Sui Yang, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, was selected as one of 10 recipients of the 2023 Non-Tenured Faculty Award from 3M.
The 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award is a four-decade-old program to encourage tenure-track university professors to pursue new ideas. The award selection is based on a candidate’s research, experience, teaching, academic leadership and their proposed vision of future research.
The award provides $45,000 in unrestricted research funds to assist faculty to earn tenure, contribute to their field and foster ongoing relationships with future leaders in academic research.
Yang’s research is centered on nanophotonics, which creates artificial photonic and optoelectronic materials to control light-matter interactions for wide optical and optoelectronic applications.
Nanophotonics involves the manipulation and control of light at the nanoscale, typically at dimensions smaller than the wavelength of light. Researchers work with nanoscale optical components, such as nanoscale waveguides, photodetectors and light emitters, to harness the unique properties of light and enable various applications.
In his latest research, Yang, who joined the faculty of the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools at ASU, in January 2021, proposes to integrate metamaterials with polymeric materials, with the end result being able to obtain optical film unachievable before.