Josh Hihath is exploring new nanoelectronics frontiers with $6 million in grants from the National Science Foundation for his projects in the field.
Hihath, director of the Biodesign Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors and professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, has been awarded two grants, each for $3 million, to fund research investigations into DNA-based electronics.
In one of the projects, Hihath will seek to develop DNA-based topological insulators, a special type of material that conducts electricity on its surface while not conducting it inside the material.
In the second project, Hihath will aim to establish methodologies using DNA to develop highly dense tiny components at the molecular level for use in electronics manufacturing.
“Making progress in nanoscience requires a convergence between different fields, and this is apparent in both of these projects,” Hihath says. “We have teams consisting of chemists, physicists, biochemists, engineers, educators and more. Together, we will work to converge on a shared language that can span these fields, which will allow us to expand our work to solve challenging problems that can’t be done by individual investigators in a single academic discipline.”