News
January 2025: IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecturer
Prof. Takamura has been selected as one of three Distinguished Lecturers from the IEEE Magnetics Society. As a Distinguished Lecturer, she will travel around the world for 2025-2027 delivering her talk entitled “Tailoring Magnetic Spin Textures in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-Based Micromagnets”.
January 2025: Q-MEEN-C work highlighted by the U.S. Department of Energy
A recent Q-MEEN-C publication led by the group of Prof. Andy Kent at New York University including work by Dayne Sasaki was highlighted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The paper is entitled “Voltage-induced magnetic domain evolution in a phase-change material”, Applied Physics Letters, 125, 262406 (2024). You can read the highlight here.
March 2025: 2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
Prof. Takamura will present an invited talk entitled “Harnessing Interfacial Interactions in Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures” at the 2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Las Vegas. The talk will be delivered at 2pm on Thursday, March 26, 2025.
January 2025: 2025 Joint Intermag/MMM Conference
Prof. Takamura will present an oral presentation entitled “Tailoring Spin Textures in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-based Micromagnets” at the 2025 Joint Intermag/MMM Conference in New Orleans, LA. The talk is scheduled for January 14, 2025 at 11:45 AM.
January 2025: The Molecular Foundry Calendar
Hudson’s image was selected as the cover page as well as the October image for the 2025 Molecular Foundry Calendar.
The description reads:
“Sunset in the Atomic Alps”, by Hudson Shih, Seung Sae Hong, and Yayoi Takamura from UC Davis. This image won first place in the 2024 NanoArt Image contest.
Atomic terrace steps on the (001) facet of a single-crystal membrane of strontium cobalt oxide (Sr2Co2O5). These steps arise due to a small angle of miscut relative to the facet ( <0.5 ° ). If the miscut angle were exactly 0 degrees, no steps would be present! These single crystal oxide membranes provide an ideal material platform for plan-view transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging at the National Center for Electron Microscopy because they have millimeter lateral dimensions, but nanometer scale thicknesses. With TEM of Sr2Co2O5 membranes, oxygen ion diffusion can be observed within the crystal lattice.
January 2025: Welcome to the Takamura Research Group
Steve Ho joined the Takamura Research Group as a PhD candidate. Welcome!
November 2024: Return visit to Santiago, Chile
Prof. Takamura was excited to return to Sangtiago, Chile to visit Prof. Heman Bhuyan at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile to continue our collaboration funded with a 2023-24 Seed Grant for International Activities from UC Davis Global Affairs. She presented a talk to the Faculty of Physics entitled “Adventures with Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures and Nanostructures” on Thursday, November 14, 2024.
November 2024: Texas Seminars
Prof. Takamura will travel to Texas A&M University on Nov. 6th, 2024 and University of North Texas on Nov. 8th, 2024 to deliver seminars entitled “Topotactic Transformations in Complex Oxide Thin Films”.
October 2024: 2024 CHMS Research Symposium
August 2024: East Coast Seminars
Prof. Takamura traveled to the east coast to deliver several invited talks at Northeastern University Burlington and Boston campuses, Massachussetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell University. At Cornell, it was nice opportunity to visit her old alma mater and see all the changes to the Materials Science and Engineering Department and the overall campus.
August 2024: Advanced Light Source and Molecular Foundry Users’ Meetings
Prof. Takamura presented a highlight talk entitled “Opportunities for Correlative Microscopy in Complex Oxide Micromagnets” in the topical symposium on “Correlative Microscopy: Experiment, Processing, and Data Management. Hudson Shih presented a poster during the poster session of the Molecular Foundry Users’ Meeting.
August 2024: TRG Alumni Get Together
July 2024: Partnership with National Lab Leverages New Computational Techniques
Read about a recent article published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces on work performed in collaboration with Drs. Hong Sun, Vincenzo Lordi, and Amti Samanta at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory entitled “Unraveling the Correlation between the Interface Structures and Tunable Magnetic Properties of La1–xSrxCoO3−δ/La1–xSrxMnO3−δ Bilayers Using Deep Learning Models”. 
June 2024: Graduation 2024!
Congratulations to all the graduates from the UC Davis Materials Science and Engineering Department! A few pictures from the MFA and Ph.D. graduation ceremony, the Masters graduation ceremony, and the Sunday edition of the undergraduate graduation ceremony.
June 2024: College of Engineering Awards Ceremony
Congratulations to the award winners from the UC Davis Materials Science and Engineering Department at the annual UC Davis College of Engineering awards ceremony!
Outstanding Junior Faculty Award: Scott J. McCormack
Teaching Assistant Excellence Award: Hudson Shih
Excellence in Teaching Award: Susan Gentry
Outstanding Senior: Jared Ura
Department Citation: Hannah Darr
Department Citation: Zachary White
Not pictured: Jeffery Gibeling M.S. Thesis Award: Margaret Duncan
June 2024: Congratulations to Izoah and Matthew
Congratulations to Izoah Snowden and Matthew Frame for passing their Ph.D. preliminary examinations!
May 2024: UC Davis Global Affairs Seed Grant for International Activities
Prof. Takamura received a 2023-24 Seed Grant for International Activities from UC Davis Global Affairs to support her work with Prof. Heman Bhuyan from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. The seed grant will fund student/faculty exchanges between UC Davis and Chile to work on a project researching thin films of complex oxides like titanium dioxide and tantalum pentoxide for use in sustainable energy technologies, such as photovoltaic solar cells and batteries. A news story about the award can be found here.
May 2024: Congratulations to Tanaya Sahoo!
Congratulations to Tanaya Sahoo for being awarded the Ovshinsky Travel Award from the APS Division of Materials Physics to help fund her trip to Minneapolis, MN for the APS March Meeting. A profile of Tanaya’s journey to UC Davis and her future plans can be read here.
April 2024: Congratulations to Hudson Shih!
Congratulations to Hudson Shih and Abigail Herring from the Leite group for being awarded the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Award. This award will enable Hudson to complete a portion of his dissertation research at the National Center for Electron Microscopy which is part of the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. You can read short news story about the award here.
April 2024: Congratulations to Hudson Shih!
April 2024: Department of Physics, Georgetown University
March 2024: APS March Meeting in Minneapolis, MN
The Takamura Research Group will give multiple presentations at the APS March Meeting in Minneapolis, MN. On Monday, March 4th, 2024, Nathan Tsui will present talk B21.00002 entitled “Determining Antiferromagnetic Moment Orientations from Domain Images by Pixel-by-Pixel Analysis” and Ishmam Nihal will present talk B21.00003 entitled “Spin-flop Coupling at La0.5Sr0.5FeO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Interfaces” as part of the session B21: Emergent Properties: Antiferromagnetism in Spintronic Devices. On Thursday, March 7, 2024, Tanaya Sahoo will present her talk entitled “Magnetic Domain Image Analysis of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Based ‘Donut’ Micromagnets” in the session on Chiral Spin Textures and Dynamics, Including Skyrmions V: Novel Spin Textures. Also on Thursday, Hudson Shih will present his talk W57.00010 entitled “Topotactic Phase Transformations in Freestanding Strontium Cobaltite Membranes”.
Finally, congratulations to Tanaya Sahoo for being awarded the Ovshinsky Travel Award from the APS Division of Materials Physics to help fund her trip to Minneapolis!
January 2024: TRG Group Bowling!
December 2023: Matthew Frame and Izoah Snowden join the TRG
Welcome to Matthew Frame and Izoah Snowden!
November 2023: Hudson Shih is chosen as the Inaugural Recipient of the Amiya Mukherjee Memorial Fellowship
Congratulations to Hudson Shih for being selected as the inaugural recipient of the Amiya Mukherjee Memorial Fellowship. This fellowship was created last year with a generous gift from Bob and Carolyn Caligiuri to honor the legacy of Prof. Emeritus Amiya Mukherjee who is known as the father of the UC Davis Materials Science and Engineering program, and inspired many generations of engineers to pursue the field.
