Center for Materials for Information Technology
MINT Cluster Hire
The University of Alabama (UA) is seeking four to six new tenure-track faculty members to be associated with its Center for Materials for Information Technology (MINT). The MINT Center is an interdisciplinary center for materials research. Its mission is to perform and publish world-class research in materials and phenomena relevant to information technologies, to educate students in the relevant disciplines and to serve as a communication channel for the information technology industry.
The MINT Center emphasizes collaborative interdisciplinary research, shared equipment, and dedication to excellence in research and teaching in an environment that is simultaneously challenging and supportive. MINT is recognized nationally and internationally for its research in information storage and supports an NSF-Funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). Approximately 30 faculty members from the departments of physics, chemistry, metallurgical and materials engineering, chemical and biological engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and applied mathematics participate in MINT research.
Applicants should have a commitment to interdisciplinary research in materials. A Ph.D. degree in physics, chemistry, materials science, metallurgy, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, applied mathematics or a closely related discipline is required. Successful candidates will be appointed to tenure track positions in one (or possibly more) of the participating departments. Expertise is especially desired in the areas of nanoscale characterization and microscopy, top-down and bottom-up nanofabrication and self-assembly, theory of nanoscale materials and their properties, phenomena in low dimensional materials such as nanowires, nanotubes and two dimensional systems, and in novel interactions of electromagnetic radiation with matter. Application areas of interest include (but are not limited to) information storage, next-generation memory and logic devices and energy storage and conversion. Review of applications will begin on December 10 and will continue until the positions are filled. The University of Alabama is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer.
Applicants should email the following to clusterhire@mint.ua.edu:
1. Cover Letter
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. List of Publications and Patents
3. Statement of Research Interests
4. Statement on educational philosophy
5. List of references
Additional Information
- The goal of the cluster hire is to increase funded research at UA and to increase the visibility of UA as a major research University.
- All UA faculty members are expected to be dedicated teachers of undergraduates and graduates.
- The Cluster Hire may consist entirely of Assistant Professor Level faculty members or some combination of Assistant Prof. and more senior.
- The cover letter should address any concerns about maintaining the confidentiality of the applicant’s interest in a position at UA.
- In evaluating the applications attention will be paid to the following
- Areas of special interest to MINT
- Commitment to interdisciplinary research and education
- Commitment to research in a mutually supportive environment
- Commitment to sharing of resources and information
- Ability to Increase Funded Research at UA
- Areas of particular interest to Departments Affiliated with MINT
- Department(s) in which applicant would be qualified for tenure
- Courses applicant is highly qualified to teach
- Commitment to improving undergraduate and graduate education
- Commitment to recruitment of highest quality undergraduate and graduate students
- Commitment to departmental service
- More details on the areas of interest:
Nanoscale Characterization
The past 4 years have seen tremendous improvements in equipment for nanoscale characterization at the University of Alabama. Rapid and accurate nanoscale characterization is extremely important to almost all aspects of MINT research. We are seeking an outstanding individual who develops new analytical electron microscopy, atom probe, and X-ray techniques and applies them to solve cutting edge micro- and nanoscale characterization problems in the fields of Materials Science, Electronic Materials, Magnetic Materials, and Nanotechnology. An earned doctorate is required along with a demonstrated ability in teaching and research. The successful candidate will be responsible for teaching the requisite undergraduate and graduate courses in a multidisciplinary materials science environment and establishing a lively, high-quality research program. This will include participation in multidisciplinary activities coordinated by MINT and the candidate’s home department. The University of Alabama’s Central Analytical Facility (CAF) has an outstanding suite of analytical instrumentation including:
- JEOL 7000 FE SEM equipped with EDX, WDS, EBSD, SE, BE and TE detectors, plus Nabity E-beam lithography.
- FEI Technai-F20 SuperTwin 200 kV transmission electron microscope equipped with a CCD camera for STEM, HAADF detector, and EDAX / EDX.
- FEI Quanta 200 3D Focused Ion Beam System. This instrument has both an ion beam for precision milling and an electron beam for SEM operations and imaging. The instrument is also equipped with EDAX EDS system and TSL backscattered electron detector. The instrument may also be used in an Environmental SEM mode.
- IMAGO LEAP 3000 Local Electrode Atom Probe with Laser Attachment – this instrument allows the ultimate in 3 dimensional reconstruction and chemical analysis with near atomic scale resolution. The laser attachment allows atom probe analysis of insulating as well as conductive samples.
- Other UA analytical equipment in the CAF may be seen at http://www.caf.ua.edu/.
- Also available in MINT and in the UA Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department are state-of the art X-ray diffraction instruments including a new Bruker D8 with GADDS XRD system with a two-dimensional detector and heating stage.
We have both a great opportunity and a great need to add at least one additional faculty member to take full advantage of our new capabilities. Our goal would be to find someone who is both an expert in nanoscale characterization and a team player who is anxious to make us all more productive.
