Academic Sites

Anupama B. Kaul, PI & Director, SEEP-IT Consortium

PACCAR Professor of Engineering, University of North Texas

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering (joint)
Director, Nanoscale Materials and Devices Laboratory
https://kaulgroup.engineering.unt.edu/

Phone: 940-369-7715
Email: anupama.kaul@unt.edu

Prof. Anupama Kaul is the PACCAR Professor of Engineering at the University of North Texas (UNT). She has received funding for her research exceeding $12M as Principal Investigator from agencies such as AFOSR, DOE, ARO, ONR, NASA amongst others. She serves as PI and Center Director of the SEEP-IT Consortium awarded to UNT from the DOE since Spring 2023 [https://research.unt.edu/news/unt-leads-new-department-energy-consortium-emerging-semiconductors-and-technologies]. Kaul served as Director of the PACCAR Technology Institute until Dec. 2022, since she was hired to UNT in Sep. 2017. Prior to UNT, Kaul was Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering and held the AT&T Distinguished Professorship in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP).  She joined UTEP upon completing her three-year appointment as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the Engineering Directorate.  At NSF, Kaul was on rotation as an IPA from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)-NASA, California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She is the recipient of the NSF Director’s Award for Program Management Excellence. During her 12-year tenure at JPL-NASA, Caltech, she received the NASA Service Award, a NASA Team Technical Accomplishment Award, multiple NASA Patent Awards and numerous NASA Technology Brief Awards for her research. In 2012, she was selected to be a participant in the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) Symposium, and in 2014 she was invited to participate in the bi-lateral Indo-US FOE, also organized by the US NAE. Kaul is Fellow of SPIE, Fellow of the Class of 2016 ELATE’s executive leadership development program (Drexel University) and member of the International Council on Materials Education. She has given more than 90 invited, keynote and plenary talks at international conferences and meetings. In 2022, Kaul received the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Frisco Independent School District in the DFW metroplex, for mentoring high school students in research. Kaul obtained her BS degrees in physics and engineering physics from Oregon State University, while her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees were from UC Berkeley in Materials Science and Engineering with minors in ECE and Physics.

Yuankun Lin, Co-PI

Professor, University of North Texas

Department of Physics
Director, Photonic Band-gap Materials Lab
https://physics.unt.edu/people/yuankun-lin-phd

Phone: 940-565-4548
Email: yuankun.lin@unt.edu

Prof. Yuankun Lin received his Ph. D. in Physics from University of British Columbia, Canada, in 2000. He is a full Professor in Physics (75%) and in Electrical Engineering (25%) at UNT. He has published over 95 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 74 conference presentations or proceedings, and one book chapter. His research has been focusing on the laser holographic fabrication of 2D and 3D photonic crystals. These research activities have won international recognitions due to his research advances in the development of simplified optical fabrication techniques for 2D and 3D photonic crystals and their applications in sensing, solar cells and organic light emitting diodes. Very recently he broadened his research interests into newly discovered areas of Transformation Optics and Gradient Index Photonic Devices. His newly discovered graded photonic super-crystals can be integrated with organic light emitting diode and a high light extraction efficiency up to 76 % can be reached (US Department of Energy has a goal of 70% in year 2020).  He has won several major research grants from NSF and Air Force including NSF NIRT program as a PI since 2006. The total amount of these grants is over $11 million.

Pamela Padilla, Co-PI

Professor, Vice President for Research and Innovation, University of North Texas

https://president.unt.edu/people/pamela-padilla

Phone: 940-369-7487
Email: pamela.padilla@unt.edu

Dr. Pamela Padilla was appointed vice president for research and innovation at UNT in June 2022. She joined UNT in 2002 and is a professor of biological sciences. Dr. Padilla previously served as dean of the College of Science and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Science. After serving one year as interim, she was permanently appointed UNT’s associate vice president for research and innovation in October 2019. In 2010, she earned the UNT Early Career Award for Research and Creativity, and she was a Faculty Leadership Fellow from 2015 to 2016. Dr. Padilla’s research, which has been continually supported by either the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, focuses on how environmental and dietary stress affects living organisms at the cellular, genetic, and molecular levels as a means to model human health issues such as ischemia and diabetes. She has earned numerous fellowships and grants, including an NSF CAREER award. Her lead of an NIH T32 training grant has provided additional support for Ph.D. student training. Dr. Padilla is the current president and former treasurer and a member of the board of directors of SACNAS, the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, the largest STEM diversity organization in the country. She also was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and SACNAS Advanced Leadership Institute Fellow in 2017, received a Science magazine Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction in 2012, and was a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow in 2008.

