Former Graduate students (10 years), now faculty at
other institutions:
Imaddib Al-Omari, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1996, now
Assistant Professor of Physics, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
Ken Trantham, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1996, now
Assistant Professor of Physics, Arkansas Technical University, Russellville
Brian Adrian, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1997, now
Assistant Professor of Physics, Bethany College, Kansas
Jaewu Choi, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1998, now Assistant
Professor of Electrical Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit
Thesis: "Surface Ferroelectric Transitions"
Student prizes: 3rd place, Graduate Student Prize of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American
Vacuum Society (1997)
Todd Young, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1998, now Assistant
Professor of Physics, Wayne State, Nebraska
Rebecca Lindell, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1998, now
Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois at Carbondale
Kayvan Aflatooni, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1998, now
Assistant Professor, Fort Hayes State University, Hayes, Kansas
Chien-Nan Liu, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 1999, now
Assistant Professor, University of Taiwan
Hasan Al-Khateeb, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 2000, now
Assistant Professor, Jordan University of Science and Technology
Camelia Nicola Borca, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 2001, now
a staff member at the École Polytechnique, Fédérale de Lausanne
Thesis: "The Surfaces of Half-Metallic Ferromagnets"
Student prizes: American Vacuum Society Graduate Research Award (2000), College of Arts and
Sciences Graduate Assistant Award (2001), the Nebraska Alumni Association Graduate Research
Assistant Award (2001), Sigma Xi Graduate Student Award (2001), Materials Research Society
Graduate Student Silver Award (second place, 2001)
Hao Zeng, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 2001, now Assistant
Professor of Physics at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Thesis: "Magnetism of Self-Ordered and Composite Nanostructures"
Student Award: IBM Graduate Fellowship (1998-2001)
Rui-Hua Cheng, Ph.D., Department of Physics, University of Nebraska, 2002,
now Assistant Professor of Physics at Purdue University - Indianapolis
Thesis: “Surface and Interface Properties of CrO2 Thin Films”
Adam Green, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 2003, now Assistant
Professor of Physics, St. Thomas
Aliekbar Aktag, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 2004, now
Assistant Professor, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Anthony Caruso, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, 2004
Now scientific staff (research assistant Professor) at North Dakota State University Center for
Nanoscale Science and Engineering
Thesis: “The Ferromagnetic/Insulator Interface: The Implications for Magnetic Tunnel Junctions”
Student prizes: 2002 Sigma Xi travel grant; Honorable Mention, Sigma Xi Graduate Student paper
award (2002); Sigma Xi Graduate Student paper award (2004); Bukey Memorial Fellowship (20042005); Folsom Ph.D. Thesis prize (2005)
In addition, in our areas of expertise, we are sufficiently
well known for our research activities that many
graduate students, obtaining Ph.D. degrees from other
institutions come to the Physics Department at UNL to
undertake the research work for their thesis, rather than
at their 'home’ institution.
Jiandi Zhang, Ph.D., Department of Physics, Syracuse University, 1994, now: associate Professor of Physics, Florida
International University
Thesis: "Core–Exciton Decay in Photoemission and The Nonmetal–Metal Transition"
Student prizes: Sigma Xi Graduate Student Award (1994)
Dongjin Byun, Ph.D., Solid State Science and Technology, Syracuse University, 1995, now: Associate Professor, Dept. of
Materials Science and Engineering, Korea University
Thesis: " Developing Boron Carbide - Boron Heterojunction Devices"
Seong-Don Hwang, Ph.D., Solid State Science and Technology, Syracuse University, 1996, now with the law firm of
Jenner & Block
Thesis: "Doping of Boron Carbon Alloys and Their Applications in Semiconductor Devices"
Delia Ristoiu, Ph.D., l' Universite Grenoble 1, Universite Joseph Fourier,
2000, now with ST Microelectronics, Grenoble, France
Thesis: "Epitaxie de l'alliage d'Heusler demi-métallique NiMnSb:
croissance, propriétés de surface et jonctions tunnel homoépitaxiées"
Student prizes: thesis with honors and 'mention de félicitations'
Hani Dulli, Ph.D., Department of Physics, University of Tennessee Knoxville, 2000, now Professor, University of Damascus
Thesis: "Surface Phases of Transition Metal Oxides"
Student Prizes: 4th Annual Nebraska Sigma Xi Graduate Student Paper
Competition (1999)
Mikko Voutilainen (current), Department of Physics. Helsinki Univ. of Technology
and the diplom (Master thesis) students:
Laurence Sage, Department of Chemistry, University of Franche-Compté, Maitrise de Chimie, 1997
Thesis: "The Adsorption and Desorption of Nickelocene on Ag(100)”
Rene Goosman, Diplom in Physics, Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, 2002
Laetitia Bernard, Diplom in Physics, Department of Physics, École Polytechnique, Fédérale de
Lausanne, 2002
Thesis: “Boron carbide barrier magnetic junctions and the buried cobalt/boron carbide interface”
Nicola Pilet, Diplom in Physics, Department of Physics, École Polytechnique, Fédérale de Lausanne,
2002
History (past te n ye ars)
Pre se nt
61 Ph.D. degrees granted (plus 4 others)
7 t o women (11%)
0 t o minorities
22 Domestic students (36%)
15 are faculty at other institutions (25%)
62 graduate students (plus 1 from Finland)
13 women (21%)
3 minorities (5%)
28 domestic students (45%)
Faculty member
Adenwalla
Batelaan
Burrow
Claes
Doudin
Dowben
Ducharme
Duquet te
Fabricant
Fuller
Gaskell
Gay
Hardy
Jaecks
Kirby
Leung
Liou
Schmidt
Sellmyer
Snow
Starace
Woollam
Zheng
Number of Ph.D.
degrees (past 10 yrs.)
1
1
2
1
1
9 (+4)
3
1
4
4
1
3
1
2
2
1
3
1
7
2
4
1
2
Average
Time to Ph.D.
4.25
5.67
7.92
8.25
5.67
5.01
5.92
6.92
4.71
5.0
10.25
8.84
4.0
8.3
7.25
6.92
5.58
5.42
6.16
6.09
5.25
5.25
5.8
P ercent women
and minorities
33%
25%
100%
50%
33%