Possible Departments: Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics
Nanodevice Fabrication
The goal of this hire would be to strengthen our capabilities in “top-down” nanofabrication. As mentioned above, the University has made significant investments and significant progress in nanofabrication recently, e.g. two clean rooms, a Focused Ion Beam system and an electron-beam lithography system. To reach a competitive level, however, we need additional faculty with expertise and experience as well as a passion for nanofabrication. There is great synergy between this position and the self-assembly position. Many believe that the future of nanofabrication lies in “guided self-assembly” in which the “top down” nanofabrication techniques such as optical lithography, electron-beam lithography and possibly imprint lithography are used to make larger scale patterns that guide and control the self-assembly at the nanometer scale. In almost all realistic cases, some part of the device will require ‘top down” nanofabrication techniques.
Possible departments: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Biological Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Physics
Self-Assembly at the Nanometer Scale
The goal of this hire would be to strengthen and supplement our efforts in a “bottom-up” approach to nanofabrication. Presently, the MINT Center has the world’s largest and most productive group that is developing magnetic nanoparticles. These nanoparticles can be made to self-assemble into ordered arrays which provide a potential route towards extremely high density magnetic recording media. There have been important spin-offs of this research, for example into biomedical applications such as cancer treatment and drug delivery and into the production of catalysts for fuel cells and other applications. The future role of self-assembly, however is much broader because there are techniques such as electrochemical deposition that allow the patterns generated by self assembly to be transferred to many different types of materials. This hire would allow us to broaden our interests to include both active as well as passive devices that can be formed by self-assembly. An immediate application of this research would be the development of bit-patterned media for computer disk drives, but it will have many other applications, e.g. molecular electronics and catalysts for energy production and conversion.
Possible departments: Chemistry, Chemical Biological Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering
One and two Dimensional Structures
Recently many materials have been grown (at UA and elsewhere) in the form of quasi-one and two-dimensional structures. Nanowires have transverse dimensions on the order of one to 100 nanometers and longitudinal dimensions several orders of magnitude larger. Recently the exciting properties of grapheme, single atomic layer sheets of graphite have been investigated. Both carbon nanotubes and graphene have great potential in spintronics because they can transmit spin polarized currents over very long distances due to their extremely weak spin-orbit coupling. Because of their small transverse size, nanowires often do not have the defects that are common in three and two dimensional structures. This can give them amazing strength and should allow them to conduct with very low resistance. One and two dimensional structures are expected to be important components of many nanoscale devices. The possibilities for collaboration between this position and positions mentioned above are almost boundless. Clearly nanoscale characterization techniques will be needed to image, analyze and manipulate these structures. One can easily imagine two dimensional arrays of elementary devices formed by lithography and self-assembly connected by nanowires.
Possible departments: Chemical Biological Engineering, Chemistry, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineeering, Physics
Interactions of High-Frequency (>GHz) Electromagnetic Radiation with Matter
The goal of this hire would be to position ourselves to take advantage of major opportunities in the development of high frequency communication technologies and in data storage. In the data storage industry, data rates are approaching a billion bits per second and even higher data rates are desired. In order for data rates to continue to grow, someone must devise a way to energize the writer at frequencies greater than one GHz. We have some expertise in this area in both experiment and in modeling, but to seize the lead nationally and internationally in solving this coming problem we need an expert in this area. This hire would also position us to expand into the area of high frequency devices, especially wireless devices.
Even more exciting is the possibility of making, studying and understanding “left-handed materials” (LHM). These “materials” have a negative refractive index and have been predicted to have many possible applications including some that until recently had been relegated to the realm of bad science fiction; for example, perfect imaging that is not limited by the wavelength of light and an “invisibility cloak” that causes light to bend around an object so that it is rendered invisible. To date, LHM have been devised by building arrays of devices with special electrical and magnetic properties. These arrays can be considered “materials” only if one is using electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength much larger than the size of the device. Great opportunities for collaborations exist with all of the other hires mentioned herein because nanofabrication will be needed to make these devices work for optical wavelengths, because nanoscale characterization will be extremely important and because arrays of one-dimensional structures may provide one route to making these devices. Funding opportunities exist in industry, DOD and NSF.
Possible departments: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Chemistry
Nanoscale Theory
Rapid improvements in computational speed and algorithms, coupled with the small size of nanoscale systems allow the possibility of providing unprecedented guidance to discovery through theory and modeling. This guidance will be increasingly important because the properties of nanoscale materials are proving in many cases to be quite different from those extrapolated from the bulk materials. There are several reasons for these differences. Often the larger ratio of surface to volume in a nanoscale material causes major differences in properties. The tremendous strength of whiskers and nanowires was mentioned already. The effect of random fluctuations, e.g. in composition will have a larger effect on the properties of systems with a smaller number of atoms because their relative effect scales as the inverse of the square root of the number of atoms. Even more importantly, electronic conduction in one dimensional systems is expected to be qualitatively different from bulk materials. MINT has an excellent history of collaboration between theory and experiment. It is typical for MINT students to have both theory and experiment as part of their thesis and to be co-advised by theorists and experimentalists.
Possible Departments: Physics, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering