Evelyn L. Hu () is the Tarr-Coyne Professor of

Applied Physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered to be a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination ...

and of Electrical Engineering at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Hu has made major contributions to nanotechnology by designing and creating complex

nanostructures A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure at nanoscale. In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dime ...

. Her work has focused on nanoscale devices made from compound

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

s and on novel devices made by integrating various materials, both organic and inorganic. She has also created nanophotonic structures that might someday facilitate quantum computing.

Early life and education

Hu's parents emigrated to the United States from China in 1944–1945. She was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. An alumna of Hunter College High School, she received her B.A. from

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

in 1969, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, all in physics, in 1971 and 1975, respectively. Hu's PhD advisor was nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu.

Career and research

Hu was employed at AT&T's Bell Laboratories from 1975 to 1984, when she joined

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

(UCSB) as a full professor, a position she has held since 1984. She served UCSB's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as vice chair from 1989 to 1992 and as chair from 1992 to 1994. In 2008, Hu was elected to the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. She has been a pioneer in the fabrication of nanoscale electronic and

photonic Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though ...

devices, and was named

Gordon McKay Gordon McKay (1821–1903) was an American businessman and philanthropist. Biography He was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was trained as an engineer, worked on a railroad, and then on the Erie Canal before he purchased a machine shop. ...

Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering in Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), effective January 1, 2009. She has also served since 2000 as scientific co-director of the

California NanoSystems Institute The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) is an integrated research center operating jointly at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. Its missions are to foster interdisciplinary collaborations for discoveries in nanosystems and nanotechnology; train the ...

, a joint initiative at UCSB and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

. Hu's influential work in nanofabrication has included high-resolution patterning and high-resolution etching of circuits onto nanoscale materials. She has also developed biological approaches to nanotechnology, using biological assembly pathways to control the composition and structure of novel devices. Some of her research ideas led to her co-founding of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

-based Cambrios Technology, a start-up that is developing new, cost-effective materials of importance for electronic device applications. At UCSB, she has led the Institute for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology, the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Quantized Electronic Structures and Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics, and the UCSB component of the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

's National Nanofabrication Users Network. According to a winter (November) 2012 online news story article released by the

Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...

(featured on the

web site's home page), Hu is exploring the use of

gallium nitride Gallium nitride () is a binary III/ V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords ...

wafers at the nano-scale level in the formation and use of

quantum dots Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size, having optical and electronic properties that differ from those of larger particles as a result of quantum mechanics. They are a central topic in nanotechnology. When the ...

nanophotonics Nanophotonics or nano-optics is the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, and of the interaction of nanometer-scale objects with light. It is a branch of optics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, and nanotechnology. ...

(the study of and manipulation of light via materials- photonics- at the nano-scale level), which could eventually find use in

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

screens and the (less-risky, non-invasive) fluorescent tagging of biological cells for their study in health and disease. Hu is a reviewing editor at the journal ''Science''.

Awards

* 1994, Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) * 1995, Fellow, American Physical Society * 1998, Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science * 2002, elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

* 2008, elected to the National Academy of Sciences * 2013, Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University * 2019, IEEE Andrew Grove Technical Field Awar

*

ETH (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

Day 2019, Hu was awarded the only honorary doctorate degree of the year from the ETH in Zurich. Sarah Springman
''Future-ready graduates''.
Press release, ETHZ, 2019-11-16. Retrieved 2019-11-17 * 2021,

IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal The IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal is an award given by the IEEE and Royal Society of Edinburgh, UK. It is named after James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), who made fundamental contributions to the classical theory of electromagnetic radi ...

References

External links

Hu Group WebsiteEvelyn Hu named professor of applied physics, electrical engineering in SEASEvelyn Hu's Page at Harvard University SEAS Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Evelyn Living people American women physicists American physicists American materials scientists Fellow Members of the IEEE Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Scientists at Bell Labs Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Barnard College alumni Harvard University faculty University of California, Santa Barbara faculty American women engineers American people of Chinese descent 21st-century women engineers 1947 births Women in optics American women academics 21st-century American women