 Some Important Links: Our Group Our Publications My Curriculum Vitae (pdf) Currently: I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. My research interests and plans are summarized here, and on my CMU departmental webpage. My expertise in heat transfer, nanoscale transport, and organic-inorganic self-assembly is uniquely situated to develop materials that push the limits of energy conversion, storage, and efficiency. Our initial projects will consider energy transport and conversion in (1) semi-conductor thin films used for solid state lighting, and (2) organic-inorganic heterostructures where the mixing of quantized molecular orbitals with continuum inorganic states dictates the transport properties of phonons and electrons. We will use the Fiber Aligned Thermal Interrogation (FATI) technique, that I developed, to quantify thermal transport in these materials. Details and validation of FATI will be described in my presentation at IMECE 2009 and have been submitted for publication. Previously (Before 2008): I recieved my Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. I was coadvised by Professors Arun Majumdar (MechE, MSE.... recently nominated by President Obama to head DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy (ARPA-E)) and Rachel Segalman (ChemE). We investigated nanoscale energy transport and conversion in organic-inorganic hybrid materials; a new breed of inexpensively manufactured semiconductors that hold promise for enhancing energy storage, conversion, and efficiency. In these materials, discrete molecular orbitals mix with continuum electronic states in the inorganic phase to create unique energy landscapes that can be precisely manipulated using chemistry. Transport in materials built from ensembles of organic-inorganic junctions is not yet understood. To avoid confusion due to ensemble averaging, I sought deeper understanding by looking at individual metal-molecule junctions. Our measurements of junction thermopower (voltage per unit temperature differential) provided detailed information about electronic transport in molecular junctions and pioneered concept of thermoelectric energy conversion in hybrid materials. I also developed an inexpensive, non-contact, optical method to characterize thermal properties in thin films and nanostructured materials called Fiber Aligned Thermal Interrogation (FATI). FATI has similar accuracy and range to alternative measurement techniques, but enhanced simplicity in setup and analysis due to the novel use of fiber optics and phase based prediction of thermal conductivity. Before 2005 I received my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (and so much more) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2000. In the years to follow I worked for the Federal Government at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. As part of their professional development program I received an S.M. in Nuclear Engineering (2003) from MIT, under the advisory of Professor Neil Todreas, and researched at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 2003-2004. Personally: I am married to Amy, aka the best. She works hard to improve the urban education system in our country. Here is some info about our wedding. We are from Philadelphia. This is an experimental link to David Deming's webpage to determine how much his google result count increases due to affiliations with my webpage. I am also now featuring a link to my friend and colleague, Bill Burke's (aka billstron) page; he likes robots, gadgets, and halloween. |