November 2023: Professor Takamura visits the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Prof. Takamura will visit Prof. Heman Bhuyan from the Faculty of Physics at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile to establish research collaborations between our two groups. She will present a talk entitled “Adventures with Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures and Nanostructures” on Thursday, Nov. 23rd.
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November 2023: 2023 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference
Ishman Nihal, Mingzhen Feng, and Prof. Takamura gave oral presentations at the 2023 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in Dallas, TX. Ishman presented a talk entitled “Spin-flop Coupling at La0.5Sr0.5FeO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Interfaces”, while Mingzhen’s talk is entitled “Tuning In-plane Magnetic Anisotropy and Exchange Bias in Epitaxial Complex Oxide Heterostructures”, both in session AE – Complex oxides (Bulk, Films and Heterostructures) on Tuesday morning. Prof. Takamura’s talk is entitled “Tailoring Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Spin Textures in Nanostructured Complex Oxides” which will be part of the symposium FA, Imaging Magnetic Textures at the Nanoscale on Thursday afternoon. The full program can be found here.
October 2023: Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Research Symposium
Congratulations to the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Graduate Student Organization for organizing a wonderful Research Symposium!
Oral Presentation Awards:
1st = Niko Hansen
2nd = Dayne Sasaki
3rd = Meghna Jha
Poster Presentation Awards:
1st = Joaquin Mogollon Santiana
2nd = Toulik Maitra
3rd = Pallavi D. Sambre
September 2023: Workshop on Electronic/Photonic Materials and Devices at UC Davis
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering is happy to host a Workshop on Electronic/Photonic Materials and Devices with generous funding through Dean Corsi’s Next Level Research Vision. This workshop is intended to open dialog between researchers in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics, as well as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for fruitful research collaborations. The agenda for the workshop can be found here.
September 2023: Chemical & Materials Departmental Graduate Seminar at San Jose State University
Prof. Takamura will present a talk entitled “Tailoring Magnetic Spin Textures in Complex Oxide Nanostructures” to the Chemical & Materials Departmental Graduate Seminar at San Jose State University on Friday, September 1st.
August 2023: The 5 W’s of Grant Writing: Basic Research
The Materials Research Society Early Career Professionals Subcommittee will be presenting a webinar on the “The 5 W’s of Grant Writing: Basic Research” on Wednesday, August 2nd from 11:00am – 12:30pm EDT. The event is free to attend, though preregistration is required. The purpose of the webinar is to demystify the grant writing process and equip you with the essential knowledge and tools for success.
Hosts:
- Hanu Arava, Argonne National Laboratory
Speakers:
- Claudia Mewes, Department of Energy
- Robert Meulenberg, National Science Foundation
- Yayoi Takamura, University of California, Davis
- Cristiano Nisoli, Los Alamos National Laboratory
July 2023: Congratulations to Mingzhen Feng
Mingzhen Feng presented her Ph.D. exit seminar entitled “Interfacial Magnetic Phenomena & Topotactic Phase Transformations in Perovskite Oxide Thin Films” to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. She will start at Applied Materials in September. Congratulations!
The group celebrated with a dinner at Paesano’s.
June 2023: 6th International Workshop on Complex Oxides
June 2023: IEEE MagSoc Summer School
Ishmam Nihal was selected to participate in the 2023 IEEE Magnetics Society Summer School held in Carovigno-Bari, Italy from June 11 – 16th, 2023. He presented a poster entitled “Spin-flop coupling in La0.5Sr0.5FeO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3: A pathway to antiferromagnetic spintronics”.
May 2023: College of Engineering Awards Ceremony
May 2023: Saying Farewell to Our Dear Friend Ricardo Castro
March 2023: Prof. Takayuki Kojima visits the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis
As part of the Young Leader Program between TMS and the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials, Prof. Takayuki Kojima visited the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis on March 17, 2023. He presented his talk entitled “Catalytic properties of Heusler alloys and usefulness of metallurgical synthesis for investigating intermetallic catalysts” and visited the Takamura Research Group.
March 2023: Graduate Student Spotlight: Mingzhen Feng
Mingzhen was featured in a special focus article for International Women’s Day by the UC Davis College of Engineering. Check out her profile here. All the other profiles can be accessed here.
Winter 2023: Visiting Student Yunting Wang Interacts with the Takamura Research Group
Yunting Wang from National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan spent three months at UC Davis to work with the Takamura Research Group. Her visit was sponsored by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education.
January 2023: Flexon Workshop at the Advanced Light Source
January 2023: Welcome to the Takamura Research Group
Asrafuzzaman and Tanaya Sahoo joined the Takamura Research group!
December 2022: Mingzhen Feng’s Paper Featured in Special Collecion of Journal of Applied Physics
Mingzhen Feng’s paper entitled “Strain- and thickness-dependent magnetic properties of epitaxial La0.67Sr0.33CoO3/La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 bilayers” was featured in a special collection recognizing women in applied physics in the Journal of Applied Physics.
December 2022: Richard and Joy Dorf Fellowship
Congratulations to Hudson Shih for being awarded one of four Richard and Joy Dorf Fellowships from the College of Engineering at UC Davis!
Soon after joining the College of Engineering as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor Emeritus Dick Dorf was one of the earliest advocates for UC Davis to have its own MBA program. An expert in entrepreneurship as well as electrical engineering, he saw the opportunity for UC Davis to take a leadership role in the economic vitality of the region. During his 10-year tenure as Dean of Extended Learning, he co-facilitated the establishment of the Graduate School of Management. The Dorfs are generous donors to the College of Engineering, the Graduate School of Management and the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The couple’s wide-ranging support for the College of Engineering includes funding the renovation of 1065 Kemper Hall to provide space for undergraduate design and communication courses.
Joy Dorf served for more than a decade as the associate pastor for Davis Community Church. Through her work building a diverse and inclusive congregation she knows the value of hands-on experience and the importance of developing strong communication skills to establish and sustain community.
November 2022: Davis Turkey Trot
Hudson Shih and Prof. Takamura ran the 10K of the Davis Turkey Trot on Saturday, November 19th, 2022 with Abigail Hering and Archan Vyas. Prof. Takamura placed 2nd in her age category earning a special medal while Hudson just missed on a medal by placing 4th in his age category. It was a beautiful morning for a run.
November 2022: Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in Minneapolis, MN
Prof. Takamura will serve as the General Chair for the 67th Annual Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) Conference to be held from Oct. 31 – Nov. 4th, 2022 in Minneapolis, MN. The conference will offer both in-person and prerecorded on-demand content. Dayne Sasaki will present a talk entitled “Imaging thermally-induced Ising-vortex transformations in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-based artificial spin ices”. His talk will be delivered in-person on Wednesday, Nov. 2nd at 9:06 am in session CF: Thin Films and Patterned Structures. Listen to the MMM 2022 podcast where TRG alumni Michael Lee interviews speakers of special sessions and invited talks to preview the conference content. You can read Prof. Takamura’s editorial on the conference in AIP Advances. 
October 2022: Congratulations to Dayne Sasaki for Being Awarded a DOE OSGSR Award
With support from the Department of Energy Office of Science’s Graduate Student Research program, Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. student Dayne Sasaki will be using the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to conduct groundbreaking research that combines the fields of artificial spin ices and complex oxides. Read more about his project here.
September 2022: Quantum Materials for Energy Efficient Neuromorphic Computing (Q-MEEN-C)
September 2022: Open Faculty Positions in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis invites applications for two faculty positions at the tenured/tenure-track positions at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. Only one of the positions may be offered at the tenured Associate Professor level. Faculty hired through these two searches will contribute in a collaborative manner to the Department’s strategic vision and to the newly introduced Next Level Strategic Research Vision for the College of Engineering. The major areas of focus for these two positions include advanced materials for sustainable energy and health applications as they apply to:
- Mechanical properties and processing of metals, alloys, and their composites. (See https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF05239 for full position description)
- Processing and properties of ceramics, glasses, and their composites. (See https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF05240 for full position description)
September 2022: Congratulations to Ishmam Nihal and Hudson Shih!
