Students and Work Hours
Undergraduates and Hours
- Nearly 50% of the research assistants in our group are undergraduates.
- On average, they work 15 hours per week during the semester and 40 hours per week during breaks.
Underrepresented Students:
- 60% are from underrepresented groups—minorities and women—and/or from underutilized groups including non-traditional students over 25 years old, military veterans, and the first in their families to attend college.
- 95% are from geographically under represented regions of the country, relative to research dollars.
What Students Gain
- Extensive training on various instrumentation and fabrication and synthesis techniques, particularly in the initial six months
- An understanding of team work and team design that mirrors the expectations of industry laboratories they may participate in upon graduation
- Exposure to a broad array of multidisciplinary research such as nanomaterials, biomaterials, biochemistry, photonics, electronic and optical and biomedical devices, and surface science
- Training and course work in publishing and presenting to help them participate in the broader research community by producing journal and conference manuscripts, posters, and presentations
- Exposure to national and international university and industry collaborations such as collaborations with Caltech, Tech. Univ. Munich, Technische Universität Wien-Austria, SEMATECH, Inter-University Microelectronics Center- Belgium, Ludwig-Maximlians University-Germany, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia-Italy, Technische and Universität München-Germany
- The opportunity to manage projects and design experiments
- Research experience, which coupled with high academic standards required for group participation, makes them highly attractive to graduate schools and industry.
How our Students Participate in the Research Community
- Awards — Through 2010, undergraduate and graduate students in our group have received over 65 awards, scholarships and fellowships
- Advanced Studies — Upon graduation, undergraduate researchers have been accepted to PhD programs including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of California-Santa Barbara, Purdue University, and Caltech.
- Employment — Undergraduate and graduate students have been employed by National Institute of Standards & Technology, Micron Technology, Photronics, and Freescale Semiconductor, among others.
- Journal articles—60% undergraduate and 60% graduate students
- Conference papers—40% undergraduate and approximately 55% graduate students
- Conference presentations (oral and poster)—80% undergraduate and 80% graduate students
- Publications and Presentations — Through 2010, students in the group have produced
Current Students
Graduate Students
| Name | Major | Date Started | Current Project |
| German Barcenas | MSE | Spring 2019 | Quantum DNA |
| Simon Roy | MSE | Fall 2018 | Quantum DNA |
| Austin Biaggne | MSE | Summer 2018 | Quantum DNA |
| Drew Lysne | MSE | Fall 2017 | DNA Nanotech |
| Maia Ketteridge | MSE | Summer 2021 | Quantum DNA |
| Nicholas Wright | MSE | Spring 2022 | Quantum DNA |
| Ryan Rau | MSE | Summer 2022 | Quantum DNA |
Undergraduate Students
| Name | Major | Date Started | Current Project |
| Ben Bailey | MSE | Summer 2022 | Surface Science Lab |
| Victor Nguyen | Business and Economic Analytics | Spring 2021 | Surface Science Lab |
| Nolan Olaso | Surface Science Lab |
Former Students
Graduate Students
| Name | Major | Date Started | Date Graduated | Now At |
| Betsy Cheek | ECE | Fall 2001 | Freescale Semiconductor | |
| Rex Oxford | MSE | Summer 2002 | Boise State University, College of Engineering | |
| Russ Benson | ECE | Summer 2002 | Micron Technology | |
| Tim Lawrence | ECE | Summer 2002 | Puget Sound Naval Shipyard | |
| Carry Lawrence | ECE | Fall 2002 | Puget Sound Naval Shipyard | |
| Jen Cole | MSE | Summer 2003 | Idaho Department of Environmental Quality | |
| Michael Ogas | ECE | Summer 2003 | Micron Technology | |
| Richard Southwick | ECE | Summer 2003 | NIST | |
| David Araujo | MSE | Fall 2004 | Fall 2008 | MP Mask Technology Center |
| Kendra Coonse | Biology | Summer 2006 | U. of Washington Medical School | |
| Alex English | ECE | Summer 2008 | Micron Technology | |
| Hieu Bui | ECE | Fall 2006 | NRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory | |
