Dr. Hongping Zhao ’11 Ph.D. is now an associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State University, following six years as an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University.
Zhao joined OSU’s electrical and computer engineering department as a tenured faculty member in August 2017. Her research currently focuses on semiconductor materials science as well as making LED lights more efficient and less expensive.
Zhao received her doctorate in electrical engineering from Lehigh University’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, where she was advised by Nelson Tansu, the Daniel E. '39 and Patricia M. Smith Endowed Chair Professor and the director for the Center for Photonics and Nanoelectronics (CPN). Tansu is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and he was recently included in the highly prestigious Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher List 2018. Zhao was one of the graduate students minted in the CPN, and she played a significant role in building the wide bandgap semiconductor research with some of the early students in Tansu Group.
While working in Tansu Group Lab, Zhao studied the growth of semiconductor materials and production of LEDs with nanostructures. Over the course of her four years at Lehigh, she published more than 20 scholarly journal articles and 40 conference papers—impressive totals for an early career researcher.
“I have known Hongping Zhao for more than 12 years, and she is definitely one of our best graduate students,” says Tansu. “Her strong focus, persistence, and attitude have enabled her to build an impressive career and make important contributions to technological innovations.”
At OSU, Zhao is also part of a research team with members across universities. In 2018, the team was one of 24 recipients of the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative awards, providing funding for up to five years for research on gallium oxide and its potential for new electronics and photonic device applications.
“Zhao has demonstrated an impressive originality in advancing a new area in power electronics materials research on gallium oxide semiconductor technologies,” says Tansu. “I am very honored and proud to call her as one of our Ph.D. alumni.”
Story by Madison Hoff '19, a student writer for the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science
