We are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Feng Liu as the new chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Utah.

Liu was also recently elected as an American Physical Society (APS) Fellow for his “contributions to the theory of nanostructures and strain-induced nanoscale self-assembly.”

Liu’s research focuses on modeling and simulating properties of surfaces and interfaces, growth mechanisms of thin films, and self-assembly and self-organization of nanostructures. He is designing nanostructures and nanodevices for such areas as high-tech electronics and medicine.
 
“The advantage of creating electronics on a nanoscale level is that not only would they be smaller than current technology, but the density would be greater, and therefore, the nanodevices would be much faster for information processing,” says Liu. Nanoelectronics would be used in computers for storing vast amounts of data.
 
In collaboration with medical researchers at the U, Liu is creating implantable nanotube- and microtube-based organ pressure monitors that continuously measure the pressure inside human organs, such as the eye, brain and stomach.
 
Liu replaces former chair Anil Virkar, professor of materials science and engineering, who is helping to launch the new Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Utah, where he will serve as the director. The center will focus on developing next-generation materials for plasmonics and spintronics.