10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Friday, August 9, 2024
Jim Ciston
Deputy Director, Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab
Jim Ciston is the Molecular Foundry’s Deputy Director. In this role, Dr. Ciston is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies and policies that ensure the efficient and effective support of the Molecular Foundry’s mission. He also works closely with the Director, as well as other members of the Foundry leadership team, to guide the organization’s scientific plans and initiatives. He serves as a steward of the Foundry’s internal and user research portfolio and when necessary, stands in for the Director to represent the organization as a resource and advocate. Jim also maintains an independent research portfolio in 4D-STEM and quantitative high-resolution imaging within the National Center for Electron Microscopy facility of the Foundry. He is responsible for leading the collaborative scientific user portfolio for the TEAM I instrument, largely focused on the use of 4D-STEM and high resolution EELS measurements to understand nanomaterial properties.
Jim obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University in 2009 for his work on the structural determination of hydrogen atom positions and bonding charge density at crystal surfaces. From 2009-2011, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory where he also served as the first facility manager for the FEI Titan aberration-corrected Environmental TEM at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Since 2011, Jim has been a Staff Scientist in the National Center for Electron Microscopy facility of the Molecular Foundry.
Jim was a 2016 recipient of an Early Career Research Program award granted by the DOE Office of Science and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2019. He has also received several awards for his research from the International Centre for Diffraction Data, International Federation of Societies for Microscopy, US National Committee for Crystallography, Illinois Institute of Technology, & Pittsburgh Diffraction Society.
Erwin Lau
Principal Engineer, Exponent
Dr. Lau’s expertise covers a wide range of technologies, including optics, optical devices, consumer electronics, medical devices, and prototyping. At Exponent, Dr. Lau assists clients with resolving complex issues relating to due diligence, failure analysis, intellectual property, and product design, safety, and risk assessment.
Dr. Lau has over 25 years of experience in the design, characterization, modeling and simulation of electronic, optoelectronic devices, and optical systems.
Ross Moretti
Research Associate, PPG
Ross Moretti is a research associate and synthetic polymer chemist at PPG. He grew up in New Jersey and received his B.S. in chemistry from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University. His graduate research focused on transition metal-mediated oxidation catalysis, including reaction method development and mechanistic studies. After completing his Ph.D., he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to join PPG in 2018 in the polymer synthesis organization, despite having never (intentionally) synthesized a polymer before. In his 6+ years with PPG, he has primarily supported PPG’s electrodeposition coatings, the dominant technology used to protect metal substrates like car bodies from corrosion. He is currently the technical leader for a team of synthesis researchers developing polymers for new electrodeposition coating technologies, leading to innovative global products like PPG’s ENVIRO-PRIME® EPIC 300, winner of an American Chemistry Council 2024 Sustainable Leadership Award. Outside of work, he likes to cook and bake, explore restaurants and events around Pittsburgh, and, lately, listen to probably too many podcasts about pop music.
James Spallas
Principal Research Scientist, KLA
James joined KLA as a principal research scientist in 2018, then transition to senior manager in 2020. Before joining KLA, he was a Master Scientist at Keysight Technologies. James was founder and CTO of Novelx, where he helped develop a high-resolution table-top SEM. Novelx was acquired by Agilent Technologies in 2009. James received his MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and his BS in Physics and BS in Applied Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley. His research has focused on microfabrication with an emphasis on designing and manufacturing miniature electron beam columns. James has published 30 technical papers and holds 23 patents. He has been awarded three R&D 100 awards, a Microscopy Today Innovation Award, and a Nano-50 Award.