Program and Schedule

Mark C. Hersam is the Walter P. Murphy Professor and Chair of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University and Director of the Materials Research Center. He earned his B.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and an M.Phil. in Physics from University of Cambridge. His research spans nanoelectronic materials, additive manufacturing, scanning probe microscopy, renewable energy, sensors, neuromorphic computing, and quantum information science. His honors include the TMS John Bardeen Award, MRS Mid-Career Researcher Award, AVS Medard Welch Award, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and designation as a U.S. Science Envoy. He has authored over 750 publications (~87,000 citations), holds more than 170 patents, and has been repeatedly named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors, and serves as Executive Editor of ACS Nano.

Vicki H. Grassian is a Distinguished Professor and the John Dove Isaacs Endowed Chair in Natural Philosophy for Physical Sciences in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, where she also serves as Associate Dean for Research in the School of Physical Sciences. Her research focuses on the chemistry and impacts of environmental interfaces, employing advanced surface science and spectroscopic techniques to probe complex interfacial processes. Professor Grassian has received numerous honors, including the 2024 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award, the 2021 American Chemical Society National Award in Surface Chemistry, the 2020 Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization Award, the 2019 IUPAC Distinguished Woman in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award, and the 2018 American Institute of Chemists Chemical Pioneer Award. She is a Fellow of multiple scientific societies and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.

Wilson Ho is the Donald Bren and Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Physics & Astronomy and Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a pioneer in probing molecular vibrations through inelastic electron scattering and tunneling. The development of this field traces back to the 1960s. Following Ivar Giaever’s 1960 measurement of the superconducting gap, Robert Jaklevic and John Lambe discovered in 1966 that molecular vibrations can be excited by electrons using Inelastic Electron Tunneling Spectroscopy in planar metal–oxide–metal junctions. In 1972, Harald Ibach measured the vibrations of adsorbed molecules using High-Resolution Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy through long-range dipole scattering. In 1978, Ho, with Roy Willis and Ward Plummer, showed that vibrational excitations could also be detected through short-range impact scattering. The invention of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope in 1981 by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer enabled Ho’s development of STM-based IETS in 1998, achieving single-bond sensitivity through electron–vibration coupling in atomic-scale tunneling. These STM-IETS methods, combined with electromagnetic radiation and periodic time-dependent driving, now enable probing nonequilibrium quantum phenomena with simultaneous spatial and temporal resolution.

Feng Wang is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his B.S. in Physics from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, in 1999, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2004, where he worked with Prof. Tony Heinz. He subsequently held a Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley before joining the Berkeley physics faculty in 2008. His research focuses on emerging quantum phenomena in two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures. He has made pioneering contributions to the understanding of photophysics in graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, as well as to the discovery of novel electronic and optical properties in moiré heterostructures. Professor Wang is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Packard Fellowship, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2016 and received the APS Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids in 2024.