Month: February 2018

Physics students boost interdisciplinary research in materials

Krishna (left) and Lukasz (right) posing in front of their EAM-2018 award winning posters.

By Amanda Olavarria

The Electronic and Advanced Materials Conference (EAM) is geared towards engineers, technologists, researchers and students with an interest in science, engineering and the applications of electroceramic materials. Several MSE students and faculty attended this year’s EAM Conference held in Orlando, FL.

MSE Associate Professor and Director for Undergraduate Studies, Serge Nakhmanson, co-organized a symposium at this event entitled “Mesoscale Phenomena in Ceramic Materials.” Four UConn students including Tulsi Patel, Krishna Chaitanya Pitike, Lukasz Kuna and Hope Whitlock showcased their research.

In addition to the oral presentations, two UConn students claimed 2nd and 3rd place in the American Ceramics Society (ACerS) Electronics Division “Best Student Poster Presentation” awards. Lukasz Kuna received 3rd place for his poster entitled, “Mesoscale Simulations of the Influence of Elastic Strains on the Optical Properties of Semiconducting Core-Shell Nanowires.” Krishna Chaitayna Pitike won 2nd place for his poster, “Shape and Size Dependent Phase Transformations and Field-induced Behavior in Ferroelectric Nanoparticles.”

In response to the latter award Serge Nakhmanson said, “This remarkable work involves contributions from five UConn students (including Physics undergraduate Hope Whitelock) and an exchange student from China visiting my group. It started as a team project in the “Phase Transformations in Solids” graduate class (MSE 5305). Since the original results appeared to be significant, we decided to continue this project beyond the end of the semester to generate a publication for a peer-review scientific journal. This is now being finalized for submission. It is relatively rare to see classroom projects successfully transition into publication quality research, but this one is being well received by the community.” Department Head Bryan Huey adds, “Devising a class project that can be guided through to a publication is a testament to Professor Nakhmanson’s commitment to teaching and the hard work he inspires with these bright students.”

EAM, jointly arranged by the Electronics Division and Basic Science Division of the ACerS, focuses on the properties and processing of ceramic and electroceramic materials and their applications in electronic, electro/mechanical, dielectric, magnetic, and optical components and devices and systems.

Categories: awards, conferences, news, research, students

Published: February 16, 2018