Principal Investigator
Dr. Qing Cao (CV)
Associate Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Chemistry
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory
Mick Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
104 S Goodwin Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Office: 1008 MRL
Email: qingcao2@illinois.edu
Qing Cao is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with courtesy appointments in Chemistry and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Before joining Illinois in 2018, he was a Research Scientist in the Department of Physical Sciences at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.
Prof. Cao received his B.S. in Chemistry from Nanjing University in 2004 and his Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2009. His research lies at the intersection of materials science, chemistry, and electrical engineering, with a focus on beyond silicon materials for nanoelectronics, advanced memory technologies for AI, heterogeneous monolithic 3D integration, printable electronics, and bioelectronics and biohybrid computing.
He has authored more than forty scientific publications on prestigious journals including Nature, Science, Nature Electronics, Nature Nanotechnology, Science Advances, and Nature Communications, and is co-inventor on over fifty patents and patent applications. His contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, including the MIT Technology Review TR35 (2016), Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science (2012), the Atlantic Council Millennium Fellowship (2017), and invitations to participate (2016 and 2019) and then chair (2025) the National Academy of Engineering’s U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium. During his tenure at IBM, he received awards including the Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award, the Research Division Award, the Master Inventor Award, and seventeen IBM Invention Achievement Awards.
Prof. Cao currently serves as Deputy Editor of Science Advances and Co-Director of the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Advanced Semiconductor Chips with Accelerated Performance.
Ph.D. Graduate Students
Hsien-Nung Wang
B.S. Materials Science and Engineering
National Taiwan University, Taiwan (2020)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2021-)
Email: hnwang3@illinois.edu
Yung Man Yu
B.S. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2022)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2022-)
Email: ymyu2@illinois.edu
Hyunjun Nam
B.S. Materials Science and Engineering
Hanyang University (2020)
M.S. Materials Science and Engineering
Hanyang University (2022)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2022-)
Email: hn7@illinois.edu
Sunny Wong
B.S. Materials Science and Engineering
Cornell University (2022)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2022-)
Email: sunnyw2@illinois.edu
Haoran Liu
B.S. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2023)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2023-)
Email: haoran7@illinois.edu
Sophie Wu
B.S. Mechanical Engineering
HOlin College of Engineering (2022)
M.S. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2022-)
Email: yuwu9@illinois.edu
Chun-Chia Tsai
B.S. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2025)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2025-)
Email: cctsai4@illinois.edu
Ph.D. Alumni
Dr. Bao Lam
Graduated with Ph.D. in MSE in 2025
Placement at graduation:
Senior Process Development Engineer at Qrovo
Dr. Fufei An
Graduated with Ph.D. in MSE in 2024
Placement at graduation:
Senior Product Engineer at Analog Devices
Dr. Jinsong Cui
Graduated with Ph.D. in MSE in 2024
Placement at graduation:
Senior Materials Process Engineer at Tesla
Dr. Yi Zhang
Graduated with Ph.D. in MSE in 2024
Placement at graduation:
Process Engineer at Intel
M.S. Alumni
| Name | Graduation Year | Placement at graduation |
| Ishan Ramaiah | 2024 | Process Engineer at Intel |
| Yu-Hsuan Chen | 2023 | Process Engineer at Intel |
| Suin Park | 2022 | Process Engineer at Intel |
| Luke Sloan | 2022 | Ph.D. in Univ. of Texas Austin |
| Jiangnan Liu | 2021 | Ph.D. in University of Michigan |
| Kuan-Yu Chen | 2021 | Ph.D. in University of Wisconsin |
| Yuxuan Wu | 2020 | Ph.D. in University of Tokyo |
We are always looking for the best and most qualified potential graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to join the group. Interested applicants, please contact Professor Cao (qingcao2@illinois.edu) with your CV and research interests.
