5/27/2021 As told to Lizzie Roehrs
As HMNTL student Fu Chen Hsiao moves on to a postdoctoral position, he says that his time at Illinois has prepared him well for his future research and studies.
Written by As told to Lizzie Roehrs
As HMNTL student Fu Chen Hsiao moves on to a postdoctoral position, he says that his time at Illinois has prepared him well for his future research and studies.
- What are your plans after graduation? If you have a job already, what will you be doing?
I’m going to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University as a postdoc. I will be working with Professor Fred Kish, who is an alumnus of UIUC’s ECE program.
- How will your experiences at HMNTL help you in this career?
HMNTL provides world-leading facilities and training in the field of semiconductor-based devices, including material growth, device fabrication, and characteristics testing. The knowledge and skills that I learned at HMNTL will help me to get fully prepared for the new job with no learning curve. Also unique from the other schools and laboratories, HMNTL helped me to develop a deep understanding of both bulk semiconductor material properties and discrete devices. This experiences at HMNTL are so unique, which can help me to solve fundamental problems even if the research topic is new to me.
- What was your favorite part of your time at HMNTL?
The HMNTL is a historic place. You will find a lot of interesting stories here. You can find John Bardeen’s wine when he celebrated receiving the Nobel Prize. You can find Nick Holonyak’s molecular models (for both zinc-blend and wurtzite structure) that he used for teaching. You can also hear a lot of stories from Professor Milton Feng in room 2113.
- What advice do you have for current students?
Doing research sometimes can be very frustrating, especially when you suddenly notice that your homework is due the same date as a group meeting. But hang in there. You have the best teachers over the world at HMNTL UIUC, and you will be fine! When you are approaching graduation, you will find everything is worthwhile.
- What is your home department?
Electrical and Computer Engineering.
- Anything else to add?
A special thanks to Professor Dallesasse for being a patient adviser. I also want to thank all my lab-mates for their help during the COVID-19 pandemic.