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Dissertation Defense: John Waugh, Interdisciplinary Materials Science

Mar. 13, 2023—DISSERTATION DEFENSE John Waugh, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the direction of Peter Pintauro “Electrospun Electrodes for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes and Capacitive Deionization” 03.24.23  |  1:15PM CST  |  048 Engineering Science Building (ESB)  |  Zoom Electrospinning is a promising approach for fabricating energy storage materials with significant morphological control. Electrospun fibers provide an inherently porous template...

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IMS graduate student Trey Long awarded Richard Bennett/Dorothy Danforth Compton Prize

Mar. 10, 2023—Mackey “Trey” Long, an Interdisciplinary Materials Science graduate student, has won the Richard Bennett/Dorothy Danforth Compton Prize. This is one of eight endowed awards established by donors to recognize students with outstanding scholarships, specifically recognizes promising graduate minority students in science and engineering. Trey, a first year IMS graduate student, received his B.S. in Materials Engineering...

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“Engineering Electromagnetic Field Distribution and Resonance Quality Factor Using Slotted Quasi-BIC Metasurfaces” published in Nano Letters, selected as VINSE Spotlight Publication

Mar. 9, 2023—Sen Yang is a fifth-year graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Materials Science under the direction of Dr. Justus Ndukaife. Ndukaife’s group focuses on multidisciplinary research including plasmonic and resonant dielectric nanostructures for efficient nano-optical trapping, manipulation, enhanced spectroscopy, and sensing of nanoscale objects. Sen’s recent publication in Nano Letters demonstrates an approach to...

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IMS hosts Open House for prospective students

Mar. 7, 2023—IMS hosted an Open House on Sunday, March 5 and Monday, March 6. Overall, 8 exceptional students visited from all over the US, with three other acceptances delivered to students overseas. The students visited with various IMS faculty, toured Vanderbilt’s campus, saw the cleanroom and were able to meet an exceptional graduate of the program, Anh...

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Dissertation Defense: Hanyu Zheng, Electrical Engineering

Mar. 2, 2023—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Hanyu Zheng, Electrical Engineering *under the direction of Dr. Jason Valentine “Compound Meta-optic for Complete Wavefront Control” 03.07.23  |  2:00pm CST  |  Stevenson 2212 Optical metasurfaces, based on subwavelength structuring, offer a compact platform for manipulation of the amplitude, phase and polarization state of light. Independent control over these properties, however, is hindered by the limited engineering...

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REGISTER NOW: Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

Feb. 28, 2023—AFM is an advanced multi-parametric imaging technique. It delivers very high-resolution 3D images of the topography of the sample. It also enables the characterization of the nano-mechanical, nano-electrical, and nano-magnetic properties of the surface. Users will learn about the theory of AFM as well as practical applications, operational tips for many of the various AFM techniques....

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REGISTER NOW: Microfluidic Device Fabrication

Feb. 27, 2023—Microfluidic devices can enable “labs on chips” that consume less reagents and have faster analysis times than similar experiments performed in a traditional lab environment. Applications of microfluidic devices include portable sensors for point-of-care analysis, molecular and cell biology studies, and high-throughput, multiplexed assays. This short course will introduce the techniques behind the fabrication of microfluidic devices....

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REGISTER NOW: Electron Microscopy Short Course

Feb. 27, 2023—Electron microscopy is a critical component for the characterization of material and biological specimens at the nanoscale. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) both use electron beams to reveal structure, but in very different ways. Although these instruments have been made very accessible with the help of software, users must understand the...

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Dissertation Defense: Chuchuan Hong, Electrical Engineering

Feb. 24, 2023—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Chuchuan Hong, Electrical Engineering *under the direction of Justus Ndukaife “Nanoscale optical trapping and sensing: from plasmons to Mie resonances” 03.08.23  |  10:00am  |  349A Featheringill Hall Optical tweezers use tightly focused laser beam to manipulate microscopic objects. However, the conventional optical tweezers are restricted by the diffraction limit of light, and face...

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Dissertation Defense: Zhiliang Pan, Mechanical Engineering

Feb. 24, 2023—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Zhiliang Pan, Mechanical Engineering *under the direction of Deyu Li “Thermal Transport in Low Dimensional Polar Nanostructures“ 03.16.23  |  9:00am  |  135 Olin Hall Thermal conductivity of nanostructures and materials are of fundamental importance as well as application values for its potential in a broad variety of technologies. While the past two decades...

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