking IVUS Using a Dual Ring CMUT-on-CMOS Array, and to Farshid Ghasemi, a graduate student from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, for his lecture Toxin Detection Using Nanofabricated Silicon Nitride Microrings at Visible Wavelength.

A poster session, with 49 posters covering a wide array of research areas, was also featured as part of the event. Two best-poster awards were granted to graduate students Banafsheh Barabadi, from the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, for the poster Computational and Experimental Multi-scale Transient Thermal Characterization of Microelectronics, and Lucas Lane, from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, for the poster  Advancement of Blinking Suppressed Quantum Dots for Enhanced Single Biomolecule Imaging. The recipients of the best-paper and best-poster awards received a certificate and IEN will waive the monthly cleanroom access fee for them for one quarter.

This first-annual IEN USER event was designed to promote collaboration and showcase research breadth by giving researchers a cross-disciplinary look at the work being done in the Georgia Tech IEN cleanrooms and labs.  Although this was the first IEN USER event, the program garnered some very positive feedback from attendees.  Comments offered by participants included: “The context of the oral program was extremely well selected and the scope of the conference was very intriguing” and, “Great way to help those who see each other often in the cleanroom to gain a better understanding of what others are researching and exchange ideas…worthwhile for all users to participate and get to know one another”.  Plans for the 2014 IEN USER Day are already underway.

IEN was established as an Interdisciplinary Research Institute (IRI) at Georgia Tech and is a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) to support nanoscale fabrication, synthesis, characterization, modeling, design, computation, and hands-on training to all qualified users, as well as providing K-12 and undergraduate student outreach and educational programs. For more information about IEN’s shared user facilities or the NNIN program please email info@ien.gatech.edu or visit www.ien.gatech.edu.

In Dr. Doolittle's talk, he presented data showing a factor of 20-40 times higher improvement in GaN hole concentration, as compared to the previously accepted perceived "limit." This accomplishment will potentially lead to higher brightness light emitting diodes, laser diodes used in display and data storage applications, and possibly in the future, high power heterojunction bipolar transistors useful for wideband RF and microwave applications.

An associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Doolittle is an associate professor in the microsystems and optics and photonics technical interest areas.

SPIE Fellows are honored for their technical achievement, for their service to the general optics community, and to SPIE in particular. Dr. Ferguson is being recognized specifically for his pioneering contributions to the development of III-V materials and devices for solid state lighting, detectors, and solar cell applications.

During his career, he has held many conference leadership roles with SPIE and the Materials Research Society. Dr. Ferguson is also the founder of the International Conference in Solid State Lighting, which has been held for the last eight years.

A member of the ECE faculty since 2001, Dr. Ferguson specializes in microsystems, in addition to optics and photonics.

To better understand the distortions, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed the first device to directly measure complex ultrashort light pulses in space and time at and near the focus. Measuring the pulse at the focus is important because that's where the beam is most intense and where researchers typically utilize it. Knowing how the light is distorted allows researchers to correct for the aberrations by changing a lens or using a pulse shaper or compressor to manipulate the pulse into the desired form.

"Researchers have always measured the pulse immediately as it exited the laser, so they didn't realize the extent to which the pulse became distorted by the time it reached the focus after traveling through the optics and lenses in the system," said Rick Trebino, a professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Physics and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Ultrafast Optical Physics.

The device was described in a presentation at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics on May 8. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and published in the August 2007 issue of the journal Optics Express.

It is difficult to measure ultrashort pulses because they typically last between a few femtoseconds and a picosecond, which are 10(-15) and 10(-12) of a second, and faster than the response time of the fastest electronics.

"The light comes out as a train of extremely short bursts. The laser crams all of the energy of a continuous laser into a few femtoseconds, which creates really intense laser pulses," said Pam Bowlan, a graduate student supported by the Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER) program.

To achieve the highest possible intensity of the laser, the pulse must be as small as possible in space and as short as possible in time. However, focused pulses nearly always have distortions in time that vary significantly from point to point in space due to lens aberrations in focusing optics.

To address those issues, the new device, called SEA TADPOLE (Spatial Encoded Arrangement for Temporal Analysis by Dispersing a Pair of Light E-fields), allows researchers to measure complicated ultrashort pulses simultaneously in space and time as they go through the focus.