Congratulations to Ishmam Nihal and Hudson Shih for passing their Ph.D. qualifying exams!
August 2022: Perspective Article on Neuromorphic Computing
The PIs of the Quantum Materials for Energy Efficient Neuromorphic Computing Energy Frontier Research Center published a perspective article in APL Materials entitled “Quantum materials for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing: Opportunities and challenges“. This article was selected as a featured article.
August 2022: Workshop on Exploring Complex Electronic and Magnetic Ordering Phenomena Using Coherent Soft x-ray Scattering
Prof. Takamura participated in a virtual workshop entitled “Exploring Complex Electronic and Magnetic Ordering Phenomena Using Coherent Soft x-ray Scattering” as part of the ALS Users’ Meeting. Her talk was entitled “Ordering Phenomena in Complex Oxide Heterostructures and Nanostructures”.
August 2022: New Science Opportunities with X-rays at the High Magnetic Field Frontier
Prof. Takamura participated in a 3-day workshop hosted by the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source entitled “New Science Opportunities with X-rays at the High Magnetic Field Frontier“. The goals of the workshop were to help identify the highest-impact science drivers and technical requirements for facilities combining bright x-ray beams with high magnetic fields. Her talk was entitled “Understanding Interfacial Interactions in Complex Oxide Heterostructures”.
July 2022: The Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Award
Prof. Takamura was selected to receive a Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Award from the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies in recognition of outstanding service in advising and mentoring at the program level. Thank you to all the students who submitted input for this nomination!
July 2022: Editors’ Selection in Physical Review Applied
Dayne Sasaki’s paper entitled “Formation of Complex Spin Textures in Thermally Demagnetized La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Artificial-Spin-Ice Structures” was selected as an Editors’ Selection in Physical Review Applied. You can access the paper here.
June 2022: Congratulations to Andrew Layton and Matthew Layiktez!
May 2022: Congratulations to Dayne Sasaki for being awarded a DOE SCGSR Award!
Dayne Sasaki was selected as one of the 80 graduate students awarded a Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) award! As part of this project, Dayne will work with Dr. Padraic Shafer on performing x-ray ferromagnetic resonance measurements at the Advanced Light Source. More information on the DOE SCGSR program can be found here.
May 2022: Mingzhen Feng, Hudson Shih, and Prof. Takamura to Present at the 2022 Spring MRS Meeting
Mingzhen Feng, Hudson Shih, and Prof. Takamura will present their work at the 2022 Spring MRS Meeting in Honolulu, Hawai’i. All presentations will take place in Symposium SF10 – Emerging Functional Materials and Interfaces. Mingzhen will be presenting an oral talk entitled ‘Interfacial Exchange Coupling in Epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3CoO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Heterostructures’ on Monday, May 9th, 2022 at 3:45pm; Hudson will be presenting a poster entitled ‘Synthesis and Characterization of Strontium Cobaltite Membranes Under Topotactic Transformations’ at 5pm on Monday, May 9th, 2022; and Prof. Takamura will be presenting an oral talk entitled ‘Topotactic Transformations in Perovskite Oxide Thin Films’ on Tuesday, May 10th, 2022 at 10:30am.
April 2022 – TRGNCAABBP 2022
April 2022 – Spring Newsletter from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Read about the latest exciting news from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis!
April 2022: Hudson Shih Receives Honorable Mention for NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program
Congratulations to Hudson Shih for receiving an honorable mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP)! The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.
April 2022: Call for Papers for the 2022 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference
Prof. Takamura is serving as the General Chair of the 2022 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference to be held in Minneapolis, MN from Oct. 31- Nov. 4th. The call for papers can be found here. Major deadlines are: May 9th, 2022 for Nominations for Invited Speakers and Symposia and June 24th, 2022 for Abstract Submissions.
March 2022: Pi Day
March 2022: International Women’s Day Spotlight
The UC Davis College of Engineering compiled female faculty spotlights in honor of International Women’s Day. See Prof. Takamura’s spotlight here.
November 2021: Congratulations to Dr. I-Ting Chiu
Congratulations to Dr. I-Ting Chiu for submitting her Ph.D. dissertation. She presented her exit seminar on Friday, October 22, 2021 in hybrid format (see abstract). Next up is a job at Applied Materials in Santa Clara.
November 2021: In Memoriam: Dr. Amiya Mukherjee
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Professor Emeritus Amiya Mukherjee. Arriving at UC Davis in 1966, he is recognized as the founding professor of what is now the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He will be missed dearly.
November 2021: Department of Materials Science and Engineering Fall Newsletter
To see the latest news from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis, check out our Fall 2021 newsletter.
October 2021: MSE Celebrates the Career of Prof. Sangtae Kim
In 17 years at UC Davis, Kim established himself as an expert in electrochemistry and thermodynamics in research and teaching, a tough but patient mentor and a friend and colleague who cared deeply about the success of his students. He authored more than 100 scientific articles, was recognized by the Nanotech Briefs’ 2007 Nano 50 Awards and was elected to serve on the board of the International Society for Solid State Ionics.
His legacy is also measured by the students he taught and mentored, his impact on his colleagues and the research accomplished with the help of his collaborators at UC Davis and abroad.
October 2021: Job Opportunity: Assistant Professor of Teaching
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis invites applications for an Assistant Professor of Teaching in Materials Science and Engineering, to join a department committed to student learning and success. This faculty member will teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate level, particularly the two-course senior design sequence. Additionally, this person will oversee internships and projects for the one-year Masters of Engineering (M.Eng.) program, develop industry connections to facilitate the senior design and M.Eng. activities, and redesign and teach undergraduate laboratory courses on a wide variety of topics. The department seeks candidates who are trained in some area of experimental materials science and engineering; candidates who have industry experience are especially desired. Candidates must have a PhD or equivalent degree in materials science and engineering, or closely related fields. More information about this position can be found on the Department website at: https://mse.engineering.ucdavis.edu/news/opportunity-assistant-professor-teaching or through the web-based, online submission system at: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF04490
For full consideration, applications must be completed by 11:59 PST November 29, 2021 for an expected start date of July 1st, 2022.
September 2021: Job Opportunity: Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track)
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis is pleased to announce the opening of a job search for an Assistant Professor in the area of Manufacturing of Advanced Materials and their Mechanical Behavior. Candidates for this position should preferably conduct experimental research on cutting-edge metallic systems, their composites, and related subjects. More information on this position can be found on the Department website at: https://mse.engineering.ucdavis.edu/news/job-opportunity-assistant-professor-tenure-track or through the web-based, online submission system at https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF04452.
For full consideration, applications must be completed by 11:59 PT November 5, 2021 for an expected start date of July 1st, 2022.
January 2022: 2022 Joint MMM-INTERMAG Conference based in New Orleans, LA
Prof. Takamura and Dayne Sasaki will be presenting talks as part of the 2022 Joint MMM-INTERMAG Conference. The conference will offer both in-person and prerecorded on-demand content. Dayne’s talk is entitled “Energetics of complex spin textures in LSMO artificial spin ice structures” and will be delivered in the oral session EOF Patterned Films. Prof. Takamura will deliver an invited talk entitled “Designing Spin Textures through Local Control of Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy” in Symposium SA Application of Symmetry Breaking in Correlated and Quantum Magnetic Materials.
September 2021: Seminar at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Prof. Takamura delivered an in-person seminar as part of the Hassel and Marianne Ledbetter MatSE Colloquium in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The title of the seminar was “Tailoring magnetic spin textures in nanostructured complex oxides”.
