Discipline: Nanoscience
Subcategory: STEM Research
Maria Tamargo - The City College of New York
Co-Author(s): Gustavo Lopez, Lehman College of CUNY, New York; Swapan Gayen, The City College of New York, New York; Ilona Kretzschmar, The City College of New York, New York; Lia Krusin-Elbaum, The City College of New York, NY
The CCNY CREST Center IDEALS has been operating for nearly 3 years. The goals as stated in the proposal were to: (a) discover materials with new and enhanced functionalities through the control of the unique properties of interfaces and defects; (b) integrate education and research and provide leadership and professional training to enrich students’ academic experience; and (c) implement “best practices” to recruit students from underrepresented groups and provide mentoring for successful completion of their doctoral program. Here we present our recent research outcomes, involving collaborations among IDEALS groups and external collaborators. We also summarize our accomplishments in student mentoring and outreach. Tunable Topological Materials and Hetero-nanostructures, (Krusin, Tamargo, Park, Gayen, Ghaemi and Begliarbekov). Advancements in this project involve the enhancement of the transport properties of a new class of materials known as topological insulators (TIs) in order to exploit their unique physical properties to enable ground breaking applications and novel materials physics discoveries. Bioinspired Reconfigurable materials, (Kretzschmar, O’Brien, Tu, Lopez, Ulijn, McGregor, Menon, Lombardi, Braunschweig, Begliarbekov). In this project novel bioinspired materials nanostructures are being explored for two applications: light harvesting and medical theranostics. Advances have been made in synthesis and modification of nanoparticles for light harvesting and theranostics applications, and development of plasmonic structures for light harvesting enhancement of materials. Defect engineering for quantum phenomena (Meriles, Menon, Lopez, Lombardi). This effort seeks to understand and implement outstanding properties of unique crystal defects for applications in quantum phenomena. New physics and implementation of the Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) center in diamond and defects in hexagonal Boron Nitride (h-BN) will be discussed. Student mentoring and outreach. IDEALS has supported thirteen doctoral students, each working jointly with least two mentors in complementary fields. Activities such as seminars, visits to external labs, and leadership and professional training have been implemented. Vigorous recruitment through active participation in the doctoral admissions process and through the implementation of a research experience for undergraduates (REU) has resulted in significant increase in the numbers of students from underrepresented groups in our programs.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): The National Science Foundation - CREST
Faculty Advisor: None Listed,