Check out our Academic Family Tree

Assistant Research Professor

Dr. Chen Chen received his Ph.D. in Microelectronics and Solid-State Electronics in 2011 from the University of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) in Beijing and worked as an Associate Professor in the Institute of Microelectronics at CAS from 2011 to 2014 carrying out research on silicon nanowire solar cells.  He was a visiting scholar and postdoctoral scholar at Penn State from 2014-2015 and then returned to CAS as a research scientist from 2015 to 2018.  From 2018-2021, he worked as a senior process engineer at Global Communication Semiconductors LLC in Torrance, CA where he oversaw ICP/RIE dry etch and PECVD process development of III-Vs for 5G and beyond.  He joined the 2D Crystal Consortium – Materials Innovation Platform (2DCC-MIP) at Penn State as an assistant research professor in 2021. At 2DCC, he works on wafer-scale growth of transition metal dichalcogenides by MOCVD and collaborates with external users on research projects in the 2DCC facility.

Postdoctoral Scholars

Dr. Azim Kozhakhmetov received his B.N.S. degree in Physics from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Kazakhstan in 2013 and his M.S. degree (2017) and Ph.D. degree (2021) in MatSE from Penn State under the direction of Prof. Joshua Robinson.  He joined the 2D Crystal Consortium – Materials Innovation Platform (2DCC-MIP) at Penn State as a postdoctoral scholar in 2021 where he works on MOCVD growth and layer transfer of transition metal dichalcogenides for next generation devices.

Graduate Students

Thomas Mc Knight received his B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Penn State in 2018. He joined the graduate program in MatSE in 2018 and his research is focused on MOCVD growth of wafer-scale films and in-situ characterization of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides.

Nick Trainor received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2019 from Drexel University. He subsequently joined the graduate program in Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State and was the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2020. Nick’s research is focused on MOCVD growth and characterization of van der Waals heterostructures.

Timothy Mirabito received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2014 and worked for Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX for 3 years prior to joining the graduate program in Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State in 2018.  He received his M.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering in 2020 under Dr. David Snyder in the Penn State Applied Research Labs.  Tim’s research is focused on MOCVD growth and characterization of group III-nitrides for vacuum nanoelectronics.

Patrick Rondomanski received his B.S. in Physics in 2020 from Penn State.  Prior to that he served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 5 years. Patrick was the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2020 and subsequently joined the graduate program in Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State.  Patrick’s research is focused on the growth and characterization of superconducting MgB₂ films and heterostructures toward the development of topological superconductors.

Meghan Leger received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2021 from Florida State University. She joined the graduate program in Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State in 2021.  Her research is focused on MOCVD growth and characterization of quantum dot heterostructures.

 

Derrick Shao-Heng Liu received his B.S. in Engineering and System Science from National Tsing Hua University in 2017 and his M.S. in MatSE at Penn State in 2019 under the direction of Prof. Roman Engel-Herbert.  Derrick is currently a Ph.D. student in MatSE at Penn State and is working on MBE growth and characterization of indium selenide as part of the DOE EFRC 3DFeM at Penn State.

Kai-Shiang (Kris) Yu received his B.S. in Chemical and Materials Engineering from National Central University in 2020.  He joined the graduate program in Materials Science and Engineering in 2021 and is working towards his M.S. degree.  His research is focused on characterization of single photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride thin films.

 

Visiting Scholars

Dorota Kowalczyk is a visiting Fulbright Scholar from Poland working in the 2DCC-MIP facility during 2021-2022.  She is currently a doctoral student in Physics at the University of Lodz, Poland.  At the 2DCC, she is working on MOCVD growth and characterization of transition metal dichalcogenides on group III-nitrides.