August 2021: Magnetism as Art at the SFMOMA
Magnet TV by Nam June Paik in 1965: Modified cathode-ray tube television and magnet.
“By 1963 Paik had experimental with techniques for disrupting TV images, but he only began to employ magnets to this effect after Exposition of Music – Electronic Television. Using magnets did not require technical skills or contact with internal component. Paik made interactive versions of Magnet TV in which members of the public could move the magnet over the set as well as versions, such as this one, meant to be viewed as static abstract pictures.”
Footnote: To preserve the cathode-ray tube television, conservators move the magnet once a week, preventing the image from being permanently burned into the screen. You may occasionally observe SF MOMA staff maintaining the work while it is on view.
June 2021: Editors’ Selection in Physical Review Materials
I-Ting’s paper entitled “Cation and anion topotactic transformations in cobaltite thin films leading to Ruddlesden-Popper phases” was selected as Editors’ Selection in Physical Review Materials. Access the paper here.
June 2021: Online Spintronics Seminar Series
Prof. Takamura will present a talk as part of the Online Spintronics Seminar Series established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The abstract for the talk entitled “Tailoring ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic spin textures in nanostructured complex oxides” can be found here. The talk will be held live on Friday, June 4th at 12noon PDT and a recording will be available for viewing offline.
May 2021: Congratulations to Hudson Shih and Ishmam Nihal!
Hudson Shih and Ishmam Nihal successfully passed their Ph.D. preliminary exams. Congratulations!
Spring 2021: Engineering Progress from the UC Davis College of Engineering
Prof. Takamura was featured in an article in the Spring 2021 edition of the Engineering Progress newsletter by the UC Davis College of Engineering. Access the article here.
Spring 2021: Department of Materials Science and Engineering Spring Newsletter
To see an update on the latest news from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis, check out the Spring 2021 newsletter here.
March 2021: APS March Meeting 2021
I-Ting Chiu and Prof. Takamura will present their work at the APS March Meeting 2021 in session R37 entitled “Antiferromagnetism and Emergent Magnetism in Oxide Thin Films” scheduled for the morning of Thursday, March 18th. Additional presentations related to the group be presented by Pavel Salev and Prof. Kukreja in session M37 entitled “Complex Oxide Thin Films: Novel Strain, Voltage, and Quantum Transport Phenomena” scheduled for the morning of Tuesday, March 16th. The meeting will be held in virtual format this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More information on the meeting schedule can be found here.
January 2021: Welcome to Ishmam, Hudson, and Ryan!
Ishmam Nihal, Hudson Shih, and Ryan Fillhouer have joined the Takamura Research Group!
December 2020: Congratulations to Jinyun (Arthur) He and Yuchen (Jerry) Qu
Congratulations to Jinyun (Arthur) He and Yuchen (Jerry) Qu for graduating with their masters degrees in materials science and engineering!
November 2020: Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference
Mingzhen Feng and Dayne Sasaki will present their work at the 65th Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. Mingzhen’s talk is entitled “Strain and thickness dependent magnetic properties of epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3CoO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 heterostructures” while Dayne’s talk is entitled “The Formation of Complex Spin Textures in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Artificial Spin Ice Arrays” Originally planned to be held in Palm Springs, FL, the conference will be fully virtual. The full conference information can be found here.
October 2020: Congratulations to Dayne Sasaki!
Congratulations to Dayne for passing his Ph.D. qualifying exam!
October 2020: Alex Kane’s Paper as Supplemental Cover Image
Alex Kane’s paper entitled “Controlling Magnetization Vector Depth Profiles of La0.7Sr0.3CoO3/ La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Exchange Spring Bilayers via Interface Reconstruction” has been featured as a supplemental cover image in ACS Applied and Materials Interfaces. Image credit to Jill Hemman, ORNL. Congratulations to Alex!
September 2020: Seminar in Honor of Prof. Jostein Grepstad
Our long-time collaborator Jostein Grepstad will be retiring for the Department of Electronic Systems at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. A seminar has been organized in his honor on September 23rd, 2020 and Prof. Takamura will be one of the speakers.
September 2020: MSE Graduate Students and Alumni Virtual Block Party
The Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) department is hosting a virtual “block party” for current graduate students and MSE alumni from 5:15 – 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. Register here to attend.
Featuring alumni panelists and current students, College of Engineering block parties are an opportunity to build connections and share experiences. The event will offer networking and mutual support across the MSE community as the world continues to work and study from home.
September 2020: Dayne Sasaki selected as a GAANN Fellow for the 2020-21 academic year
Dayne Sasaki was selected as one of the fellows for the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program jointly held by the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical Engineering at UC Davis. Funded by the Department of Education, this program aims to provide students with hands-on experience in teaching. More information about our GAANN program can be found here. Congratulations to Dayne!
July 2020: Professor Yayoi Takamura Named Next MSE Department Chair – Effective July 1
Starting July 1, Prof. Takamura will serve as the Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at UC Davis, taking over for Prof. Jeff Gibeling. See official announcement on the Department website.
July 2020: 2020 College of Engineering Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty Research Award
Prof. Takamura has been named as the recipient of the 2020 College of Engineering Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty Research Award! Thanks to all the hard work of the current and past members of the TRG. The College of Engineering announcement of the faculty awards can be found here.
June 2020: Using “fun physics” to advance computing
Recent research in the Takamura Research Group was highlighted as a news item on the Department of Materials Science and Engineering website. Access the article here.
May 2020: Michael Lee’s paper selected as a featured article in Journal of Applied Physics
Michael Lee’s recent paper entitled “Controlling antiferromagnetic domains in patternedLa0.7Sr0.3FeO3 thin films” was selected as a featured article in a special issue on Antiferromagnetic Spintronics in the Journal of Applied Physics. In addition, one of the figures was selected to be the cover image for the May 2020 issue. The full article can be access here and the cover image here.
May 2020: Congratulations to Dayne Sasaki!
Congratulations to Dayne Sasaki for passing his Zoom Ph.D. prelim exam!
May 2020: 31st Annual UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Conference
Daniel Jiang presented his work entitled “Monte Carlo Simulations of Magnetic Ordering in Square Artificial Spin Ice” as part of the virtual UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Conference. More information on the Conference can be found here.
April 2020: Congratulations to I-Ting Chiu!
I-Ting Chiu was awarded the Alfred H. and Marie E. Gibeling Fellowship and the UCD Graduate Research Award for the 2020-2021 academic year! These awards are in recognition of her outstanding academic record and promise of productive scholarship.
March 2020: Congratulations to Nolan Ahlm!
Congratulations to Nolan Ahlm for submitted his M.S. thesis! He is headed to Intel Portland.
March 2020: Congratulations to Mingzhen Feng!
Congratulations to Mingzhen Feng for passing her Ph.D. qualifying exam (via Zoom, no less)!
March 2020: 2020 American Physical Society March Meeting in Denver, CO
Prof. Takamura will present an invited talk at the 2020 American Physical Society March Meeting in Denver, CO. The talk is entitled “Engineering Magnetic Interactions in Complex Oxide Heterostructures” and is scheduled for Monday, March 2, 2020 at 3:42pm. More information on the conference schedule can be found here.
Unfortunately the APS March Meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.
November 2019: 2019 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference
Prof. Takamura and I-Ting Chiu will deliver oral presentations at the Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in Las Vegas, NV. I-Ting will deliver a talk entitled “Topotactic Transformations in Cobaltite Thin Films” on Tuesday, Nov. 5th at 9:54am while Prof. Takamura will deliver an invited talk entitled “Engineering Magnetic Interactions in Complex Oxide Heterostructures” on Friday, Nov. 8th at 8:30am. More information on the conference can be found here.
