Speakers

Prof. Harry Atwater is the Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science, Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and Director, Liquid Sunlight Alliance at the California Institute of Technology. Atwater’s scientific interests span light-matter interactions from quantum nanophotonics, two-dimensional materials and metasurfaces to solar photovoltaics and artificial photosynthesis. Atwater is an early pioneer in nanophotonics and plasmonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001. He currently serves as Director of the Liquid Sunlight Alliance, a DOE Solar Fuels Hub project, and was the founding Director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech. He also chairs the Breakthrough Starshot Lightsail Committee and is a PI of the Caltech Space Solar Power Project. Harry Atwater is a Member of US National Academy of Engineering and is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, SPIE and the National Academy of Inventors.  Atwater has been honored by awards including: Kavli Innovations in Chemistry Lecture Award, American Chemical Society (2018); APS David Adler Lectureship for Advances in Materials Physics (2016); Julius Springer Prize in Applied Physics (2014); Fellowship from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013); ENI Prize for Renewable and Nonconventional Energy (2012); SPIE Green Photonics Award (2012); MRS Kavli Lecturer in Nanoscience (2010); and the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award (2010). He also received the Joop Los Fellowship from the Dutch Society for Fundamental Research on Matter (2005), the A.T.&T. Foundation Award (1990), the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1989) and the IBM Faculty Development Award in 1989-1990. Professor Atwater received his B. S., M. S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981, 1983 and 1987, respectively. He held the IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University from 1987-88 and has been a member of the Caltech faculty since 1988.  

Dr. Hight Walker is a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where she began her career as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow.   Her research focuses on advancing optical spectroscopies and their applicability to characterize low-dimensional quantum nanomaterials.  Her research team has developed unique hyphenated techniques such as magneto-Raman, where samples are probed as a function of laser wavelength, temperature, magnetic field and back gating.  These novel capabilities probe the underlying photophysics of nanomaterials.  An issue of great importance to Angela is encouraging the young and under-resourced to participate in science.  Through demonstrations and lectures, she actively engages in promoting the excitement of science.  Recruiting, supporting, and mentoring underrepresented students and postdoctoral researchers is a passion.  Dr. Hight Walker is a Fellow of the APS and presently the Chair of the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP). Angela is actively involved in international documentary standards activities focused on nanotechnology, particularly the US technical committee on Measurement and Characterization to ISO TC229. Also, she is an enthusiastic member of two VAMAS committees, TWA 41 and 42, where several international round-robin studies are underway to validate measurement protocols for nanomaterials.  Finally, Dr. Hight Walker leads a team composed of experts from the National Metrology Institutes concerned with enabling SI-traceable, Raman measurements.   

Prof. Ali Javey received a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Stanford University in 2005, and was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows from 2005 to 2006. He then joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley where he is currently a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. He is also a senior faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he serves as the program leader of Electronic Materials (E-Mat). He is the co-director of Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC). Professor Javey's research interests encompass the fields of chemistry, materials science, and electrical engineering. His work focuses on the integration of nanoscale electronic materials for various technological applications, including 2D electronics and photonics, wearable sensors, and energy generation and harvesting. His awards include Dan Maydan Prize in Nanoscience (2020); MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award (2015); Nano Letters Young Investigator Lectureship (2014); UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award (2012); APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (2011); Netexplorateur of the Year Award (2011); IEEE Nanotechnology Early Career Award (2010); Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (2010); Mohr Davidow Ventures Innovators Award (2010); National Academy of Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research (2009); Technology Review TR35 (2009); NSF Early CAREER Award (2008); U.S. Frontiers of Engineering by National Academy of Engineering (2008); and Peter Verhofstadt Fellowship from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (2003). 

Dr. Xiangfeng Duan received his B.S. Degree from University of Science and Technology of China in 1997, and Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 2002. From 2002-2008, he was a Founding Scientist responsible for advanced technology development at Nanosys Inc., a nanotechnology startup founded based partly on his doctoral research. Dr. Duan joined UCLA with a Howard Reiss Career Development Chair in 2008, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and Full Professor in 2013. His research interest includes nanoscale materials, devices and their applications in future electronic and energy technologies. He has published over 350 papers with over 95,000 citations, and holds 56 US patents. Dr. Duan has received many awards for his pioneering research in nanoscale science and technology, including MIT Technology Review Top-100 Innovator Award, NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NSF Career Award, Alpha Chi Sigma Glen T. Seaborg Award, Herbert Newby McCoy Research Award, US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), ONR Young Investigator Award, DOE Early Career Scientist Award, Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Award, Dupont Young Professor, Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship, International Union of Materials Research Society and Singapore Materials Research Society Young Researcher Award, the Beilby Medal and Prize, the Nano Korea Award, International Society of Electrochemistry Zhao-Wu Tian Prize for Energy Electrochemistry, Science China Materials Innovation Award, AIP Horizons Lectureship, NanoMaterials Science Young Scientist Award, Materials Research Society Middle Career Researcher Award, International Union of Materials Research Society Frontier Materials Young Scientists Award, IEEE Nanotechnology Council Distinguished Lectureship, and most recently the IEEE Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology. He is currently an elected Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry and Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Dr. Rahul Rao is a Research Physical Scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from Clemson University in 2007. His research interests include synthesis and optical spectroscopy (Raman, photoluminescence and FT-IR) of nanomaterials, in situ studies of growth and defect evolution in carbon nanotubes, and various 2D materials - graphene, transition metal chalcogenides, and new and emerging 2D materials such as metal thiophosphates. 

Eric Pop is the Pease-Ye Professor of Electrical Engineering (EE) and Materials Science & Engineering (by courtesy) at Stanford, where he leads the SystemX Heterogeneous Integration focus area. His research interests include nanoelectronics, data storage, and energy. Before his current job, he spent several years on the faculty of UIUC, and in industry at Intel and IBM. He received his PhD in EE from Stanford (2005) and three degrees from MIT in EE and Physics. His honors include the Intel Outstanding Researcher Award, the PECASE from the White House, and Young Investigator Awards from the Navy, Air Force, DARPA, and NSF CAREER. He is an APS and IEEE Fellow, an Editor of 2D Materials, and a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. In his spare time he enjoys snowboarding and tennis, and in a past life he was a college radio DJ at KZSU 90.1. More information about the Pop Lab is available at  http://poplab.stanford.edu and on Twitter @profericpop.