In support of the multi-institutional mission of the Center, the E3S Executive Committee announced a new program for post-doctoral scholars to further promote collaborations among the five member institutions, Berkeley, MIT, Stanford, UTEP and FIU. Funding for four new inter-institutional postdoctoral research positions, one position for each of the four research themes (nanoelectronics, nanomechanics, nanophotonics, and nanomagnetics) has been authorized. E3S has initiated the recruitment of four new postdoctoral scholars who will spend time at different member institutions of the Center, working on theme-spanning research projects. – Learn more about the job postings.

The new postdoctoral program augments the existing E3S Rotation Program that provides financial support for graduate students and postdocs, who are already working on an E3S project at his/her home institution, to spend several months as visiting researchers at another institution of the Center. This summer, the Rotation Program is supporting Dr. Ali Hadjikhani, Postdoctoral Fellow in the research group of Professor Sakhrat Khizroev at FIU, and Aldo Vidaña, Graduate student of the research group of Professor David Zubia at UTEP, to be visiting researchers in residence at UC Berkeley for 9 weeks.

Hosted by Professor Jeffrey Bokor, Dr. Ali Hadjikhani is collaborating with Dr. Jeongmin Hong. Ali’s research project at UC Berkeley focuses on applying He-ion microscopy to fabricate sub-10-nm Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) devices. He will have access to a new (and very rare) state-of-the-art three-beam Focused Ion Beam (FIB) system at UC Berkeley. This facility has been specifically designed in order to fabricate record-small sub-10-nm structures nanomagnetic/spintronic devices for energy-efficient information processing.

Hosted by Professors Ali Javey and Tsu-Jae King Liu, Aldo Vidaña is collaborating with Peter Zhao, Graduate Student in the Javey Research Group. Aldo is investigating the electronic properties of transition metal dichalcogenides under strain. An aim of his project is studying bulk and interface switching mechanisms using the most promising transition metal dichalcogenide materials. His research project is part of the larger goal to integrate these materials with nanomechanical actuators for the design and fabrication of optimized device switching.