Project: Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR): magnetic, microstructural and thermal properties of media• Developed a method to measure the Curie temperature distribution in granular magnetic thin films with perpendicular anisotropy. This pump-probe technique assesses a critical parameter affecting the storage density limit in HAMR• Established time-domain thermoreflectance as means to determine the thermal properties of HAMR materials and interfaces• Created an analytical framework to break down the switching field distribution of magnetic media into its originating components: grain size, grain orientation and anisotropy field distributions• Manage an ultrafast optical pump-probe laboratory and several high field magnetic characterization tools• Mentoring and training new scientists and post-docs

Projects: Advanced Sensor Concepts and Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording• Developed first working prototype Lorentz magnetic sensor devices using graphene as candidates for future magnetic recording applications• Exploited transport phenomena in semiconductors to create novel device concepts and identify their technological merit for patentability, with four patents submitted• First demonstration of microwave-assisted magnetization reversal in granular media with perpendicular anisotropy as a route to increase data storage density in hard disk drives

Project: Electronic properties of 1D and 2D nanostructures• First demonstration of the failure of the adiabatic approximation in graphene. This find was in collaboration with Nobel Prize winners K.S. Novoselov and A.K. Geim, and was later confirmed in other laboratories• Explored alternative routes to obtaining Ohmic contacts and sharp subthreshold characteristics approaching the thermal limit in carbon nanotubes FETs• Developed high-k dielectrics for high performance carbon nanotube FETs with band-to-band tunneling transport for subthreshold performance beyond the thermal limit• Contributed to several advances in the synthesis and characterization of the electronic properties of graphene, carbon nanotubes and silicon nanowires for transistor applications

Project: Characterization of mid-gap defect states in amorphous Si• Research on optical avenues for the defect characterization in hydrogenated and tritiated amorphous silicon• Developed an automated constant photocurrent method setup to measure with high sensitivity the spectral absorption coefficient in amorphous thin films

Courses: ECE360 (Electronics), ECE110 (Electrical Fundamentals)• Leading weekly tutorials for groups of 25-30 students, coordinating bi-monthly laboratories and contributing to student assessment by authoring and evaluating quizzes, mid-terms, laboratory books and final examinations

Project: Tritium monitoring equipment• Assemble, debug and interface complex printed circuit boards and perform calibration and quality control procedures for commercial sale of tritium monitoring systems• Design regulated voltage supply and signal conditioning circuit later incorporated in tritium monitor preamplifiers