EE Professor Jamie Teherani received the Junior Faculty Who Contribute to the Diversity Goals of the University grant from Columbia University. This program is designed to support the career success of outstanding junior faculty who contribute to the diversity goals of the University through their research, teaching, and mentoring activities.
"I'm greatly honored to receive this award recognizing my efforts to promote diversity in STEM research. It will enable my group to continue our high impact work," Teherani said.
Teherani serves as a faculty advisor to the Columbia University Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Hispanic and Professional Engineers (SHPE), and the Amateur Radio Club. He has been designated an Outreach Superstar for his efforts to teach the K-12 community about STEM research. He recently created the video series titled Building at the Nanoscale (see Part 01: 2D vs 3D materials and Part 02: how to build atom-thick structures) to disseminate current research topics on 2D materials to the broader community.
His research investigates an emerging group of 2D semiconductor materials that have strong in-plane bonding but weak out-of-plane chemical bonding, such that they naturally form atomically-thin 2D sheets. Unlike the atoms of conventional ‘bulk’ semiconductors that bond in all three dimensions and require templated growth on specific crystalline substrates, sheets of 2D materials can be stacked in a variety of configurations on diverse substrates to confer many advantageous properties for a wide-ranging application.
Teherani and his team recently developed a new doping technique (specifically, the formation of a monolayer of WOx from UV-ozone oxidation of the 2D semiconductor WSe2) that dramatically reduces the electrical resistance of 2D materials, which is required to create functional electronic circuits.
This research project will provide a testbed to establish the first transparent circuits made fully from 2D materials. If successful, these initial results will create a foundation upon which to target novel applications and will develop a prosperous new area of research within the Columbia Community.
