Education
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2008
Paul Leu
University of Pittsburgh
Profile
Paul W. Leu received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. He then received both his M.S. and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at U.C. Berkeley as a member of the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center and with a joint appointment in the Materials Division Center of Lawrence Berkeley. He finally joined the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Pittsburgh in 2010. Over the course of his career, he won several scholarships and awards, including the NSF CAREER award recently in 2016.
Research
The Laboratory for Advanced Materials at Pittsburgh (LAMP) under the direction of Professor Paul W. Leu, focuses on designing and understanding advanced materials by computational modeling and experimental research. Simulations and experiments are used in a synergistic manner to study the mechanical and electronic properties of nanomaterials and surfaces for various applications.
The goal of LAMP is to design better material systems through a combined modeling and experimental approach. Much in the same way that finite element modeling is now foundational in mechanical engineering design, multiscale and device modeling will become increasingly important in the prediction and understanding of nanomaterial and surface properties. In addition, these techniques can be used as a design tool for evaluating and optimizing various design metrics. Current areas of interest include
Ab initio modeling of nanomaterials and surfaces
Combining physical simulations with optimization methods
Nanomaterial manufacturing and characterization
Solar cells
Students
| Title | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Tongchuan Gao | Graduate Student | tog8@pitt.edu |
| Mohamed Kashkoush | Graduate Student | mak280@pitt.edu |
| Imrul Kayes | Graduate Student | imrul46@yahoo.com |
| Sean McCarthy | Graduate Student | stm76@pitt.edu |
| Lincoln Walton | Graduate Student | ljw39@pitt.edu |
| Baomin Wang | Graduate Student | baw57@pitt.edu |
| Thomas Werkmeister | Graduate Student | trw50@pitt.edu |
Most Cited Publications
"Nanowire active-matrix circuitry for low-voltage macroscale artificial skin." Kuniharu Takei, Toshitake Takahashi, Johnny C Ho, Hyunhyub Ko, Andrew G Gillies, Paul W Leu, Ronald S Fearing, Ali Javey. Nature materials.
"Three-dimensional nanopillar-array photovoltaics on low-cost and flexible substrates." Zhiyong Fan, Haleh Razavi, Jae-won Do, Aimee Moriwaki, Onur Ergen, Yu-Lun Chueh, Paul W Leu, Johnny C Ho, Toshitake Takahashi, Lothar A Reichertz, Steven Neale, Kyoungsik Yu, Ming Wu, Joel W Ager, Ali Javey. Nature materials.
"Ultrathin compound semiconductor on insulator layers for high-performance nanoscale transistors." Hyunhyub Ko, Kuniharu Takei, Rehan Kapadia, Steven Chuang, Hui Fang, Paul W Leu, Kartik Ganapathi, Elena Plis, Ha Sul Kim, Szu-Ying Chen, Morten Madsen, Alexandra C Ford, Yu-Lun Chueh, Sanjay Krishna, Sayeef Salahuddin, Ali Javey. Nature.
"Ordered arrays of dual-diameter nanopillars for maximized optical absorption." Zhiyong Fan, Rehan Kapadia, Paul W Leu, Xiaobo Zhang, Yu-Lun Chueh, Kuniharu Takei, Kyoungsik Yu, Arash Jamshidi, Asghar A Rathore, Daniel J Ruebusch, Ming Wu, Ali Javey. Nano letters.
"Challenges and prospects of nanopillar-based solar cells." Zhiyong Fan, Daniel J Ruebusch, Asghar A Rathore, Rehan Kapadia, Onur Ergen, Paul W Leu, Ali Javey. Nano Research.
Recent Publications
"Parahydrophobicity and stick-slip wetting dynamics of vertically aligned carbon nanotube forests." Ziyu Zhou, Tongchuan Gao, Sean McCarthy, Andrew Kozbial, Susheng Tan, David Pekker, Lei Li, Paul W Leu. Carbon.
"Creating Glasswing-Butterfly Inspired Durable Antifogging Omniphobic Supertransmissive, Superclear Nanostructured Glass Through Bayesian Learning and Optimization." Sajad Haghanifar, Michael McCourt, Bolong Cheng, Jeffrey Wuenschell, Paul Ohodnicki, Paul W Leu. Materials Horizons.
"Stain-Resistant, Superomniphobic Flexible Optical Plastics Based on Nano-Enoki Mushrooms." Sajad Haghanifar, Luke M Tomasovic, Anthony J Galante, David Pekker, Paul W Leu. Journal of Materials Chemistry A.
"Frontside scattering structures for enhanced performance in flexible ultrathin crystalline silicon solar cells." Baomin Wang, Tongchuan Gao, Ziyu Zhou, Bradley Pafchek, Paul W Leu. Journal of Photonics for Energy.
"Flexible nanograss with highest combination of transparency and haze for optoelectronic plastic substrates." Sajad Haghanifar, Rafael T Rodriguez De Vecchis, Ki-Joong Kim, Jeffrey Wuenschell, Sooraj P Sharma, Ping Lu, Paul Ohodnicki, Paul W Leu. Nanotechnology.