Dr. Francis Alcorn is a postdoc in the Materials Physics group at Sandia National Labs working on novel scanning electron microscopy (SEM) instrumentation to augment understanding of semiconductor surfaces and interfaces, such as recent work on studying MoS2-LaCoO3 interfaces. These include ultrafast electron microscopy to measure fundamental speed limits for semiconductor measurements and secondary electron ‘plume’ imaging for measuring interfacial electric fields that underpin function of semiconductor devices. Dr. Alcorn did his PhD at the University of Illinois, studying atomic scale dynamics in light-absorbing materials with transmission electron microscopy for understanding light-matter interactions
Byoung Ki Choi
Shruti Hariyani
Shruti received her Bachelors of Science and Ph. D. at the University of Houston. Her doctoral research under the guidance of Prof. Jakoah Brgoch focused on the discovery and characterization of novel phosphor materials through experiment and computation. She is now working as a postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University with Prof. Sarbajit Banerjee on the synthesis of substituted vanadium oxide-based materials for neuromorphic computing applications.
Jialu Li
Jialu Li is a researcher at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), specializing in synchrotron-based soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (sXAS) and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) techniques. Her work focuses on energy materials, such as catalysts, batteries, and hydrogen storage, as well as neuromorphic materials, aiming to advance sustainable energy solutions and next-generation computing
Sangheon Oh
Sangheon Oh is a postdoctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratories. He received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering at University of California San Diego in 2023. His current research interests are in novel material and novel devices for neuromorphic computing.
Arunabha Mohan Roy
Arunabha’s research interests are computational material science, computational mechanics, phase field method, crystal plasticity modelling, materials design, data-driven model discovery, machine/deep learning, and physics informed neural networks.
Srikrishna Sagar
Srikrishna Sagar’s primary role at NREL is to design, fabricate, and characterize the memory devices using transition-metal coordination complexes. Sagar is focused on achieving low-power switching, followed by probing the charge transport mechanism behind the conductance and/or capacitance switching properties. He’s utilizing the spectrochemical technique to understand the distinct oxidation states and variations in absorbance observed within the complexes to correlate with the obtained current-voltage characteristics obtained from the fabricated two-terminal crossbar molecular devices. His research interests include molecular switching devices, oscillators, and photodetectors.
Elena Salagre Rubio
Dr. Elena Salagre Rubio graduated from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid with a BSc in Physics and later a MSc and a phD in Condensed Matter Physics, focusing on metal insulator transitions and novel ways of exploring them. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratories where she is growing and studying complex oxides, including high entropy oxides that she later utilizes for the fabrication of devices for neuromorphic computing. She is also investigating such devices in terms of their operating mechanisms, comprising current and temperature localization during switching and the role of phase transitions in the material during these processes.
Sarnali Sanfui
Sarnali has been working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University under the supervision of Prof. Marcetta Y. Darensbourg since June 2023. Her research work is primarily focused on the design, synthesis, and electrocatalytic application of novel bimetallic and multimetallic complexes, inspired by the biological metalloenzymes such as [Fe-Fe] hydrogenase and nitrile hydratase. She earned her Ph.D. (2023) from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. Subsequently, she transitioned to her postdoctoral role in Prof. M. Darensbourg’s Group to further advance her expertise in the field of bioinorganic chemistry.
Michelle Smeaton
Postdoc & Graduate Student Advisory Board Lead
Michelle Smeaton joined NREL in early 2023. Her research focuses on using in situ electron microscopy to elucidate structure-property relationships in materials and devices for neuromorphic computing. Her research interests include scanning/transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, in situ characterization, and materials for neuromorphic devices.