Team members
A whole-page pattern composed of repeatable content sections.
Here is our leader and principal investigator.
Prof. Dr. Seth Ariel Tongay
Research Director, SEMTE, Fulton Schools of Engineering
Powered by coffee, driven by deadlines, and always on the hunt for a missing weekly report.
He has published over 350 journal articles in top-tier journals and holds an h-index of 86. According to Google Scholar, he is ranked #1 in thin film growth, #3 in epitaxy, and among the top 20 globally in 2D materials. He has been named a Highly Cited Researcher for six consecutive years (2019-2024) and has received numerous prestigious honors, including the Presidential PECASE Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Ten Outstanding Young Person Award, and the Jewish National Fund Award. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Institute of Physics. Professor Tongay also plays a leading role in large-scale academic-industry partnerships and currently serves as one of the Research Directors at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He is deeply involved in the Applied Materials-ASU university engagement, driving collaborative innovation in semiconductor manufacturing and advanced materials research. CV here
Experienced Scientists in Our Team
Research Director
Solves atomic problems at work, solves LEGO problems at home
Postdoctoral Researcher
Bends light and expectations
Postdoctoral Researcher
Turns chaos into crystals, and doubt into curiosity
Laboratory Manager
Laboratory Manager
The Glue That Holds It All Together
Ph.D. Scholars in Action
Ph.D. student
MXene magician with a thing for surface terminations
Ph.D. student
Magnets and transport: Makes low-dimensional systems feel deeply understood
Ph.D. student
PLD Jedi: strong with the plume, calm with the substrate
Ph.D. student
Microscopy: Sees what others can’t
Ph.D. student
CVD of thin film semiconductors and TMDC Janus synthesis
Ph.D. student
Optics: Catches photons like most people cathc typos
Ph.D. student
Magnetism and alloying expert
Ph.D. student
CVD and crystal growth: Atomic architect designing order in the chaos of heat
Ph.D. student
MOFs&sustainability: Makes frameworks scalable, and scalability look easy
Ph.D. student
Stress liners: Stress liner negotiator by day, microscope whisperer by night
Ph.D. student
Microscopy and deposition: Lives in the space between 10⁻⁶ torr and nanometers
Ph.D. student
New student: Training to tame van der Waals forces and coffee cravings
Masters Students Advancing Discovery
Master’s student
Sputter deposition: Plays with plasma like it’s a part-time hobby
Master’s student
CVD: Teaches atoms how to land politely
Master’s student
Controls plasma, tunes targets, and makes thin films behave.
Undergrads – Rising Stars of the Lab
Undergraduate student
Wet chemistry, manufacturing: Undergrad in title, PhD in hustle
Undergraduate student
Not officially full-time, but it sure feels like it
Undergraduate student
Exceptionally curious and dangerously smart: Ask him anything
Undergraduate student
Entrepreneur at heart, scientist by training
Undergraduate student
Creative thinker with the energy to make things real
Undergraduate student
Smart, focused, and quietly reshaping what’s possible
Undergraduate student
Focused on 2D synthesis through Reverse Flow CVD
