Erica Leung Email & Phone Number

Fremont, California, United States

Irvine, California, United States

• Led a team of engineers and scientists by prioritizing important and immediate goals, strategically planning next steps, delegating work amongst the team, and meeting internal and external deadlines
• Developed a novel nanocomposite with dynamic infrared properties for thermoregulation and camouflage as described in first author Nature Communications article
• Optimized nanocomposite through systematic variation of design parameters to improve performance, yield, reliability, and cyclability
• Adjusted fabrication processes of nanocomposite to scale up the material’s area by 4-fold
• Simulated optical and thermal properties of materials via MATLAB and COMSOL
• Prepared quarterly and monthly written reports and program review presentations for the Department of Energy (ARPA-E) and Department of Defense (AFOSR, DARPA)

Irvine, California, United States

• ENGR1A: Chemistry for Engineers
• Independently prepared and delivered lectures to class of ~250 students as substitute instructor
• Wrote, administered, and graded formative assessments in the form of quizzes, midterm exams, and final exams
• Coordinated lesson plans, communicated important information with students, and managed final grading and feedback
• Managed classroom website

Irvine, CA

• Successfully trained > 20 users on a thin film physical vapor deposition instrument in a user facility
• Provided 24/7 support for facility users and responded quickly to instrument issues, identified sources of problems, communicated relevant information with users and management, and repaired the instrument with minimal.
• Updated standard operating procedure and communicated important changes and considerations to users and management for improved instrument usage

• CBEMS 160: Advanced Lab in Chemistry and Synthesis of Materials
• Developed lab experiments related to polymers, ceramics, and semiconductors to teach senior students how to use materials characterization techniques such as tensile testing, FTIR, DLS, UV-vis, SEM/EDS, XRD, and TGA
• Organized schedules of 8 hours of lab/week with limited resources to ensure all students had the opportunity to use equipment, complete experiments, and improve teamwork skills

• ENGR1A: Chemistry for Engineers
• Taught two discussion sections of 45 students on general chemistry including bonding, molecular orbitals, crystal lattices, and electrochemistry
• Guided students through homeworks, held office hours, and wrote and graded exams

Pasadena, California, United States

• Ch3x: Experimental Methods in Solar Energy Conversion
• Guided students through chemistry laboratory experiments related to solar energy conversion and basic chemistry principles and ensured students’ safety

El Segundo, CA

• Independently designed and implemented a reliable methodology to grow and characterize tin whiskers for further study of mitigation techniques
• Collated and presented findings to department management, to support successful renewal of government funding for the project

El Segundo, CA

• Independently designed and implemented a reliable methodology to grow and characterize tin whiskers for further study of mitigation techniques
• Collated and presented findings to department management, to support successful renewal of government funding for the project

Pasadena, CA

• Synthesized branched capture agent (peptide) against Akt1 (pro-cancer signaling node) using solid phase peptide synthesis and the in-situ click reaction
• Attached cell-penetrating peptides, HIV-1 Tat and polyArg(9) for cell insertion to capture agent
• Characterized peptides via HPLC and MALDI-TOF
• Presented results at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Chemical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Discover Science Initiative (Treasurer), Competitive Edge Peer Mentor

Master Of Science - Ms, Chemical Engineering

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Chemical Engineering (Process Systems)

Activities and Societies: American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Chamber Music, Caltech Glee.