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IEE selected this year’s Excellence in Research and Frenkel Foundation fellows. The IEE Excellence in Research Graduate Fellowship is awarded to one PhD candidate in recognition of their cutting-edge research in sustainability and/or energy efficiency. The Frenkel Foundation Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Peter J. Frenkel Foundation. This fellowship is awarded to students who have reached doctoral candidacy and is intended as an additive to the student’s existing funding, but may also be used in cases where support for the student has been exhausted towards the end of their candidacy.

More information on Excellence in Research Fellowships
More information on Frenkel Foundation Fellowships

Introducing the 20-21 Excellence in Research Fellow:


Akhil Mauze
Akhil Mauze is a PhD candidate in the Department of Materials working in Professor Jim Speck’s group on the ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor β-Ga2O3. He received his Bachelor’s degree from UCLA in Materials Science and Engineering in 2016. His research addresses the need for energy efficient power conversion. Conventional semiconductor materials show reduced efficiency for the high voltage and high frequency power switching ranges required for modern power electronics. Mauze’s research focuses on the development of β-Ga2O3, a semiconductor that shows promising properties for these applications due to its high breakdown electric field, doping capabilities, and availability of melt grown substrates. At UCSB, he grows thin films of β-Ga2O3 via plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Through growth studies and characterization of the structural and electronic properties of β-Ga2O3 and its related alloys we can better understand the potential and limitations of this materials system. Additionally, through development of doping and heterostructures via epitaxial growth his work aims to further improve β-Ga2O3 based devices. 

Introducing the 20-21 Frenkel Foundation Fellows:


Nora Schopp
Nora Schopp holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and a M.Sc. in Materials Chemistry and Catalysis from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, with a research focus on sustainability.  She is a current PhD candidate performing research in the field of Organic Photovoltaics at the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids under the supervision of Professor Quyen Nguyen. Nora combines a wide range of material characterization techniques with device physics and optical simulations in her work. Her research contributes to the in-depth understanding of state-of-the art OPVs, including (semi-)transparent solar cells for building-integrated photovoltaics.


Liu Liu
Liu Liu is a fifth year PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science, under the supervision of Professor Yuan Xie and Assistant Professor Yufei Ding. His research focuses on efficient Deep Learning training and inference at the intersection of learning algorithms and computer architectures.