October 2019: Advanced Light Source Users’ Meeting
I-Ting Chiu will deliver an invited talk at a workshop entitled “Magnetic Order and Topology in Functional Materials at the the ALS Users’ Meeting. More information about the ALS Users’ Meeting can be found here.
September 2019: Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource Users’ Meeting
Prof. Takamura will present a talk as part of the workshop on Materials Science X-Ray Diffraction Opportunities organized as part of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) Users’ Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24th. More information on the SSRL Users’ Meeting can be found here.
September 2019: Seminar at University of Connecticut
Prof. Takamura will deliver a seminar for the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Connecticut on Friday, Sept. 13th, 2019. The talk is entitled “Engineering Spin Textures in Nanostructured Complex Oxides.”
July 2019: Engineering Frontier Research Center Principal Investigators’ Meeting
Prof. Takamura and I-Ting Chiu traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the Engineering Frontier Research Center Principal Investigators’ Meeting on behalf of the Quantum-Materials for Energy Efficient Quantum-Materials. While in Washington, DC, they also had a bit of time to be tourists.
June 2019: Graduation Ceremony
Prof. Takamura and Alex Kane dressed up in their robes for the 2019 UC Davis Graduation Ceremony. Congratulations to Alex!
June 2019: Alex Kane’s Exit Seminar
Alex Kane presented his exit seminar on his Ph.D. dissertation entitled “Tuning Electronic Interface Reconstruction and Magnetic Reversal in Perovskite Oxide Exchange Spring Heterostructures” on Monday, June 17th, 2019. His abstract can be found here. The group showed their support by wearing SF Giants gear/colors.
May 2019:
Congratulations to Mingzhen Feng for passing her Ph.D. preliminary exam!
April 2019: Pedrozzi Scholarship Awarded!
Congratulations to Dayne Sasaki for being awarded a Pedrozzi Scholarship! The foundation provides college and vocational scholarships and resources to Livermore students.
April 2019: UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference
Peifen Lyu will present an oral presentation entitled “Characterization of Antiferromagnetic Domain Patterns in Perovskite Oxide Microstructures” at the 2019 UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference on Saturday, April 27th. More information on the conference can be found here. 
April 2019: Santa Clara ASM/SAMPE Scholarship Recipient
The UC Davis Materials Science and Engineering Department congratulates undergraduate Peifen Lyu, who has been named a Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Society for Materials (ASM) and the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process (SAMPE) scholarship recipient. Peifen is one of two recipients of this year’s honor, which provides $2,000 each to selected applicants concentrating in materials science and technology and related engineering disciplines from Northern California colleges and universities. The Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Society for Materials and the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering jointly award scholarships on an annual basis.
March 2019: APS March Meeting in Boston
I-Ting Chiu and Prof. Takamura presented oral talks at the 2019 APS March Meeting in Boston. I-Ting’s talk was entitled “Phase transitions and magnetic domain coexistence in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 thin films” and Prof. Takamura’s talk was entitled “Local Control of Magneto-crystalline Anisotropy of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Thin Films through Ion Implantation”.
January 2019: Welcome to Mingzhen and Dayne
Mingzhen Feng and Dayne Sasaki join the TRG! Welcome!
January 2019: 2019 Joint MMM – Intermag Conference
Prof. Takamura will present an invited talk entitled “Engineering Spins in Nanostructured Complex Oxides” at the 2019 Joint MMM – Intermag Conference to be held in Washington, DC from January 14-18th, 2019. The conference website can be found here.
October 2018: Congratulations to Alex Kane!
Congratulations to Alex Kane for being awarded the Richard D. and Kate Faulkner Fellowship from the Office of Graduate Studies at UC Davis for the academic year 2018-2019! This fellowship was awarded in recognition of his outstanding academic record and promise of productive scholarship.
October 2018: American Vacuum Society 65th International Symposium and Exposition
Prof. Takamura will present an invited talk entitled “Engineering the Magnetic Properties of Complex Oxide Heterostructures” at the AVS 65th International Symposium and Exposition in Long Beach, CA. The talk is scheduled for 9:40 am on Friday, October 26th, 2018. More information on the Symposium can be found here.
October 2018: 2018 ALS Users’ Meeting
Prof. Takamura presented a talk entitled “Interfacial magnetism in complex oxide bilayers” in the workshop on Spin and Electronic Order in Functional Materials at the 2018 ALS Users’ Meeting held Oct. 2-4th, 2018. I-Ting presented a poster entitled “Phase transitions and magnetic domain coexistence of Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 thin films” during the poster session and graduate student poster slam. The Users’ Meeting information can be found here.
September 2018: New Department of Materials Science and Engineering Website
Take a look at the new Department of Materials Science and Engineering website. Watch a short video of Prof. Takamura describing the research thrust area of “Materials Processing“.
September 2018: Energy Frontiers Research Center
The U.S. Department of Energy announced the formation of new Energy Frontiers Research Centers. One of the newly funded centers includes the Quantum-Materials for Energy Efficient Neuromorphic-Computing (Q-MEEN-C) Center lead out of UC San Diego by Prof. Ivan Schuller. The Takamura Research Group will participate in the Charge theme to investigate new quantum materials for energy-efficient and fault-tolerant computing that is inspired by and work like the brain.
August 2018: Congratulations to I-Ting Chiu!
Congratulations to I-Ting Chiu for being awarded the Ernest E. Hill Memorial Graduate Fellowship for the academic year 2018-2019 from the Office of Graduate Studies at UC Davis! This award also received Matching Support from the Graduate Student Fellowship Matching Initiative, and is intended to provide funds for research and travel expenses.
August 2018: Advanced Light Source/Center for X-ray Optics Seminar
Prof. Takamura will present a talk as part of the Advanced Light Source/Center for X-ray Optics Seminar Series at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Wednesday, August 1st, 2018 from 3-4 pm. The talk is entitled “Probing and Engineering the Magnetic Properties of Complex Oxide Heterostructures”.
July 2018: The gang is all together again
July 2018: International Conference on Magnetism 2018
Alex Kane, Rajesh Chopdekar, and Prof. Takamura will present their work at the International Conference on Magnetism (ICM) 2018 in San Francisco, CA. Rajesh will present a poster in Session F11: Spin Ices and Magnetic Nanoparticles II on Monday, July 16th from 5:00-6:30pm. Prof. Takamura will present an invited talk in session V4: Thin Film and Hybrid Nanostructures II on Friday, July 20th from 8:30-9:00am. Alex Kane will give an oral presentation in session Z6: Exchange Bias and Exchange Springs IV on Friday, July 20th from 4:30-4:45pm. The conference website can be found here.
May 2018:
Congratulations to Nolan Ahlm for passing his PhD preliminary exam!
May 2018: New Video for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis
Check out the new video for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prof. Takamura and I-Ting Chiu make an appearance along with our pulsed laser deposition system!
March 2018:
Congratulations to I-Ting Chiu for passing her PhD qualifying exam!
February 2018: Michael Lee’s Exit Seminar
Michael Lee will present his exit seminar entitled “Designing Magnetic Spin Textures in Complex Oxide Thin Films” to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering on Friday, February 9th, 2018 at 3:15pm in Kemper 1003. The abstract of his talk can be found here.
January 2018:
Congratulation to Rajesh Chopdekar for being hired at the Advanced Lightsource as beamline scientist in charge of the PEEM3 Microscope. Best of luck and we look forward to continuing to be able to work with you!
January 2018: ALS Magnetism and Spintronics Cross-Cutting Review and Workshop
Prof. Takamura, Rajesh Chopdekar, and Michael Lee participated in the ALS Magnetism and Spintronics Cross-Cutting Review and Workshop held at the ALS on January 23 and 24th, 2018. Prof. Takamura’s talk was entitled “Spin engineering in complex oxide heterostructures”, Michael’s poster was entitled “Control of spin textures in complex oxide microstructures”, and Rajesh’s talk was entitled “Real-space visualization of thermally active artificial spin ice systems”.
