Research

A diverse multidisciplinary team of researchers has come together to design and discover materials with new and enhanced functionalities that culminate from the control of the unique properties of surfaces, interfaces and defects in self-assembled nanomaterials.

The Center research activities are organized into three synergistic Subprojects, each containing three research Clusters.


About The Leadership Team

Team Member

Maria Tamargo

Center Director

Maria Tamargo is a Professor of Chemistry at CCNY and is on the doctoral faculty of Chemistry, Physics and Electrical Engineering. Her research deals with molecular beam epitaxy of low dimensional layered materials and nanostructures of wide band gap semiconductors, topological insulators, and other materials. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2020).

Team Member

Donna McGregor

Outreach and Education Programs co-Director

Donna McGregor is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Lehman College and is on the Chemistry doctoral faculty. Her research interests are in the fields of Chemical Education Pedagogy, the understanding of Tc-99 coordination chemistry, and the use of short peptide building blocks for the intelligent design of chelating systems and nanostructures. She is PI of the IDMinNYC REU Site.

Team Member

Anthony Richardson

Center Administrator

Anthony Richardson is the IDEALS Center Administrator, responsible for coordinating the management and reporting responsibilities of the Center. He is also the Coordinator of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program supported by IDEALS.

Team Member

Lia Krusin-Elbaum

Subproject 1 Director

Lia Krusin-Elbaum is a Professor of Physics at CCNY and is on the doctoral faculty of Physics. Her research deals with complex nanostructured materials, topological insulators and other novel quantum materials. She is also the IRG-I co-director of the newly awarded Columbia University-CCNY MRSEC on Precision Assembled Quantum Materials (PAQM).

Team Member

Ilona Kretzschmar

Subproject 2 Director

Ilona Kretzschmar is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at CCNY's Grove School of Engineering, and is on the doctoral faculty of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. Her research is based on the study of nano and microparticles, such as Janus and Patchy particles, their directed self-assembly, and their use in energy and sensing applications. She currently serves as Chair of the Chemical Engineering department at the Grove School of Engineering.

Team Member

Swapan K. Gayen

Subproject 3 Director

Swapan K. Gayen is a Professor of Physics at CCNY and is on the Physics and Electrical Engineering doctoral faculties. His research is on ultrafast lasers and spectroscopy of nanoscale materials and devices, and its combination with scanning probe techniques, to investigate the physics of novel nanostructures and their applications. He is the founder and director of the CCNY APS-IDEA chapter.