Weidong Zhou, Co-PI

Distinguished University Professor, University of Texas at Arlington

Department of Electrical Engineering
Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Affiliated)
Department of Bioengineering (Affiliated)
https://zhoulab.uta.edu/home/

Phone: 817-272-1227
Email: wzhou@uta.edu

Professor Weidong Zhou obtained his BS and ME degrees from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He obtained his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After graduation, he worked at CIENA Corporation on active photonic devices and integrated systems for optical fiber communication systems. He is currently a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Since joining UTA, Dr. Zhou has carried out over 40 federally-funded projects, from the Department of Defense (AFOSR, AFRL, ARO, ONR, JTO, DARPA), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Health (NIH) and DOE. Total funding support level exceeds $24 million for all the projects involved. As single PI or leading PI, the total award exceeds $10 million since 2005. He has also engaged in research commercialization efforts, with multiple million DoD/NSF SBIR/STTR Phase I/II awards. Dr. Zhou has authored and co-authored over 350 journal publications and conference presentations, including ~ 140 invited conference talks and seminar talks. He have 6 issued US patents with a few more pending. He also published one book and 5 book chapters. Dr. Zhou and his group have made significant contributions in the areas of photonic crystal laser scaling for energy efficient integrated photonics and micro transfer printing of semiconductor nanomembranes for heterogeneous integration of compound semiconductor materials with silicon, for integrated silicon photonics and flexible optoelectronics. The work has been published in very high impact factor journals such as Nature Photonics, Nature Communications, Nature Bioengineering, Science Advances, Advanced Materials, etc.

Dr. Zhou is a fellow of SPIE (The International Society for Optics and Photonics) and a fellow of OSA (The Optical Society), a senior member of IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), and a member of APS (American Physical Society), MRS (Materials Research Society), and AAAS (The American Association for the Advancement of Science). He is also very active in professional societies, serving as general conference chair or committee chair as well as in journal editorial boards. Dr. Zhou's major awards include UTA Academy of Distinguished Scholars (2016), UTA Outstanding Research Achievement or Creative Accomplishment Award (2015), UTA College of Engineering Excellence in Research Award (2013), UTA College of Engineering Excellent Research Record Awards (2007, 2008), Univ. of Michigan Rackham Predoctoral Fellow award (2000-2001), IEEE/LEOS (Photonics) Society Graduate Student Fellowship award (2000), Tsinghua University Outstanding Graduate Award (Gold medal, 1993), Outstanding ("San-Hao") Student of Beijing City (1992).

Yuze Alice Sun , Co-PI

Associate Professor, University of Texas at Arlington

Department of Electrical Engineering
https://www.uta.edu/academics/faculty/profile?username=yuzesun

Phone: 817-272-1317
Email: sun@uta.edu

Professor Alice Sun joined UTA in 2013 as an assistant professor after obtaining her PhD at the University of Michigan in  2011 with a major in Biomedical Engineering. In 2019, she was promoted to Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. Her research interests include optofluidics, nanophotonics, soft matter photonics, lasers, optical biosensing, and chemical sensing, amongst others. Dr Sun has won several awards including the Lawrence Stephens Award for Outstanding Research, University of Texas at Arlington. (2023), the Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award, University of Texas at Arlington. (2019), ISCC & GCxGC poster award, ISCC & GCxGC. (May 2019), High-Impact High-Risk Research Award, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). (September 2017), and the NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation. (January 1, 2016).

Yaowu Hao, Co-PI

Professor, University of Texas at Arlington

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Bioengineering
https://www.uta.edu/academics/faculty/profile?username=haoyaowu

Phone: 817-272-0752
Email: yhao@uta.edu

Dr. Yaowu Hao is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at the University of Texas at Arlington. He received his Ph. D. degree from MIT in 2003 and his MS degree from University of Florida in 1998, both in MSE. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University before he joined UT Arlington in Fall 2005. He earned Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Metal Physics and Chemistry at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing. His research interests include  Nanotechnology,  Nanomedicine, and Nuclear Medicine. A total of over $3M funding from federal and state agencies such as NSF, NIH and  Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has been secured to support his research endeavors. He has published 72 papers in refereed scientific journals, and holds 2 issued US patents. Under his supervision, 9 PhD and 10 MS students have graduated.

Rasool Kenarangui, Co-PI

Senior Lecturer, University of Texas at Arlington

Department of Electrical Engineering
https://www.uta.edu/academics/faculty/profile?username=kenarang

Phone: 817-272-3423
Email: kenarang@uta.edu

Rasool Kenarangui has been a member of the research group at the Energy Systems Research Center, at the University of Texas at Arlington. From 1976 to 1980 he worked as a research associate at Science Application Inc., in Ames Iowa, USA. From 1980 to 1995 Dr. Kenarangui was a Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Tabriz, in Iran. He was Visiting Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada from 1988–1989. His areas of interest is power systems analysis and operation, power plants and nuclear power generation, reliability analysis, application of fuzzy logic and control in electric power systems, computer simulation of electric power systems and load forecasting.