Sunset during the poster sessions at the workshop
January 2018: 2018 International Workshop on Advanced Synthesis and Processing Technology for Films and Coatings
Prof. Takamura participated in the 2018 International Workshop on Advanced Synthesis and Processing Technology for Films and Coatings held at Wuhan University of Technology in Wuhan, China. She gave a talk entitled “Engineering Functional Properties in Complex Oxide Heterostructures”.
Group photo of workshop participants
Guan Gong Transformer at the tourist park honoring the ancient battle of the three kingdoms at Red Cliffs, Chibi, China
January 2018: Nolan Ahlm Joins the TRG
Welcome to Nolan!
January 2018: 2018 Conference on Electronic and Advanced Materials
Rajesh Chopdekar will be presenting an invited talk entitled “Room temperature strain and charge-mediated magnetoelectric effects in multiferroic complex oxide heterostructures” on January 18th, 2018 from 10:00-10:30am in Session S8 Multifunctional nanocomposites at the 2018 Conference on Electronic and Advanced Materials.
November 2017: Secret City Half Marathon, Oak Ridge, TN
While in Oak Ridge, TN running experiments at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Michael Lee and Yayoi Takamura ran the Secret City Half Marathon. The atomic theme pervades through many aspects of Oak Ridge, including the finisher’s medal, which also doubles as a bottle opener.
November 2017: Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Award
Congratulations to Alex Kane for being selected to receive the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Award (SCGSR). His project entitled “Depth Resolved Spin Textures in Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures” will be performed under the guidance of Dr. Valeria Lauter at the Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. More information on the SCGSR program can be found here.
November 2017: 2017 Materials Research Society Fall Meeting
Prof. Takamura will be presenting an invited talk entitled “Strain and Charge-Mediated Magnetoelectric Effects in Complex Oxide Heterostructures” in Symposium EM02: Multiferroics and Magnetoelectrics at the 2017 Materials Research Society Fall Meeting in Boston, MA. The talk is scheduled for 8:30-9:00am on Wednesday, November 29th. The full meeting program can be found here.
November 2017: 2017 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference 
Alex Kane, Michael Lee, and Rajesh Chopdekar will be giving oral presentations at the 2017 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference to be held in Pittsburgh, PA on Nov. 6-10th, 2017. Prof. Takamura is serving as a program co-chair with Mingzhong Wu from Colorado State University, and Pallavi Dhagat from Oregon State University is the general conference chair. The Conference website can be found here.
October 2017: Presentations at the ALS Users’ Meeting
Michael Lee and Alex Kane have been invited to give presentations at the ALS Users’ Meeting as part of the workshop entitled “Characterizing Ordering Phenomena and Functionality with Soft X-Rays at ALS”. More information on the ALS Users’ Meeting can be found here.
September 2017: Congratulations to Atharva Deshpande for submitting his M.S. Thesis
Congratulations to Atharva Deshpande for submitting his M.S. thesis entitled “Resonant X-ray reflectivity study of complex oxide heterostructures”! Atharva will be working for Intel Portland.
September 2017: Congratulations to Alex Kane for being awarded the Alfred H. and Marie E. Gibeling Fellowship
Congratulations to Alex Kane for being selected to receive the Alfred H. and Marie E. Gibeling Fellowship offered by the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
September 2017: International Workshop on Oxide Electronics
Michael Lee presented a poster entitled “Modification of Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy via Ion-Implantation” at the 24th International Workshop on Oxide Electronics to be held in Chicago, IL on Sept. 24-27th, 2017. The workshop program can be accessed here.
August 2017: Congratulations to Kyle Hoke for submitting his M.S. Thesis
Congratulations to Kyle Hoke for submitting his M.S. thesis entitled “The Influence of Film Thickness and Stacking Order on the Magnetic Properties of Perovskite Oxide Bilayers”!
June 2017: Publications in Physical Review Materials
Congratulations to Michael Lee for having his work published in the inaugural issue of Physics Review Materials while Rajesh Chopdekar’s work was published in the second issue! According to the editors “this new journal will offer a publication option for a wide variety of materials research, including papers that analyze, characterize, design, or synthesize novel materials of great interest to the multidisciplinary community engaged in materials research.” Michael’s paper entitled “Temperature dependence of ferromagnet-antiferromagnet spin alignment and coercivity in epitaxial micromagnet bilayers” can be accessed here. Rajesh’s paper entitled “Nanostructured complex oxides as a route towards thermal behavior in artificial spin ice systems” can be accessed here.
May 2017:
Congratulations to I-Ting Chiu for passing her Ph.D. preliminary exam!
April 2017: UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Conference
Joseph Brown presented his work in the Takamura Research Group at the UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Conference. The full program can be found here.
February 2017: Yue Jia’s Exit Seminar
Congratulations to Yue Jia for presenting her Exit Seminar to the Materials Science and Engineering Department! The title of the seminar was “Synthesis and Characterization of Ferromagnetic/Antiferromagnetic Perovskite Oxide Superlattices”. The abstract can be found here.
Elizabeth P. Wood Fellowship
Congratulations to Alex Kane for being awarded the Elizabeth P. Wood Fellowship from the Office of Graduate Studies at UC Davis for the end of the 2016-2017 academic year!
January 2017: I-Ting Chiu Joins the TRG
Welcome to I-Ting Chiu!
November 2017: MMM 2017 Meeting – Pittsburgh, PA
Prof. Takamura will be one of the two program co-chairs, along with Prof. Mingzhong Wu from Colorado State University, and conference chair, Pallavi Dhagat from Oregon State University, for the MMM 2017 Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Conference information can be found here.
March 2017: APS March Meeting – New Orleans, LA
Alex Kane and Prof. Takamura will present oral presentations at the APS March Meeting in New Orleans, LA. Prof. Takamura will present a talk entitled “Tailoring Spin Textures in Patterned Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures” on Wednesday, March 15th at 3:54pm in Session P43 on Manganite Films. Alex will present a talk entitled “Cation Valence Control in La0.7Sr0.3Co0.5Mn0.5O3 Thin Films and Bilayers” on Friday, March 17th at 8:12am on Session X43 on Defects and Structural Control in Magnetic Oxide Heterostructures. Alex was awarded an APS March Meeting GMAG Travel Award! Full information on the APS March Meeting can be found here.
January 2017: Pasta Making Class
The Takamura Research Group took some time away from the lab to learn how to make pasta from flour and eggs. Photos courtesy Yue Jia.
Michael Lee’s Food Challenges
The HeartStopper Burger at Burger Saloon.
A ‘Michael’-sized piece of birthday cake
January 2017: ALS-U Workshop
On January 18-20, 2017, the Advanced Light Source (ALS) held a workshop to brainstorm the new science that will be enabled by the planned upgrade to ALS. The upgrade project, known as ALS-U, will boost the brightness, focus, and other properties of the light beams produced at the ALS. Prof. Takamura participated in the workshop and a breakout session on Spin Materials. More information on the workshop can be found here.
November 4th 2016: 4th Annual Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Research Symposium
The 4th Annual ChemE and MSE Research Symposium at UC Davis was held in Kemper Hall on Friday, Nov. 4th, 2016. The event featured nine oral presentations in the morning, and a poster session in the afternoon. Aleksey Ionin and Alex Kane presented oral presentations while Yue Jia presented a poster. All participants commented on the quality of the research being presented, as well as the enthusiastic attendance from both Departments.
Awards were given for the following categories:
Graduate Student Poster Grand Prize:
‘Aerosol Emission During Human Speech’
Sima Asadi, Chemical Engineering, Ristenpart Research Group
Graduate Student Poster Reserve Prize:
‘Response to Extreme Temperatures of Mesoporous Silica MCM-41: Porous Structure Transformation Simulation and Modification of Gas Adsorption Properties’
Shenli Zhang, Materials Science & Engineering, Faller, Castro, and Stroeve Research Groups
Graduate Student Oral Presentation Grand Prize:
‘Dewetting transitions of Au/Ni bilayer films’
Xi Cen, Materials Science & Engineering, van Benthem Research Group
From left to right, Andrew Lange, Jen Staton, Adam Hoffman, David Silberstein, Aleksey Ionin, Alex Kane, and Xi Chen.
