Jerry M. Woodall is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

who is widely known for his revolutionary work on LEDs and

semiconductors A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

. Over the course of his career, he has published close to 400 scientific articles and his work has directly contributed to the development of major technologies that are used around the world, such as TVs,

optical fibers An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means ...

, and

mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

. Woodall currently holds over 80 U.S. patents for a variety of inventions and has received prestigious awards from IBM,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, and the U.S. President for his contributions to science, technology, and humanity.

Education and early life

Jerry Woodall was born in

Takoma Park Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City", is a Tree Ci ...

, Maryland in 1938, which is located in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. His father was a plastering contractor, his mother a

homemaker Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a hous ...

, and he had three siblings: one older brother and two half sisters. He went to a Seventh Day Adventist grade school, and

Takoma Academy Takoma Academy is a parochial, co-educational high school located in Takoma Park, Maryland operated by the Potomac Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Chris ...

for high school. Although he flunked his "Electricity and Magnetism" course at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, Woodall managed to graduate with a C average and receive a BS in

Metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

(minor in Psychology) in 1960. He then worked as a Staff Engineer at Clevite Transistor Products in

Waltham, MA Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the Technological and industrial history of the United States, American Industrial Revolution ...

for two years. In 1962, he became a Research Staff Member at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he worked most of his life, and was appointed Corporate IBM Fellow in 1985. At the same time, he obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1982. Woodall then made a shift in his life to focus on academic work. In 1993, he became a professor at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and taught Microelectronics. He also taught Electrical Engineering at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

from 1999 to 2004, but he returned to Purdue in 2005. In 2012, he moved to

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

to teach Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Research

Woodall's research is largely focused on developing novel electronic materials and

microelectronic Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-sc ...

devices that can greatly impact society. While at IBM, Woodall developed a highly efficient LED using the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method that continues to form the foundation of LED research. Shortly after, he built upon this work by developing high-speed electronic and photonic devices, including the first super bright red LED and a novel, high-efficiency

solar cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

. Woodall's work on LEDs has therefore been essential for the development of a wide variety of consumer products. This includes remotes, TVs, and LAN devices that utilize IR LEDs, as well as

CD players A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or audio ...

and

that utilize super-bright red LEDs. Woodall is also referred to as the "father of heterojunction devices" due to his seminal work inventing and developing the modern implementations of heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT) and pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors (P-HEMT). Due to their compact size and high speed, these transistors are now used worldwide in many personal electronic devices, including most tablets and mobile phones on the market. More recently, Woodall's lab has been focused on finding more efficient and environmentally friendly ways of supplying the worlds growing energy demands. His lab has designed a hybrid solar power conversion system that can operate at moderate temperatures without the need for traditional cooling systems. This design has the potential to reduce the cost of building these systems while also making them more efficient and thermal stable, thus solving some of the major issues limiting the scalability of solar energy production. In addition, Woodall's lab has also been researching methods that attempt to increase the feasibility of using hydrogen as an alternative energy source. Specifically, his lab has been developing new methods of producing hydrogen on-demand and finding ways to safely store and transport it so it can be used as a new source of renewable energy.

Contributions to science

Jerry Woodall is an American inventor and scientist best known for his invention of the first commercially viable heterojunction material GaAlAs for red

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

s used in automobile brake lights and traffic lights, CD and DVD players, TV remote controls and computer networks. He is a recipient of US

National Medal of Technology and Innovation The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

for "his pioneering role in the research and development of compound semiconductor materials and devices..." He was elected to National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1989, and Honorary Member of The

Electrochemical Society The Electrochemical Society is a learned society (professional association) based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of electrochemistry and solid-state science and related technology. The Society membership compris ...

(ECS) in 2007. He is also the fellow of

American Vacuum Society AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and ProcessingAIP: A Federation of the Physical Sciences

(AVS),

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE) and

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

(APS). Recently, Woodall gave a lecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) outlining his current contributions to the field of renewable energy and energy storage. In this lecture, title
"Electricity Produced by Intermittent Power Requires Its Energy Storage"
he highlights the need for better methods of storing energy if the world is to use intermittent renewable energy sources like solar and wind. The main issues with current energy storage methods are that they waste energy, raise Earth's temperature, and can't reliably store and release useful amounts of energy during periods of low energy production. Woodall therefore presents his ongoing research developing a system that can not only reliably capture, store, and release intermittent energy, but also produce potable water on-demand in the process. His work continues to greatly contribute to science and renewable energy research, and will be crucial as the world transitions to intermittent energy sources in the future.

Awards and honors

* R&D 100 Award (1975) * Electronics Division Award of the

(1980) * American Physical Society (APS) Fellow (1982) *

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

Jack A. Morton Award (1984) *

- Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology (1985) * Gallium Arsenide Symposium Award and

Heinrich Welker Heinrich Johann Welker (9 September 1912 in Ingolstadt – 25 December 1981 in Erlangen) was a German theoretical and applied physicist who invented the "transistron", a transistor made at Westinghouse independently of the first successful transist ...

Gold Medal (1988) * National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Member (1989) *

American Vacuum Society AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and ProcessingAIP: A Federation of the Physical Sciences

Founders Medal and Award -

Welch Award The Welch Award in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Robert A. Welch Foundation, based in Houston, Texas, to encourage and recognise basic chemical research for the benefit of mankind. The award, which has been given since 1972, is one of the ...

(1990) * Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow (1990) * Electrochemical Society (ECS) Fellow (1992) * American Vacuum Society (AVS) Fellow (1994) *

Eta Kappa Nu Eta Kappa Nu () or IEEE-HKN is the international honor society of the Computer Science and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). "The organization promotes excellence in the profession and in education through an emphasis ...

Vladimir Karapetoff Eminent Member's Award (1997) * Acheson Award from the

(1998) *

ASEE The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is a non-profit member association, founded in 1893, dedicated to promoting and improving engineering and engineering technology education. The purpose of ASEE is the advancement of education ...

General Electric Senior Research Award (1998) *

Electron Devices Society (EDS) Millennium Medal (2000) * National Medal of Technology (2001) * The FMS National Materials Advancement Award (2002) *

IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal In 2002, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) added a new award to its already existing program of awards. Each year, one or more nominees are honored with a medal in the name of Jun-ichi Nishizawa, considered to be the ' ...

(2005) * National Academy of Inventors Fellow (2013) * American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow (2018)

References

1938 births Living people American inventors American electrical engineers Cornell University alumni Purdue University faculty IBM employees IBM Fellows Fellows of the American Physical Society Presidents of the Electrochemical Society Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni {{US-scientist-stub