New Faculty Extend Department’s Capabilities

Two new faculty are joining the Materials Science and Engineering department this summer, expanding the department’s faculty to nine and adding capabilities in two important areas:

• The detection and characterization of organic monolayers used for organic electronics, sensing and catalysis.
• The fabrication with molecular beam epitaxy of novel structures for energy applications such as batteries and solar cells.

“The addition of Amy Walker and Chris Hinkle will allow us to broaden our curriculum and to expand our research into nanotechnology and energy,” said Yves Chabal, department head and holder of the Texas Instruments Distinguished University Chair in Nanoelectronics. “Most importantly they are part of our overall strategy to continue to develop expertise and core capabilities in materials growth and characterization for energy and biomedical applications. We are very excited to have them join the department.”

Amy Walker was previously an assistant professor of chemistry and an inaugural member of the Center for Materials Innovation at Washington University in St. Louis, which she joined in 2002. She holds a B.A. in physics and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cambridge University in England. She was awarded the ACS Progress/Dreyfus Lectureship in 2008, a DuPont Young Professor Grant in 2006 and a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in 2003. The National Science Foundation has just renewed funding for her to continue addressing fundamental issues for building three-dimensional organic nanostructures.

Chris Hinkle holds a Ph.D. in physics from North Carolina State University and will be addressing challenging issues in nanoelectronics based on the use of high-mobility semiconductors such as III-V materials. His passion for helping solve pressing energy issues is leading him to focus on the growth of such complex materials to enable the next generation of devices for harvesting and storing energy