November 2016: 2016 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) Conference in New Orleans, LA
Michael Lee and Rajesh Chopdekar presented oral presentations at the upcoming 2016 MMM Conference in New Orleans, LA. Michael’s talk entitled “Temperature and orientation dependent exchange coupling in epitaxial nanomagnets” was presented in the session on Patterned Films on Wednesday, Nov. 2nd, 2016. Rajesh presented a talk entitled “Thermally-achieved low energy states in manganite-based artificial spin ice arrays” also in the session on Patterned Films, and a second talk on “Disentangling strain and charge-mediated magnetoelectric effects in complex oxide-based artificial multiferroic heterostructures” in the session on Complex Oxides: Films and Heterostructures on Wednesday, Nov. 2nd, 2016.
Faculty Search in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering has an open search for an assistant professor position with emphasis in computational materials science and engineering. Click here to see the full details of the job ad.
Flyer for the New Department of Materials Science and Engineering
As of July 1st, 2016, we are officially part of of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering! Click here to see the new Department flyer!
October 2016: 2016 ALS Users Meeting, Berkeley, CA
Prof. Takamura will be giving a talk at a workshop on “Ordering Phenomena in Functional Complex Oxides” as part of the 2016 ALS Users Meeting to be held Oct. 3-5, 2016. Her talk is entitled “Engineering Functional Propertiesin Complex Oxide Nanostructures”.
August 24, 2016: Edmund Mills Exit Seminar
Congratulations to Edmund Mills for presenting his Exit Seminar entitled “Evaluating the rate-dependence of supercapacitor performance using Peukert’s equation” on August 24th!
His abstract can be found here.
Summer 2016:
Prof. Takamura gave an oral presentation at the 2016 Gordon Research Conference on Multiferroic and Magnetoelectric Materials held at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine August 7-12, 2016. Michael Lee participated in the Emerging Leaders in Policy and Public Service (ELIPPS) Program and he worked in the Energy Generation Research Office within the Energy Research and Development Division of the California Energy Commission. Yue Jia had a summer internship with Seagate in Fremont. Prof. Takamura participated in the 2016 Japan-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium organized by the National Academy of Engineering in conjunction with the Engineering Academy of Japan. Alex Kane, Kyle Hoke, and Aleksey Ionin participated at the 8th SSRL School on Synchrotron X-ray Scattering Techniques.
May 2016:
Congratulations to Kyle Hoke for passing his Ph.D. preliminary exam!
Prof. Takamura completed her first half marathon – the Capitola Half Marathon in Santa Cruz, CA
April 2016:
Congratulations to Alex Kane for passing his Ph.D. qualifying exam!
March 2016: 2016 Spring MRS Meeting in Phoenix
(left to right) Rajesh Chopdekar, Yayoi Takamura, Yue Jia and Michael Lee at Blue Hound
Prof. Takamura organized Symposium MD3: Functional Oxide Heterostructures by Design along with Gertjan Koster (University of Twente), Ho Nyung Lee (Oak Ridge National Lab), and Ariando (National University of Singapore) at the 2016 Spring MRS Meeting in Phoenix.
Michael Lee and Rajesh Chopdekar had oral presentations in the morning on Thursday, March 31st, and Yue Jia and Paige Byers had poster presentations in the evening on Wednesday, March 30th.
The symposium program can be found here.
Michael Lee served as one of the student reporters writing brief summaries of presentations that he attended at the meeting. His stories can be found at:
Achieving Absolutely Quantitative Atomic Scale Imaging with the Electron Microscope
Cognitive Device Ionitronics
Nanophases in Complex Oxides
Carbon Nanotube Porins: Biomimetic Membrane Pore Channels
Local Strain Measurements during in situ TEM Deformation with Nanobeam Electron Diffraction
Epitaxial BaTiO3 on Silicon and Silicon Germanium: Nanoscale Characterization, Ferroelectricity and Integration into TiN-Gated Devices
Manipulating room-temperature magnetic skyrmions
Novel displays, smart windows, and other optoelectronics using phase change materials
Development of micron-scaled magnetic flux sources for biological and medical applications
January 31, 2016: Happy Beamline Birthday Michael!
Michael celebrated his birthday with night shift at SSRL, so the group surprised him with Kara’s cupcakes, Patxi’s pizza, and other shenanigans.
January 2016: Kyle Hoke and Atharva Deshpande join the group!
Welcome to Kyle and Atharva!
October 23, 2015: 3rd Annual CHMS Research Symposium
Oct. 5-7, 2015: Advanced Light Source Users’ Meeting
Yue Jia and Michael Lee presented their work during the graduate student poster session at the ALS Users’ Meeting.
Michael Lee during the poster session slam (i.e. 50 sec intro to his poster).
Attendees of the “Nanophases in Functional Materials” Workshop.
October 26, 2015: Biological Engineering and Small-Scale Technologies, UC Merced
Prof. Takamura will give a seminar to the Biological Engineering and Small-Scale Technologies Program at UC Merced. The talk is entitled “Engineering Functional Properties in Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures and Nanostructures”
September 17, 2015: Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley
November 6, 2015: Community College STEM Transfer Day
Students from MESA Community Colleges from around northern California are invited to UC Davis for a one-day event to learn about the opportunities available to transfer students in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. The activities include campus/lab tours, panel discussions with transfer students and faculty, admissions and financial aid information, as well as information on internship and career opportunities.
See Flyer for more information.
October 2015: American Vacuum Society Meeting
Prof. Takamura and Michael Lee will be giving talks at the American Vacuum Society 62nd International Symposium and Exhibition in San Jose in October 2015. Prof. Takamura will be giving an invited talk entitled “Magnetic Interactions at Perovskite Oxide Interfaces” which is scheduled for Tuesday, October 20th, 2015 at 8:00am in Room 230 A in the session “Oxides, Fluorides, and Spin Structures (MI-TuM)”. Michael is giving a contributed talk talk entitled “Control and Characterization of Magnetic Domain Patterns in Complex Oxide Microstructures”, which is scheduled in the same session at 12:00pm.
The conference website is at AVSM.
October 6-7 2015: Advanced Light Source Users Meeting
Binzhi’s work has been selected as an invited talk at the workshop on “Nanophases in Functional Materials” at the ALS User’s Meeting to be held Oct. 6-7th, 2015. The talk is entitled “Tuning interfacial exchange interactions via electronic reconstruction in transition-metal oxide heterostructures”.
The workshop website is here.
August 2-6 2015: Microscopy and Microanalysis 2015 in Portland, OR
Meng Gu, a group alumni, was Honored by the Microscopy Society of America with the Albert Crewe Award. The award recognizes the distinguished contributions to the field of microscopy and microanalysis in the physical sciences by a postdoctoral fellow within six years since doctoral graduation. Meng is being recognized for his outstanding work on the discovery of nickel segregation in battery materials.
Program guide can be found here with Meng Gu’s award details on page 15.
July 2015: Binzhi Li’s Exit Seminar
Congratulations to Binzhi Li for presenting his Exit Seminar entitled “Interfacial Magnetic Phenomena in Transition-Metal Oxide Heterostructures” on Wednesday, July 29th!
The abstract can be found here.
May 23-24, 2015: International Workshop on Advanced Synthesis and Processing Technology for Films and Coatings in Wuhan, China
Prof. Takamura presented a talk entitled “Control of Magnetic Domain Patterns in Complex Oxide Nanostructures” at the International Workshop on Advanced Synthesis and Processing Technology for Films and Coatings hosted by Wuhan University of Technology.