"A lot of chemists and biologists use ultrafast lasers, so it was important that our device be easy to use because non-laser scientists don't want to spend all day measuring their laser pulses," noted Bowlan.

The research team - which also included former graduate students Pablo Gabolde and Selcuk Akturk - used the concept of interferometry to measure a pulse in space and time. Two pulses, one reference and one unknown, were sent through optical fibers. The fibers were mounted on a scanning stage so that the pulses could be measured at many locations around the focus.

The pulses were crossed and an interference pattern was recorded for each color of the pulse at each location with a digital camera. The patterns were used to determine the shape of the unknown pulse in space and time and to create movies showing how the intensity and color of the pulse changed in space and time as it focused.

"Because the laser pulses enter SEA TADPOLE through optical fibers, which only collect a very small portion of the light, the device naturally measures pulses with high spatial resolution and can measure them at a focus spot size smaller than a micron," explained Bowlan. To further improve the spatial resolution of the device, the research team began to use specialized fibers, called near-field scanning optical microscopy fibers, which can resolve features smaller than the wavelength of the light.

The researchers tested the device by measuring ultrashort pulses focused by various lenses, since each lens can cause different complex distortions. To validate the measurements, Bowlan performed simulations of pulses propagating through the experimental lenses. Results showed that a common plano-convex lens displayed chromatic and spherical aberrations, whereas more expensive aspheric and doublet lenses exhibited mostly chromatic aberrations.

Spherical aberrations occur when the light that strikes the edges of the lens gets focused to a different point than the light that strikes the center, creating a larger, inhomogeneous focused spot size. Chromatic aberrations occur because the many colors in the laser travel at different speeds and do not stay together in space and time as the pulse passes through glass components in the experimental setup, such as lenses. As a result, each color arrives at the focus at a different time, creating a rainbow of colors in the electric field images.

Aberrations can drastically increase the pulse length, which decreases the laser intensity. A lower intensity forces researchers to increase the power of the laser, increasing the possibility of damaging the sample. Aberrations can also yield odd pulse and beam shapes at the focus, which complicate the interpretation of the experiment or application.

"Our system tells researchers what types of aberrations are present in instrumentation, which then allows them to test different lenses in the instrumentation setup or use a pulse shaper to create the desired pulse at the focus that's free of distortions," added Bowlan.

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Media Relations Contacts: Abby Vogel (404-385-3364); E-mail: (avogel@gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).

Writer: Abby Vogel

However, new research published in the March 14 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters shows that when fluids like water and silicon oil are confined to a nanometer-sized space, they behave more like ketchup or toothpaste. Then, if these confined liquids are shaken, they become fluidic and exhibit the same structural and mechanical properties as those in thicker layers.

The study - the first to use an atomic force microscope to measure the viscosity of confined fluids - revealed that these liquids can respond and modify their viscosity based on environmental changes.

"Knowing this could be very important," said Elisa Riedo, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Physics. "If a lubricant used in a piece of machinery becomes thick and gelatinous when squeezed between two solid surfaces, serious problems could occur. However, if the machine vibrated, the liquid could become fluidized."

With funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, Riedo and graduate student Tai-De Li used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure the behavior of thin and thick layers of liquids while they were vibrated. A nanometer-size spherical silicon tip was used to approach a mica surface immersed in water or silicon oil, while small lateral oscillations were applied to the cantilever support.

"Some researchers have measured the force it takes to squeeze out a fluid, but we took a different approach," explained Riedo. "We are the first group to use AFM to study the viscosity of confined fluids from direct high-resolution lateral force measurements."

The normal and lateral forces acting on the tip were measured directly and simultaneously as a function of the liquid film thickness. The ratio of stress to strain under vibratory conditions, called the viscoelastic modulus, was also measured at different frequencies and strains.

Riedo and Li measured the relaxation times of two wetting liquids: water and silicone oil (octamethylcylotetrasiloxane), which is primarily used as a lubricant or hydraulic fluid, and is the main ingredient in Silly Putty.

"The relaxation time describes how active the molecules are. A longer relaxation time means it takes longer for the molecules to rearrange themselves back into their original shape after shaking them," said Li. "Liquids have very short relaxation times - as soon as one stops shaking a bottle of water, it reverts to its original configuration."

