The use of pressure to alter semiconductor properties is showing increasing promise in applications such as high-performance infrared sensors and energy conversion devices.

A paper published in Nature Communications by Sufei Shi, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, increases our understanding of how light interacts with atomically thin semiconductors and creates unique excitonic complex particles, multiple electrons, and holes strongly bound together. These particles possess a new quantum degree of freedom, called “valley spin.” The “valley spin” is similar to the spin of electrons, which has been extensively used in information storage such as hard drives and is also a promising candidate for quantum computing.

The National Science Foundation has awarded $15 million to a team of environmental and earth science data researchers, including researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who are providing tools and infrastructure that improve access to vast amounts of scientific data.

Web scientist and Tetherless World Research Constellation Professor Deborah L. McGuinness has been selected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.