Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Esther Wertz, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, has been appointed Rensselaer’s faculty fellow of UPWARDS for the Future. UPWARDS stands for the U.S.-Japan University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research & Development in Semiconductors. It was established in May 2023 by Micron and Tokyo Electron Limited to “to bring together 11 universities from across the U.S. and Japan to develop leading semiconductor curricula, creating opportunities for cross-collaboration.”

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Hudson Valley Community College have welcomed the inaugural class of RPI-HVCC Semiconductor Scholars. Funded by the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, the Scholars program is one of many efforts in the Capital Region and around the country to prepare more students to enter the semiconductor industry. 

Two researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have been distinguished as some of the most highly cited by Clarivate. Humberto Terrones, Ph.D., is the Rayleigh Endowed Chair Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy. Fudong Han, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and Priti and Mukesh Chatter ’82 Career Development Chair in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Trevor David Rhone, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, has been invited to participate as a Scialog fellow by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Scialog “supports research, intensive dialogue, and community building to address scientific challenges of global significance.” About 50 early career faculty are invited to participate as fellows for each Scialog.

A team of researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Trevor David Rhone, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, has identified novel van der Waals (vdW) magnets using cutting-edge tools in artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, the team identified transition metal halide vdW materials with large magnetic moments that are predicted to be chemically stable using semi-supervised learning. These two-dimensional (2D) vdW magnets have potential applications in data storage, spintronics, and even quantum computing.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Moussa N’Gom, assistant professor of physics, applied physics, and astronomy, has devised a method to make communications between satellites and the ground more effective no matter the weather. In research recently published, N’Gom and his team used ultrafast, femtosecond lasers to cut through the clouds and rain that commonly cause losses in free-space optical communication (FSO).

A team of researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Edwin Fohtung, associate professor of materials science and engineering, has combined expertise in mathematics and condensed matter physics with technological advances to discover new properties of magnetic ferroelectric materials.