Stillman Lecture Series April 23

1/29/2018 Janet McGreevy

Dr. John Bowers Will Be Inaugural Speaker

Written by Janet McGreevy

EVENT DETAILS OVERVIEW

Speaker:  Dr. John Bowers, University of California Santa Barbara Electrical and Computer Engineering department

Date:  April 23, 2018

Time:  4 p.m.

Location:  Electrical & Computer Engineering Building, Rm 3002

Also, College of Engineering graduate students and post-docs should consider joining us for an informal gathering at 3 p.m. in Room 3002. You’ll have the chance to ask Dr. Bowers questions about his time in industry, ask for career advice, and talk about what the future holds for photonics research and development.

 

MNTL is excited to announce that we are inaugurating the Stillman Lecture Series, with the initial event set to take place on April 23, 2018.

The goal of the Stillman Lecture Series is to invite world leaders in micro and nanotechnology to share their thoughtful insights, critical analyses, and provocative ideas. We hope to inspire new campus dialogue and additional scientific inquiry to enhance the education, research, and career development of our community of scholars.

 

Prof. John Bowers, University of California Santa Barbara, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department.
Prof. John Bowers, University of California Santa Barbara, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department.

The first Stillman Lecture will be delivered by the distinguished Prof. John Bowers, from the University of California Santa Barbara Electrical and Computer Engineering department. Prof. Bowers holds the Fred Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology and he is the Director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency. He worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories and Honeywell prior to joining UCSB. Bowers is excited to be the first speaker for the new Stillman Lecture Series, saying “Greg Stillman was a hero of mine, and a model of a great faculty member and scientist. I will do my best to deliver a lecture worthy of this honor.”

 

Bowers’ talk is titled “Progress in Bonding and Epitaxial Growth for Heterogeneous Photonic Integrated Circuits”.

The Stillman Lecture Series will honor the many extraordinary contributions of Dr. Gregory Stillman to the University of Illinois family. A native Nebraskan, Stillman graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1958 with a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering. He next served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer and pilot affiliated with the Strategic Air Command, before entering the University of Illinois graduate program in electrical engineering in 1963. After earning his Ph.D. in 1967—his mentor was Professor Nick Holonyak Jr. —he joined the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, working there until he was invited to serve as a member of the U of I electrical engineering faculty in 1975.

His research and teaching were key to building and sustaining engineering’s legacy at Illinois, with contributions including the growth and characterization of compound semiconductor materials and devices. Today’s wireless and broadband communications owe much to Stillman’s work.

His data on gallium arsenide materials became the standard for evaluating carrier transport in all III-V semiconductors. He contributed to the development of advanced characterization techniques for carrier mobility, photoconductivity, far infrared emission, and photothermal methods of studying impurities, and many of these evaluation techniques are now widely used for compound semiconductors. He also completed work related to the physics of avalanche photodiodes through fundamental measurements. A prolific researcher and author in the field, he published over 300 papers.

Coupled with financial backing from the state of Illinois and the visionary expectations of semiconductor industry leaders at the time, Stillman’s leadership was critical to the opening of the Microelectronics Laboratory in 1989, the precursor to today’s MNTL. Stillman also served as the first director of the Microelectronics Laboratory, setting a long-term pattern for the growth and impact of the 21st century’s Micro & Nanotechnology Laboratory.

One of the most consistent and notable observations made by those asked to describe him is that he was always a caring mentor; he supervised the doctoral work of forty students while at Illinois, and taught hundreds.

Stillman received widespread industry recognition for his research and discoveries. He was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1977, followed by election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1985. In 1990, Stillman received the IEEE Morton Award, and was also awarded the GaAs Symposium Heinrich Welker Medal in 1990 as well. On multiple occasions over the years, he was the recipient of the College of Engineering D.C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award and the ECE Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award. He became a permanent member of Illinois’ Center for Advanced Study. Stillman served in a volunteer capacity for several professional associations, including IEEE, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), and the American Physical Society (APS), acting at various times as a chairperson, engaging in committee service, or serving in president or vice president roles.

Stay tuned to mntl.illinois.edu for updates on the Stillman Lecture Series—the event date is scheduled for April 23, 2018.


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This story was published January 29, 2018.