Experimental results showed that the relaxation time became orders of magnitude longer in water and silicone oil when they were confined, meaning they behaved more like gels or glass. The researchers also showed that the relaxation times depended on the shaking speed when the liquids were confined. However, in thick layers that were not confined, the molecules showed no dependence on the shaking speed and always relaxed very quickly, meaning they behaved like a 'normal' liquid.

Longer relaxation times were observed when the water film was less than one nanometer thick, composed of about three molecules of water stacked on top of each other. Otherwise, its properties were the same as in a bottle of water. For silicone oil, a thickness of four nanometers was required before the properties were like those of a glassy material.

"We observed a nonlinear viscoelastic behavior remarkably similar to that widely observed in metastable complex fluids, such as gels or supercooled liquids," noted Riedo. "Because we observed these phenomena in both water and silicone oil, we believe they are very general phenomena and may apply to all wetting liquids."

Since the behavior of confined water observed in these experiments is similar to the behavior of supercooled water at -98.15 degrees Celsius, the researchers are currently examining whether confinement defines a lower effective temperature in the confined liquid.

The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

Research News & Publications Office
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Media Relations Contacts: Abby Vogel (404-385-3364); E-mail: (avogel@gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).

Writer: Abby Vogel

Over the months of the 2016 Fall Semester, the IEN will be highlighting each of the six undergraduate participants, their research topics and experience in the labs, as well as what they gained from the program and their time at Georgia Tech, and in Atlanta. Our second interviewee from the program is Elizabeth Tom, an undergraduate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Name: Elizabeth Tom
Mentor: Dmitriy Boyuk
PI: Dr. Michael Filler, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

1. What sparked your interest in engineering and what problems are you hoping to help solve as an engineer?

In school I’ve gravitated towards the math and sciences. In high school I ended up taking a lot of different science classes, and I was good at math so engineering seemed like a natural next step. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do as a career, but I knew that I did well in math and science and that I wanted to solve problems. I think it was a pretty natural choice to go into engineering and I chose to go into Chemical Engineering not really having a good idea of what it was. I took some classes and thankfully ended up liking it, if possible I would like to solve problems within sustainability, alternative energy, or environmental remediation.

2. What research are you conducting at GT and what applications do you feel this research may have?

"Currently I am working with Dr. Michael Filler and his lab. I am studying the effects of oxide coatings on plasmonic Si nanowires in order to understand and engineer their optical properties. Throughout the summer I’ve gotten to use different tools in the clean room and characterization facility to conduct the research.

The interactions between coatings and Si nanowires are significant due to their use of silicon, which as a material is cheap, abundant, and ubiquitous. As a result, the variety of applications and devices grows immensely due to the accessibility of silicon. These interactions would have value in applications such as thermal transport and energy harvesting"

3. What has been your favorite lab activity/ tool training/ etc. thus far and why?

I think my favorite lab activity/tool would probably be the ones used for visual characterization, specifically the scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. While fabricating & processing the wires via atomic layer deposition tools and being in the clean room has been a really positive experience, I think seeing the results and characteristics of the structures is pretty interesting. I like seeing the outcomes and proof that something I helped make exists.

4. Do you feel this REU experience has helped prepare you for working in a collaborative laboratory environment and furthered your education goals?

I feel like this REU experience definitely has. Before this summer I didn’t really have a strong understanding of how research was conducted in a collaborative environment nor the experience of working in a research group with other researchers. I think that this experience has definitely opened my mind to the possibility of grad school and pursuing a Ph.D., as well as contributing to collaborative research back at my university.

5. What are your plans post-undergraduate?

This summer has opened my eyes to the possibility of career as a research scientist and I’ve received great advice from the graduate researchers about applying for, and attending graduate school but currently I’m split between pursuing this option and something in industry. I’ve had some research experience, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to experience industry through an internship next summer and have a better idea of how I feel about each one.

6. What is your favorite thing about/impression of GA Tech and ATL?

I’ve really enjoyed getting to explore and visit different places in Atlanta. This is my first time in the area, so it’s been really fun getting to visit different parks and see different places. Georgia Tech’s campus is amazing and Atlanta is a beautiful city. Everyone’s been really welcoming and I’ve had a really good time so far!