Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Daniel Gall has been named the Robert W. Hunt Professor of Metallurgical Engineering. Gall, a professor in the department of materials and science engineering and a world-renowned expert in advanced materials for computer chip interconnects, focuses on developing atomic level understanding of thin film growth and on the electronic and optical properties of advanced materials. He is studying electron transport in nanowires and epitaxial metal layers and is renowned for his work on the resistivity size effect and its impact on interconnect lines in integrated circuits.

An endowed chaired professorship is among the highest honors bestowed on a Rensselaer faculty member.

“Daniel is leading the way in development of sub 2 nanometer interconnects, which are a critical element of development of future computer chips,” said Shekhar Garde, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. “Daniel is not only a top-notch scientist and an engineer, he is also a great mentor to our students, and an exceptional teacher. His teaching of innovative courses in advanced materials for chips is adding depth to our chip-centric education and workforce development effort at RPI.”

He has authored over 190 papers in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Nano Letters, Advanced Materials, Physical Review B, Applied Physics Letters, Journal of Applied Physics, and IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.  Gall has presented more than 100 invited lectures, has contributed three book chapters, and holds two patents. His work has been cited over 10,000 times, with an H-index of 61. His students have won over 60 poster competitions, best paper awards, and best microscopy awards.

Gall is a member of the IEEE IITC North America Committee. He previously served as program chair for the AVS International Symposium and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Advanced Surface Engineering Division of the American Vacuum Society. He is an elected fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS), and a member of ASM International, the Materials Research Society, and the American Physical Society. He has won numerous awards including the Alfred H. Geisler Memorial Award for “Outstanding Contributions in Education and Thin Film Growth Research,” the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation, the IBM Faculty Award for Research on “Post-CMOS Nanoelectronics,” the NSF Ceramics Best Highlight Award, the SPIE Thin Films IV Best Presentation Award, the LAM Research Unlock Ideas Faculty Award for research on “high-conductivity interconnects,” the IBM Faculty award for “post-Cu metallization” research, and the Bill Sproul Award and Honorary ICMCTF Lecture for “seminal contributions to furthering the understanding of thin film growth of transition metal nitrides and their electronic, optical, mechanical, and tribological properties.”

Gall received his Diploma (M.S.) from the University of Basel, Switzerland in 1994, and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000.  He served as a postdoctoral associate in the Materials Research Laboratory at UIUC for two years and joined RPI in 2002 as an assistant professor in materials. He was promoted to associate professor in 2008 and promoted to full professor in 2011.