Azadeh Ansari receives ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for research in GaN-based electro-acoustic devices

Dr. Azadeh Ansari received a 2017 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for her dissertation, GaN Integrated Microsystems for RF Applications. This award recognizes exceptional dissertations of outstanding scholarly quality in any field of study.

Dr. Ansari’s research interests include GaN MEMS, interface circuit design for MEMS, GaN-based micro-mechanical resonators and oscillators.

The focus of her dissertation was the design, fabrication, and characterization of novel and advanced electro-acoustic devices and integrated micro/nano systems based on Gallium Nitride (GaN). GaN is the material that led to the development of new high-efficiency lighting and was the focus of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014.

GaN is also capable of enhancing the performance of electronic devices well beyond what current technology offers, including the sensing of infrared radiation (heat), force, temperature and gas (for example, carbon monoxide), and has enabled completely novel micro/nano systems. Use of the added piezoelectric feature of GaN — utilized in optoelectronics, high-power and high-frequency applications — has extended research horizons to diverse scientific and multi-disciplinary fields.

Dr. Ansari’s research has resulted in the highest reported resonance frequencies and (fxQ) values in GaN bulk-mode devices to date. Such high-performance integrated systems can be utilized in radio frequency (RF) and microwave communication as well as extreme environment applications. And she achieved this on silicon, which enables easier integration with modern high performance electronics. Her research resulted in one issued patent, and another two provisional patents.

While at Michigan, Dr. Ansari was a member of the Resonant MEMS Group, and advised by Prof. Mina Rais-Zadeh. She received the College of Engineering Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for outstanding Ph.D. research in 2015.

She received her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 2013 and 2016, respectively, and her bachelor’s degree from Sharif University of Technology in Iran.

Dr. Ansari is currently a postdoctoral scholar in Physics at CalTech. She will join the faculty at Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor in September 2017.

Posted March 2, 2017