Working with carbon nanotubes, quantum materials, and spintronic devices, our Beyond Silicon researchers are developing technologies that increase processing speed, reduce power consumption, and maintain high performance.
These breakthroughs are reshaping how chips are built and how they function. A major milestone in aligning carbon nanotubes has opened the door to faster, more energy-efficient transistors and flexible electronics. Meanwhile, quantum and spintronic research is enabling new types of memory and computing systems that are faster, more secure, and less power-hungry.
The impact goes far beyond the labs. These innovations support high-performance computing, secure communications, and advanced memory systems. They help industries build smarter tools and systems, and they have real public benefit—from better medical diagnostics to stronger national defense.
Research Faculty and Staff
Chang-Beom Eom
Position title: Raymond R. Holton Chair for Engineering and Theodore H. Geballe Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Nanostructure fabrications of novel materials
- Hetroepitaxy of complex oxide thin films and heterostructures
Paul Evans
Position title: Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Ferroelectric and multiferroic materials: electric-field-driven structural control
- Superlattice domain dynamics: ultrafast switching behavior
- Photoinduced charge transfer: interface engineering for optoelectronics
- Advanced x-ray techniques: nanoscale probing of material properties
Daniel Fredrickson
Position title: Professor
- Intermetallic compounds: structure, bonding, and synthesis
- Quantum calculations: electronic structure and chemical principles
- Advanced crystallography: solving complex atomic arrangements
- Structure-property relationships: targeting superconductivity, thermoelectricity, and catalysis
Padma Gopalan
Position title: Associate Chair of Graduate Studies
Materials Science & Engineering
- Polymer Synthesis and Characterization
- Electro-optic and Photonic Materials
- Self-assembly of Block Copolymers
- Photonic Devices
- Liquid Crystalline Polymers
Jiamian Hu
Position title: Associate Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Phase-field modeling of microstructure evolution
- Machine learning for materials prediction
- Ferroelectric and magnetic dynamics at terahertz frequencies
- GPU-accelerated simulation tools for complex materials behavior
- Multiscale modeling of spin-lattice interactions and cavity magnonics
Song Jin
Position title: Professor
Materials Science and Engineering
- Physical and chemical properties of molecular-based materials
- Molecular electronics
- Nanoscale assembly techniques for molecular systems
- Chemical and structural characterization of surfaces
- Interfaces between inorganic materials and organic/biological materials
Jason Kawasaki
Position title: Associate Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Heteroepitaxy of novel materials
- Heusler compounds
- Magnetism
- Topological states
- Shape memory alloys
- Surfaces and interfaces
- MBE
- STM
- ARPES
Whitney Loo
Position title: Conway Assistant Professor
Chemical & Biological Engineering
- Polymers
- Soft materials
- Nanoscience
- Sustainability
- Energy storage
Dane Morgan
Position title: Harvey D. Spangler Professor of Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
- Computational materials science for materials design
- Ab initio electronic structure and multiscale methods for large time / length scales and thermokinetics
- Ab initio based modeling of electrochemical systems and processes
- Machine learning techniques for accelerating materials analysis and discovery
- Application areas: Nuclear materials, Battery and fuel cell electrodes, electronic materials
Yuan Ping
Position title: Associate Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Electronic excitation and spectroscopy from first-principles many-body theory
- First-principles open quantum dynamics, with quantum scatterings of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions, for spin, electron, magnon, and exciton dynamics
- Quantum defects as spin qubits’ optical readout and decoherence from first-principles
- Chiral-optics, nonlinear optics, and spin-optronics properties of solids
Daniel Rhodes
Position title: Assistant Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Single crystal synthesis
- Superconductivity
- 2-D materials
- Topological materials (Dirac, Weyl, HOTI)
- Defect kinetics
Tiancheng Song
Position title: Assistant Professor
- 2D magnetism & moiré engineering
- Van der Waals spintronics & tunnel junctions
- 2D superconductivity & topological phases
- Quantum magnetometry & nanoscale imaging
- Spin-optoelectronics & photovoltaic effects
- Pressure- and voltage-controlled magnetic states
George Tzimpragos
Position title: James E. Smith Assistant Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Computer architecture
- Computing with novel technologies
- Brain-inspired computing
Jennifer Volk
Position title: John D. Wiley Assistant Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Superconducting logic
- Bio-based architectures
- Novel computing mediums
Paul Voyles
Position title: Harvey D. Spangler Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Electron microscopy, including aberration-corrected Z-contrast STEM, microanalysis by EDS and EELS, and coherent electron nanodiffraction
- Growth, structure, and defects in functional materials, including spintronics, oxide interfaces, and nanostructures
- Nanoscale order in glassy materials
Ying Wang
Position title: Dugald C. Jackson Assistant Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
- 2D quantum materials & heterostructures
- Nano-devices for energy, sensing, and information
- Exotic orders (e.g., domain walls, filaments) for data processing
- Magnon-based information carriers
- Multimodal characterization under extreme conditions
Jun Xiao
Position title: Assistant Professor
Materials Science & Engineering
- Photo-induced nonequilibrium phenomena, ferroelectric, magnetic, correlated, and topological transitions in quantum materials
- THz optoelectronic materials and devices for 6G communications
- 2D quantum materials and topological heterostructures for next-generation computing and sensing
- Ultrafast and nonlinear spectroscopy, THz circuits, Magneto-optics, phase engineering, 2D materials
Latest News
Kawasaki named a Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigator
Jason Kawasaki, an associate professor in materials science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been named a 2025 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigator. Selection to the program is a prestigious honor …
2025 Nobel Prize Laureate John Martinis’s Connections to UW–Madison
Wisconsin CHIPS congratulates the 2025 laureates of The Nobel Prize in Physics—John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis—for observation of quantum-mechanical tunneling in an electrical circuit based on superconductors! Excitingly, Martinis has connections to UW–Madison through shared research and his co-founded company Qolab.
UW fostering closer research ties with federal defense, cybersecurity agencies
UW–Madison is building stronger research partnerships with federal defense and cybersecurity agencies to advance technologies that serve the public good. A recent campus visit from Department of Defense and NSA leaders highlighted shared priorities in AI, quantum computing, and secure systems.
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