Ann Cavallo, Co-PI

Professor, University of Texas at Arlington

Curriculum and Instruction
https://www.uta.edu/academics/faculty/profile?username=cavallo

Phone: 817-272-6049
Email: cavallo@uta.edu

Ann Cavallo, Ph.D., is Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning Excellence (CRTLE), Co-director of UTeach Arlington, and Distinguished University Professor of Science Education at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). She earned her B.S. from Niagara University, and her M.S. in Science Education/Biology, M.S. in General Science, and Ph.D. in Science Education from Syracuse University. She holds secondary school teacher certification in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, and General Science, and taught middle and high school science prior to earning her graduate degrees. As a faculty member at UTA, she designed, directed, and taught in undergraduate and graduate programs including courses on STEM teaching methods, educational psychology, education research methodology, biology, and earth science. She also previously served as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Education, and in 2018 was appointed Assistant Vice Provost under the Office of the Provost launching and directing the new research-based Center for Research on Teaching and Learning Excellence (CRTLE). In this position Dr. Cavallo designs and leads numerous professional development programs for faculty and GTAs in all disciplines and in various modalities including on campus, online, and hybrid. Dr. Cavallo’s research investigates high school and college students’ learning processes and progressions, scientific reasoning, self-efficacy, and their acquisition of conceptual understandings of science, particularly through inquiry-based teaching models. She is currently Principal Investigator of several National Science Foundation Robert Noyce grants totaling over $2 million, and in total has secured more than $12 million in grants and gifts from various funding agencies to support her work. Dr. Cavallo has over 50 publications in internationally and nationally refereed journals, proceedings, books, book chapters, and scholarly reports, and over 130 presentations at professional conferences. She has held leadership positions in professional education organizations including serving on Advisory Boards for NSF and AAAS on STEM teacher education in high need schools. In 2015, Dr. Cavallo received the Distinguished Record of Research Award from UTA, and in 2016, was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Scholars. In 2022, Dr. Cavallo was one of a selected few Noyce Principal Investigators featured in an NSF/AAAS video production celebrating the 20th anniversary of the NSF Noyce STEM Teacher Scholarship program: https://www.nsfnoyce.org/2022-noyce-summit/. In January 2023, Dr. Cavallo received the honor of being named a lifetime Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for distinguished contributions to the advancement of science education, particularly for her work with STEM teachers.

Mansour Mortazavi, Co-PI

Professor, Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development,
University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

Curriculum and Instruction
https://www.uapb.edu/administration/research_innovation_and_economic_development/staff.aspx

Phone: 870-575-7140
Email: mortazavim@uapb.edu

Dr. Mansour Mortazavi joined the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) in 1992 and has served as a Quantum Optics Professor, Director of Lasers, and Nano-Science laboratories, and and Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development. Dr. Mortazavi earned his PhD in Physics from the University of Arkansas in 1990. He then joined UAPB as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics, and Mathematics and Computer Science. He has also maintained close collaborations with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville as an affiliate faculty member of the Micro-Electronics and Photonics Program, and Nanoscience and Engineering Institute. Since joining UAPB, Dr. Mortazavi has been active in research in the fields of nanoscience, engineering, and computer science and his design and implementation of spintronics research has held the world record for efficiency and consistency. He has maintained continuous funding for his research from federal and state agencies including the Department of Energy, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Laboratories, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and National Science Foundation (NSF), Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), etc. His research has been featured in high impact journals, including Science, Science News, Physical Review Letters, and Optics letters. Since becoming Vice Chancellor, he has created collaborations with the Pine Bluff Arsenal, National Center for Toxicological Research, Argonne National Laboratories, Sandia National Laboratories, as well as other universities across the country. He is currently the UAPB director of Connect Arkansas Research Scholars (CARS) program, a collaboration between UAPB, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACRI) that focuses on biomedical research that will assist with preventing, treating and curing the tobacco-related health issues in minority communities.

Qinglong Jiang, Co-PI

Associate Professor, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

Department of Chemistry and Physics; Nanoscience Chemistry
https://sites.google.com/site/drqinglongjiangshomepage

Phone: 870-575-8754
Email: jiangq@uapb.edu

Dr. Qinglong Jiang is Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff (UA-PB) and he has previously worked in Argonne National Lab and Florida State University/National High Magnetic Field Lab before joining UAPB and he is also an FESS Fellow. He has extensive experience in the area of semiconducting and optoelectronic materials. He has over 80 publications including in top journals  such as Adv. Energy Mater., ACS Nano, Angew. Chem. Int. Edit, ACS Energy Letter., Nano Energy, Adv. Compos. Hybrid. Mater., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Chem. Commun., J. Mater. Chem. C, amongst others, and has given over 40 presentations including international invited and keynote talks. He was also part of the DOE Visiting Faculty Program Fellow in 2019 and 2020. He also serves as Executive Editor, Editorial Board Member and Reviewer for journals such as, Eng. Sci., Adv Compos. Hybrid Mater. (Springer), J. Mat. Chem. A, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Nanoscale, Chem. Commu.

Manoj Shah, Collaborator

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

Department of Chemistry & Physics
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manoj-Shah-7

Phone: 215-602-6195
Email: shahm@uapb.edu

Manoj Shah was born in Itahari, Sunsari, Nepal. He received his bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering from Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh, in 2008 and his MS and PhD degrees in Information and Communication Engineering and Optical Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 2014 and 2018, respectively. Dr. Shah was the recipient of the Excellent Academic Award of UESTC in 2013, 2015 and 2016, and the Outstanding International Student Award in 2017. He joined the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 2019 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He is currently working on developing GeSn, III-V on sapphire, and 2D materials based optoelectronic devices.