Prof. Takamura at Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan, China.
Prof. Takamura with invited speakers at the International Workshop on Advanced Synthesis and Processing Technology for Films and Coatings hosted by Wuhan University of Technology, China.
May 2015:
Congratulations to Michael Lee for passing his PhD qualifying exam and to Alex Kane and Aleksey Ionin for passing their PhD preliminary exams.
SSRL Scientific Highlight
SSRL has highlighted some of Binzhi’s recent work performed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource and the Advanced Light Source. See link here.
Go Karting Expedition
The winners of the group go-karting expedition were:
(1) The Love Bug (aka Michael Lee)
(2) The Nomad (aka Aleksey Ionin)
(3) Alex (aka Alex Kane)
Also participating were Tom Wynn, Binzhi Li, and Yayoi Takamura.
March 2015: Congratulations to our recent award winners!
Binzhi received the Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) Conference travel award and the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies Travel Award.
Michael is the recipient of the Alfred H. and Marie E. Gibeling Fellowship in recognition of outstanding academic record and promise of productive scholarship. Michael also received the UC Davis & Humanities Graduate Research Award as well as the 2015-2016 Summer Graduate Student Researcher Award from the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies.
Yue was awarded the Topical Group on Magnetism and its Applications (GMAG) student travel award and the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies Travel Award to attend the 2015 American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting.
March 2-6, 2015: American Physical Society March Meeting 2015, San Antonio, TX
Yue gave an oral presentation at the APS conference. She presented her talk entitled “Exchange coupling in(111)-oriented La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/La0.7Sr0.3FeO3 superlattices” in room 207B on Tuesday, March 3 at 4:06pm.
December, 2014: In memory of Dr. Michael Biegalski
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Dr. Michael Biegalski on Saturday, Dec. 20th from a tragic mountain biking accident at Haw Ridge in Oak Ridge, TN. Mike was not only a well-respected research colleague but also a wonderful father and husband, a driven athlete, and a dear friend. He will be missed dearly, but he will not be forgotten.
News Story from Oak Ridge Today
November 3-7, 2014: 59th Annnual Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in Honolulu, HI
Binzhi and Rajesh have had oral presentations accepted at the MMM conference. Binzhi will present “Unconventional Switching Behavior in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/La0.7Sr0.3CoO3Exchange-Spring Behavior” in Coral 5 on Tuesday, November 4 at 8:54am. Rajesh will present “Reversible electric-field driven magnetic and resistive changes in manganite/titanate heterostructures”in South Pacific 1 & 2 on Thursday, November 6 at 9:42am.
A breathtaking view of the Diamond Head State Monument in Honolulu.
November 7, 2014: UC Davis STEM Transfer Day
Prof. Takamura is sponsoring the UC Davis STEM Transfer Day (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics),
a one-day event that brings students from community colleges with Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement
(MESA) programs from around California to UC Davis. The events include a series of workshops and panels to learn
about the academic and research opportunities available on campus. The MESA Programs are designed to aid
educationally disadvantaged students to prepare for and graduate from a four-year college, and they have a proportionally
higher percentage of students who are under-represented minorities, women, and first-generation college
attendees. A flyer may be found here.
October 6-8, 2014: ALS Users’ Meeting in Berkeley, CA
Prof. Takamura will present an invited talk entitled “Engineering Functional Properties in Complex
Oxide Nanostructures”
September 2014: 2014 International Workshop on Oxide Electronics in Bolton Landing, NY
Prof. Takamura will be giving a poster presentation entitled “Control of Magnetic Domain Patterns in Complex Oxide
Nanostructures”. The presentation is scheduled for poster session #2 on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 from 1:30-3:30 pm.
A grand view of the historic Sagamore Resort.
The sun sets over Lake George.
August, 2014:
The group’s work was featured by R&D Magazine and EE Times.
June, 2014: International Union of Materials Research Societies – International Conference on Electronic Materials in Taiwan
Prof. Takamura was a Plenary Speaker, presenting a talk entitled “Control of Magnetic Domain Patterns In Complex Oxide Nanostructures”
April 21-25, 2014: 2014 Materials Research Society Meeting in San Francisco, CA
Prof. Takamura and collaborators will organize Symposium J: Physics of Oxide Thin Films and Heterostructures. Rajesh Chopdekar will give an oral presentation J4.05 entitled “Reversible Electric-Field Driven Magnetization Anisotropy Changes in Manganite/Titanate Heterostructures” on Wednesday, April 23 at 2:45pm and Yue Jia will give an oral presentation J9.04 entitled “Exchange Coupling in (111)-oriented La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/La0.7Sr0.3FeO3 Superlattices” on Friday, April 25 at 9:00am.
March 2014:
Congratulations to Yue and Paige on passing their qualifying exams! The group celebrates at Mikuni.
January 2014:
Michael Lee and Thomas Wynn join the group!
Oct. 29, 2013:
Prof. Takamura gave a talk at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities as part of the College of Science and Engineering Distinguished Women Scientists and Engineers Speakers Program.
Sept. 16-20, 2013: JSAP-MRS Joint Meeting
Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) – Materials Research Society Joint Meeting held in conjunction with the 74th JSAP Autumn Meeting in Kyoto, Japan. Prof. Takamura and collaborators were symposium organizers for Session A: Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of Oxide Nanocomposites and Heterostructures. While in Kyoto, Prof. Takamura found some time to see the historic sites in Kyoto.
Sept. 2-6, 2013 International Conference on Nanoscale Magnetism 2013, Istanbul, Turkey.
Prof. Takamura presented a plenary talk entitled “Controlling Domain Patterns and Switching Behavior in Complex Oxide Nanostructures“
Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque)
April 2013:
March 2013: 
Fall 2012:
Rajesh Chopdekar has joined the Takamura group as a postdoctoral scholar funded by the DARPA Young Faculty Award to explore functionality in complex oxide superlattices and nanoscale oxide structures.
July 1, 2012:
Professor Yayoi Takamura achieves tenure as an Associate Professor.
June 2012:
Congratulations to Chi Heiu (Henry) Vo, Jonathan Shu, and Karl Lukes on their graduation.
April 13, 2012: MRS Spring Meeting, 2012
Vivek Malik, Oral presentation: Magnetic Correlation in Artificial Complex Oxide Heterostructure at MRS spring meeting 2012, San Francisco.
April 13, 2012: APS March Meeting, 2012
Prof. Yayoi Takamura, delivers an invited talk: Domain Structures in Perovskite Oxide Superlattices at the APS March meeting 2012, Boston.
SSRL Scientific Highlight
Resonant X-ray reflectivity work on Perovskite Oxide Superlattices from Takamura Group has been highlighted in the 2012 science summary of Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource
Oct 10, 2011:
Meng Gu, Ph.D. Exit Seminar: Atomic Scale Characterization of Complex Oxide Thin Films 10:15am-11:15am, 1003 Kemper Hall
Sept 30, 2011:
Fan Yang, Ph.D. Exit Seminar: Magnetic and Electrical Properties of Perovskite Oxide Thin Films and Superlattices. 09:00am-10:00am, 1003 Kemper Hall
Sept 2011: DARPA Young Faculty Award
Prof. Yayoi Takamura has been chosen by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a recipient of the Young Faculty Award for her proposal entitled “Interface Controlled Functionality in Perovskite Oxide Superlattices.” This program aims to identify and engage rising stars in junior faculty positions in academia and expose them to Department of Defense needs. DARPA is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military.
July 2011:
Vivek Malik joined Takamura group as post-doctoral fellow on a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship.
April 12, 2011:
Nihan Kemik, Ph.D. Exit Seminar: The Energetics of Oxide Multilayer Systems: SOFC Cathode and Electrolyte Materials. 10:15am-11:15am, 2130 Kemper Hall.