Awards

Research Awards 

In June 2022, Dr. Lev Gelb was awarded $404,342 from the Los Alamos National Laboratory for his research on acoustic resonance variance with pressure and imperfections in hermetically-sealed containers. The objective of this project is to develop and provide signal processing and machine learning options for the laboratory’s specified applications.

In June 2022, Dr. Manuel Quevedo was awarded $227,323 from EMP Technology Solutions, Inc. for his research on X-ray sensors and systems based on thin films materials and devices. This project looks at developing materials and systems for X-ray imaging and other radiation sources using perovskite materials.  

In October 2022, Dr. Julia Hsu received $482,831 for her research project entitled BRITE Pivot: Machine Learning Accelerated Optimization of Flash Lamp Processed Thin-films for Flexible Optoelectronic Applications from the National Science Foundation. This project investigates the use of light from a flash lamp instead of furnace heating for thin film processing and adopts machine learning approaches to accelerate process optimization. 

In June 2022, Hsu also received $270,000 from the Semiconductor Research Corp. for her research on Carbon-free Sol-gel Precursors for Metal Oxide EUV Resist. She will investigate the sensitivity for solubility switching in indium-based precursors and study their mechanisms through in-situ measurements of film chemistry and decomposition products.  

We are proud to recognize our faculty who have collectively earned research awards totaling nearly $2.2 million since March 2022: 

Principal Investigator (PI)	Award Agency	Title
Dr. Chadwin Young	National Science Foundation	US-Ireland R&D Partnership: Ga2O3: Understanding Growth, Interfaces and Defects to Enable Next Generation Electronics (GUIDE)
Dr. Walter Voit	Transtimulation Research Inc.	AccelBand, a Leg-worn Transcutaneous Neuromodulation Device for Treating Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury
Dr. Orlando Auciello	Microsol Technologies, Inc.	SBIR: Low Temperature Plasma Enhanced Processing for Microelectronics Manufacturing
Dr. Julia Hsu	National Science Foundation	RITE Pivot: Machine Learning Accelerated Optimization of Flash Lamp Processed Thin-films for Flexible Optoelectronic Applications
Dr. Lev Gelb	Los Alamos National Laboratory	Acoustic Resonance Variance with Pressure and Imperfections in Hermetically-sealed Containers.
Dr. Manuel Quevedo	EMP Technology Solutions, Inc.	X-ray sensors and systems based on thin films materials and devices
Dr. Julia Hsu	Semiconductor Research Corporation	Carbon-free Sol-gel Precursors for Metal Oxide EUV Resist

Recognition Awards 

Simons Pivot Fellowship: First Pivot Fellowship Recipient 

Dr. Julia Hsu is a professor of materials science and engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas and holds the Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair in Nanoelectronics.

She is an experimental materials physicist who studies materials physics phenomena using traditional approaches such as performing optimization by varying one variable at a time.

In materials research, optimization is ubiquitous, but the outcomes are typically affected by a multitude of variables. Furthermore, the various input parameters have complex and nonlinear interrelationships, creating vast combinations of experimental conditions which cannot be exhaustively tested in practice.

Hsu’s Pivot Fellowship discipline will be machine learning, which sits at the intersection of mathematics, computer science and statistics. She aims to apply machine learning to materials synthesis and processing to guide expensive experiments to make more effective use of limited resources and to elucidate the complex interdependence among the variables. During the fellowship, Hsu will be guided under the mentorship of Dr. Tonio Buonassisi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and will apply machine-learning approaches to optimization problems in materials synthesis and processing, particularly energy materials. 

Inducted Fellow Award by the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM):  

Dr. Orlando Auciello was inducted as a Fellow of the International Association for his Advanced Materials for work on the science and technology of unique multifunctional ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCDTM) coating technology for new generations of high-tech / medical devices and prostheses.