Professor Roberto Myers

 

photo of Roberto Myers Ohio State Professor
Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, Physics
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Graduate Studies Chair, MSE
 

Watts Hall, Room 476

614-547-9771

myers.1079@osu.edu

Education

  • BS in MSE, University of Pennsylvania (2001)
  • BA in Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania (2001)
  • PhD in Materials, UC Santa Barbara (2006)

Areas of interest

  • Electronic materials
  • Energy applications

Research and areas of expertise

My research group develops new electronic materials and combinations of materials as a pathway for next generation technologies based on multi-functional materials. One common technique for this research is molecular beam epitaxy, which allows you to grow single crystalline materials in an atomic layer-by-layer manner. You can control the composition of the materials at atomic length scales and introduce quantum confinement, electronic or magnetic doping, of specific regions of the material. A typical project involves: (a) predicting a functional property; for example, deep ultraviolet photoluminescence, (b) designing the heterostructure to observe the effect, e.g. a GaN/AlN quantum well in a nanowire, (c) growing test samples by MBE, and (d) measuring the functional property, e.g. optical PL spectroscopy.

In general, I'm interested in exploring new routes to convert energy in materials, for example, using heat-flow in a material to generate information-flow or electrical power. This is a way to think about the research topic of Thermal Spintronics involving magnetic materials, heat, and electricity interrelationships.

Approach to supporting and improving diversity and inclusion

As the son of a South American immigrant, I am sensitive to diversity particularly in engineering and academia. It is important to me that more minorities, women, and under-represented people become involved in careers in science and engineering. I've advised a number of graduate and undergraduate minority and female students through my years at Ohio State and have taken part in the Department of Physic's Bridge Program to increase diversity in their graduate program. I'm currently the chair of the Graduate Studies Committee, and I hope to emphasize and strengthen the Department of Materials Science and Engineering's inclusiveness in this role.

What you might not know about Professor Myers

I have three young kids at home, so I try to leave campus at 5pm or earlier. Besides parenting, I'm a jazz/classical piano player and spend a fair amount of time keeping up a good repertoire. I try to go to RPAC everyday at lunch time to stay in shape. On Fridays, my of-age students and I converge at the Little Bar.