Steven A. Ringel

Professor and Neal A. Smith Endowed Chair in Electrical Engineering
Director, Ohio State Institute for Materials Research - IMR

Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, Department of Physics

Background and Interests
Professor Ringel leads an internationally recognized research program that strives to advance the basic science and engineering of electronic materials, nanostructures and devices that will impact alternative energy, electronics, photonics and sensing technologies. As the Neal A. Smith Endowed Chair in Electrical Engineering, Professor Ringel is particularly focused on issues related to renewable, clean and sustainable energy sources and efficient utilization of electric power, and how introduction of functional materials and nanostructures can advance technologies and systems used in these arenas. Click here to learn about Professor Neal A. Smith.

To support his group's research activities, Professor Ringel created and directs the Electronic Materials and Devices Laboratories (EMDL) under which several state of the art, specialized laboratories have been developed that provide the necessary facilities and interdisciplinary environment to encourage university research in these areas in a vertically integrated hierarchy. The Semiconductor Epitaxy and Analysis Laboratory (SEAL) is a center for materials epitaxy in which heterostructures, microstructures and nanostructures comprised of III-V compound semiconductors, IV-IV semiconductors magnetic metals and heterogeneously integrated structures of dissimilar materials are being investigated and developed using molecular beam epitaxy. SEAL operates as a university cost center that also is home to a wide range of state of the art materials characterization facilities. The Defect Spectroscopy Laboratory houses unique facilities for the exploration of electronic defects within advanced semiconductor materials and devices with a primary focus on deep levels within both wide and narrow gap semiconductors. The Materials Characterization & Photovoltaics Laboratory houses a wide range of state of the art capabilities to characterize solar cells, and perform optical and advanced structural materials characterization. Professor Ringel also co-led the establishment of the Nanoscale Materials Processing Center (NanoMPC) in which many semiconductor fabrication tools are available to support semiconductor materials and device research that serves the wider university community. Through these efforts, Professor Ringel is committed to enhancing interdisciplinary education and research at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Institute for Materials Research - IMR
The IMR is a university wide institute with a mission to promote excellence within the multidisciplinary materials community present at Ohio State, and with a vision of establishing OSU as one of the world's premier materials research enterprise universities. The IMR, directed by Professor Ringel, provides a range of programs, coordination and support to enable this vision. Please visit the IMR website for more information.

Biography
Professor Ringel joined the OSU faculty in 1991. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1991, after obtaining his M.S. degree in Engineering Science and B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Penn State in 1986 and 1984, respectively. Professor Ringel, along with his students and postdocs, has published more than 200 technical articles and proceedings, and had edited several books in the broad area of electronic materials and devices, with a specialization toward photovoltaics and related disciplines. He has received many research accomplishment awards, including 7 best paper awards (6 as advisor to his outstanding graduate students) at various conferences, the 1999 OSU Stanley E. Harrison Faculty Award for Excellence in Engineering, 3 College of Engineering Lumley Awards and was named as a National Young Investigator (NYI) by the National Science Foundation in 1994. Professor Ringel was the General Conference Chair for the 2006 Ohio Nanotechnology Summit, and is involved with organization of many international technical conferences annually at all levels, including the IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference, the IEEE/TMS Electronic Materials Conference, the annual meeting of the AVS, as well as smaller workshops such as WOCSEMMAD. He sits on the Ohio State Research Foundation Board of Directors, is a member of the Solid State Electronics Journal Editorial Board, chairs the education committee of the Aerospace Power Systems Technical Committee of the AIAA, is a member of the AVS Electronic Materials Processing Division Executive Committee, and sits on several other professional society committees in areas of electronic materials, space power, and devices. Professor Ringel is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Professor Ringel is also committed to entrepreneurial activities, and is a co-founder of several semiconductor technology companies, including Amberwave Systems Corporation, 4Power LLC, and 4GEN Research LLC.