Cao receives NSF CAREER Award

Dr. Linyou Cao, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University, has received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award, known as the NSF CAREER Award, is one of the highest honors the foundation gives to young faculty in science and engineering.

The award will provide $110,000 in funding over five years to support Cao’s project, “Van der Waals Epitaxial Heterostructures: Beyond 2D Materials.” The research is supported by NSF’s Electronic/Photonic Materials Program in the Division of Materials Research.

The project addresses fundamental challenges in an emerging cutting-edge area of materials science. Cao and his team will study the synthesis of large-area, uniform, and high-quality two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals epitaxial heterostructures with controlled band structures. Cao’s long-term goal is to investigate new physical phenomena of 2D heterostructures for applications in optoelectronics. This could lead to unexplored opportunities in the fields of information technology, solar energy harvesting, light emission diodes, and flexible electronic/photonic devices.

Another goal is to help inspire students to pursue careers in the STEM disciplines and to enhance secondary school and university curricula in materials science by providing research training for undergraduate and graduate students and mentoring high school students to participate in pre-college scientific competitions and guest lectures in AP chemistry classes.

Cao received a BS from Fudan University and an MS from Peking University, both in chemistry. He received a PhD in materials science and engineering from Stanford University in 2010 and joined the NC State faculty in 2011.