RSCA in Five: Faculty Short Talks on Semiconductors and Quantum Technologies

Much of the research, scholarship, and creative activity on campus is designed to bring educational, economic, and social benefits to our local and global communities. Here we invite talks that address any semiconductor production and supply, quantum technologies and their implications for our economy, and the development of a diverse science and engineering workforce.

Lunch will be served.

Join us on March 3, 2023 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. as we explore these fields together. Please note that this event will be held in person, in MLK 225, in the King Library.

You may register for the event on our RSVP form.

SJSU welcomes the following faculty who will be presenting their research.

Mojtaba Sharifi

David Parent | david.parent@sjsu.edu

College of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering

Talk Title: MPEL 3.0 Status Update and Future Direction

David Parent is a Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department and current director of the multidisciplinary Microscale Engineering Process Laboratory (MPEL) at San José State University (SJSU). He introduced MOSIS to the EE department at SJSU where he has successfully designed, fabricated and verified integrated circuits such as ALU’s, SRAM, PLL’s, low power OPAMPs, silicon neurons (quadratic integrate and fire), asynchronous adders, pixel level light to frequency converters, and subthreshold DSP filters. David has written numerous tutorials on IC design using Cadence software tools, semiconductor process design using Synopsys TCAD tools, and board-level circuit design using LTspice. He has developed a four mask NMOS process, four mask LDMOS process, seven mask CMOS process, a solar cell process, a hafnium oxide deposition process, and an organic semiconductor thin film process for use at SJSU’s microfabrication lab. His current research areas include IC design of QIF neurons for AI applications and novel non-linear devices for AI applications. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1999 from the University of Connecticut. He can be reached at david.parent@sjsu.edu.

Megan Thiele

Dr. Hiu-Yung Wonghiuyung.wong@sjsu.edu

College of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering

Talk Title: Cryogenic Semiconductor and Quantum Computing

Hiu Yung Wong is an Associate Professor and Silicon Valley AMDT Endowed Chair in Electrical Engineering at San José State University. He worked in the industry on semiconductor technologies for 12 years before joining San José State University in 2018. He is the author of the book, "Introduction to Quantum Computing: From a Layperson to a Programmer in 30 Steps". His research interests include the application of machine learning in semiconductor simulation and manufacturing, cryogenic electronics, quantum computing algorithms, and noise modeling. His works have produced one book, one book chapter, more than 100 papers, and ten patents.

Hilary Hurst

Hilary Hurst | hilary.hurst@sjsu.edu

College of Science, Department of Physics & Astronomy

Talk Title: Quantum State Engineering with Ultracold Atoms 

Dr. Hilary Hurst is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy. She is a quantum educator and theoretical physicist, with broad interests in condensed matter theory, many-body atomic physics, and open quantum systems. Her research primarily focuses on the theory of quantum noise and quantum measurement and feedback control for many-body quantum systems. In addition to research, Dr. Hurst is passionate about making quantum physics education more accessible and preparing students to work in the growing quantum technology industry. Dr. Hurst is originally from Greeley, Colorado and received her BS in Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines. She went on to earn a Masters in Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge (UK), and received her PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics from the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland. Following her doctoral work, she was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at NIST in the Quantum Measurement Division. Dr. Hurst joined the faculty of San José State University in Fall 2020.

Abraham Wolcott

Dr. Abraham Walcott | abraham.wolcott@sjsu.edu

College of Science, Department of Chemistry

Talk Title: Precision Molecular and Atomic Chemistry of a Diamond Nanoprobe

Prof. Abraham Wolcott is a physical chemist who focuses on the surface chemistry of nanoscale and bulk materials for biological labeling and alternative energy productive (solar cell research). Dr. Wolcott is passionate about education and research, and as a physical chemist has found great pleasure in exploring nanomaterials for sustainable energy production, biological labeling and quantum sensing. Abe has mentored 60
students, many from underrepresented backgrounds and actively recruits talent through the Black Leadership and Opportunity Center in collaboration with Director Emerald Green.

Dr Ahma Shaar

Dr. Ahmad A. Shaar | ahmad.shaar@sjsu.edu

Lucas School of Business, Department of Global Innovation & Leadership

Talk Title: Where do we need Quantum Computing in the Era of Business Intelligence?

Dr. Shaar has been administering and teaching in higher education for over 22 years where he has always kept one foot in business innovation and IT consulting. He founded four and co-founded six startups in his multidisciplinary career. In addition to being a Technical Program Manager at Google, Dr. A. is chair of the MBA & MSCS Programs at Jessup University. He teaches Project Management, Entrepreneurship Management, Knowledge Management, Global Business Dimensions, Project Quality & Scope Management and other courses with SJSU, UC Berkeley, University of Silicon Valley, and Jessup University. In addition to his three Masters degrees (IT/CRM - MIS, Marketing, & HR) that he got from the American University of Technology - Lebanon, he received his Executive MBA in Hospitality & Tourism Management from Institute Universitare Kurt Bosch - Switzerland.  Dr. A. earned his doctorate from California Southern University and had an ABD from International Technological University - California. His research about "Business Intelligence in Agile Project Management" is registered at the US Congress Library. Dr. A. has always been a big fan of showing the impacts of quantum computing on knowledge management and business intelligence. His projects with Google, Intel, YouTube, Starbucks, Levi's, and other top 100 Fortune companies showed heavy dependencies on Big Data which required supercomputing to process intelligence that supported decision making. 

Ozgur Keles

Dr. Ozgur Kelesozgur.keles@sjsu.edu

College of Engineering, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

Talk Title: Automatic Discovery of Quantum Dot Composites for Structural Composite Batteries

Dr. Keles is the Kordestani Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at San José State University. He received his BS and MS degrees from
the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Middle East Technical University, and his Ph.D. from the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue University in 2013. His
current research interests are additive manufacturing, nanocomposites, informatics, and engineering education, funded by NSF CAREER, NSF MRI, National Endowment for the Arts, and industrial partners. Dr. Keles was selected as the advisor of the year at San José State University for his contributions to materials student clubs in 2019.