Lab News & Blog

Vidya Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Vidya has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a prestigious distinction earned for her pioneering contribtions to condensed matter research. Read more at UIUC Physics →

Marisa Defends Thesis!

Marisa Romanelli has successfully defended her thesis, STM Studies of the Interplay between Magnetism, Topology, and Heavy Fermion Physics! Marisa will move on as a Postdoc in Dr. Rubio-Verdú's lab at ICFO Barcelona.

Seokjin Wins Boeing Quantum Creators Prize!

Congratulations to Seokjin Bae on winning a 2025 Boeing Quantum Creators Prize for his work in ultrafast light-matter interactions. Read more at ChicagoQuantum.org →

Arjun Defends Thesis!

Arjun Raghavan has successfully defended his thesis, Laser-coupled Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy of Quantum Materials and Qubit Defects! Arjun moves on to a Postdoc in the Baldini Lab at UT Austin.

Vidya Featured in Gordon & Betty Moore Newsletter

Vidya discusses her experience and outlook on research with the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation in Beyond the Lab. Read more at Moore.org →

Vidya Invested as Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering

Vidya was invested as the Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering. Read more at UIUC Physics →

Marisa Selected as Mavis Fellow!

Congratulations to Marisa Romanelli on being selected as a 2024-2025 Mavis Future Faculty Fellow! This program will help her become part of the next generation of great engineering faculty.

Anuva Defends Thesis!

Anuva Aishwarya has successfully defended her thesis, Exploring the Strongly Correlated Realm of Electrons Using Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy! Anuva moves on to a Postdoc in the Yacoby Lab at Harvard University.

Vidya Elected to AAAS

Vidya has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a prestigious distinction from one of the oldest honorary societies in the country. Read more at UIUC Physics →

Jorge Defends Thesis!

Jorge Olivares Rodriguez has successfully defended his thesis, Stress and Crystal Imperfections: Tools for the Exploration of Unconventional Superconductivity Via Scanning Tunneling Microscopy! Jorge moves on as an Application Scientist at Bruker.

Anuva Wins Nottingham Prize!

Congratulations to Anuva Aishwarya on being selected for the 2022 Wayne B. Nottingham Prize! This Prize is awarded annually at the Physical Electronics Conference. Read more at UIUC Physics →

Arjun Receives Scott Anderson Award!

Arjun Raghavan has won a Scott Anderson Graduate Research Assistant Award from the Dept. of Physics for the 2021–2022 academic year. Congratulations to Arjun!

Charlie Defends Thesis!

Charlie Steiner has successfully defended his thesis, MBE Growth and STM Study of Chalcogenide Thin Films! We wish Charlie the best in his future endeavors!

Vidya Elected to CIFAR Fellow

Vidya has been elected a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research for her innovative STM research of quantum materials.

Guannan Defends Thesis!

Guannan Chen has successfully defended her thesis, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy Study of Layered Transition Metal Chalcogenide Thin Films Tuned by Thickness, Structural Phase, and Heterostructure! Guannan will move on as a Senior Process Engineer at ASM.

Davide Defends Thesis!

Davide Iaia has successfully defended his thesis, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy Study of Phase Transitions and Topology in Layered Transition Metal Dichalcogenides! Davide moves on as a Product Engineer at Lam Research.

Anuva is a PPG-MRL Fellow!

Anuva Aishwarya has won a PPG-MRL Fellowship for the 2020–2021 academic year. Congratulations to Anuva! Read more at UIUC Physics →

Vidya Named EPiQS Investigator

Vidya has been named an EPiQS Investigator by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. Over the next 5 years, she will be awarded $1.6 million by the foundation. Read more at UIUC Physics →

Rachel Wins NDSEG Fellowship!

Congratulations to Rachel Birchmier on receiving a prestigious NDSEG Fellowship from the US Department of Defense for 2020! This 3-year Fellowship will support Rachel's PhD research. Read more at UIUC Physics →

Guannan Receives Scott Anderson Award!

Guannan Chen has won a Scott Anderson Graduate Research Assistant Award from the Dept. of Physics for the 2019-2020 academic year. Congratulations to Guanna!

Sean Defends Thesis!

Sean Howard has successfully defended his thesis, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies of a Tunable Topological Insulator and Magnetic Weyl Semimetal! Sean joins the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory as a Senior Staff Scientist.

Yulia Defends Thesis!

Congratulations to Yulia Maximenko defending her thesis, Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of topological materials and heterostructures in thin films and devices! Yulia becomes a Postdoctoral Fellow at NIST, Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology in Maryland, working with Dr. Joseph A. Stroscio.

Best Wishes to Zhenyu!

After four years in the Madhavan Group, Zhenyu Wang heads to a position at the University of Science and Technology of China – Hefei. His work ethic, guidance, and personality will be missed by all.

Davide Receives Renato Bobone Award!

Davide Iaia has won the 2019 Renato Bobone Award of academic excellence from the Dept. of Physics. Congratulations to Davide!

Anuva Receives Scott Anderson Award!

Anuva Aishwarya has won a Scott Anderson Graduate Research Assistant Award from the Dept. of Physics for the 2018-2019 academic year. Congratulations to Anuva!

Good Luck Somesh!

Somesh Ganguli is accepting a new position as a Postdoc at Aalto University in Finland! We wish him the best of luck with this new opportunity. You will be missed, Somesh!

Center for Integrated Quantum Materials Talk

Check out this talk at The Center for Integrated Quantum Materials discussing the interplay of Charge Density Waves, domain walls, and superconductivity.

Saturday Physics for Everyone

An introduction to quantum materials and STM for a general audience — part of the Saturday Physics for Everyone public lecture series.

Yulia Selected as Mavis Fellow!

Congratulations to Yulia Maximenko on being selected as a 2016-2017 Mavis Future Faculty Fellow! This program will help her become part of the next generation of great engineering faculty. Read more at UIUC Physics →

Vidya Elected APS Fellow

Vidya has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for her work in topological phases of electronic matter. Read more at UIUC Physics →