| Demmelash Mengistu | MSE | Fall 2010 | Summer 2012 | Micron Technology |
| Craig Onodera | MSE | Summer 2009 | Spring 2012 | SDC Materials, Inc. |
| Chris Buu | ECE | Summer 2006 | Deloitte | |
| Blake Rapp | ECE | Spring 2010 | Micron Technology | |
| William P. Klein | MSE | Fall 2011 | Fall 2016 | NRC Postdoctoral Reseach Fellow at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory |
| Ann Delaney | MSE | Spring 2015 | Fall 2016 | Micron School of MSE |
| Xiaoping Olson | MSE | Summer 2012 | Fall 2016 | ASML, Engineer |
| Juan Flores-Estrada | MSE | Fall 2015 | Micron Technology | |
| Amanda Strong | Chemistry | Summer 2014 | Micron Technology | |
| Brittany Cannon | MSE | Summer 2012 | Spring 2018 | Micron Technology |
| Shohei Kotani | MSE | Spring 2013 | Spring 2018 | ASML, Application Engineer |
| Sadao Takabayashi | MSE | Summer 2011 | Summer 2014 | DNA Nanotech |
| Brett Ward | MSE | Fall 2012 | Summer 2020 | DNA Nanotech & Nanophotonics |
| Michael Tobiason | MSE | Fall 2012 | Fall 2019 | DNA Nanotech |
| Steven Letourneau | MSE | Summer 2014 | Spring 2018 | ASM America in Phoenix, AZ |
| Christopher Green | MSE | Summer 2014 | Fall 2018 | DNA Nanotech & Nanophotonics |
| Lance Patten | MSE | Fall 2014 | Fall 2016 | Quantum DNA |
| Sara Goltry Kuratis | MSE | Summer 2011, Summer 2017 | Atomic Layer Deposition | |
| Ryan Thompson | CS | Winter 2008 & Fall 2014 | Boise State Multilayer Dielectric MOS Energy Band Diagram Program & FieldSync™ |
|
| Donald Kellis | MSE | Fall 2010 | Spring 2020 | Quantum DNA |
| Jonathan Huff | MSE | Spring 2017 | Summer 2023 | Quantum DNA |
Former Students
Undergraduate Students
| Name | Major | Date Started | Date Graduated | Now At |
| Jose Gomez | ECE | Summer 2001 | Micron Technology | |
| Kyle See | ME | Spring 2002 | Power Engineers | |
| Rob Hansen | ECE | Summer 2002 | Micron Technology | |
| Zak Clark | MSE | Fall 2002 | Zephyr Photonics | |
| Wendy Wilson | ECE | Fall 2002 | ||
| Dorian Kiri** | ECE | Spring 2003 | Micron Technology | |
| Nate Stutzke | ECE | Spring 2003 | Ball Aerospace | |
| David Jenkins | ECE | Spring 2004 | Photronics | |
| Patrick Nagler | ECE | Spring 2004 | Micron Technology | |
| David Whelchel | ECE | Summer 2004 | Micron Technology | |
| Pedro Cahuana | ECE | Fall 2004 | Hewlett Packard | |
| Mark Elgin | ECE | Fall 2004 | Kimberly Clark | |
| Zach Heuman | MSE | Spring 2005 | Spring 2006 | Micron Technology |
| Josh Kiepert | ECE | Spring 2005 | Boise State ECE PhD Program | |
| SangHyun Park | ECE | Spring 2005 | Aptina Imaging | |
| Patrick Price*,** | MSE | Spring 2005 | Spring 2008 | BSU, Research Engineer |
| Ricardo Ayllon | ECE | Summer 2005 | Pioneer Health Services | |
| Terry Gorseth | ECE | Summer 2005 | CH2M-Hill/Washington Group, Inc. | |
| Dave Estrada* | ECE | Fall 2005 | Boise State University MSE Assistant Professor | |
| Kaci Bloxham | MSE | Spring 2006 | Fall 2009 | Idaho Gold and Silver, Owner |
| Jonathan Henderson | ME | Summer 2006 | PhD Bioengineering Purdue University; Research Engineer, DePuy Orthorpaedics, Inc. | |
| Justin Reed | ECE | Summer 2006 | INL | |
| Matt Reinhold | MSE | Summer 2006 | Spring 2009 | UC Santa Barbara MSE PhD Program |
| Austin Johnson | MSE | Fall 2007 | Fall 2008 | Photronics, Process Engineer |
| TyRee Lee | ECE | Fall 2007 | Boise State Undergrad | |
| Davis Daniel | MSE | Spring 2008 | Spring 2010 | Boise State MSE Graduate Program |
| Rebecca Hodkin | MSE | Spring 2008 | Spring 2009 | American Systems, Operations and Assessment Analyst |
| Mallory Yates | ME | Winter 2008 | Boise State ME Undergrad | |
| Carson Kidwell | MSE | Fall 2009 | Boise State Biology Undergrad | |
| Amber Cox | MSE | Spring 2008 | Micron Technology | |
| Ross Butler | ECE | Summer 2007 | Hewlett-Packard | |
| Lloyd Lowe II | ECE | Winter 2008 | Puget Sound Naval Shipyard | |
| Dave Schenker | MBE | Spring 2008 | Greenspeed / Boise State UG | |
| Linnia Hawkins | MSE | Summer 2010 | University of Colorado | |
| Stephanie Barnes | MSE | Spring 2008 | Spring 2011 | CalTech, Pursuing a Ph.D. in Bioengineering |
| Pammy Walker | MSE | Winter 2008 | ||
| Glen Purnell | MBE | Winter 2009 | Boise Inc | |
| Shane Pugmire | ECE | Winter 2010 | Financial Insurance Group National | |
| Ryan Thompson | ECE | Winter 2008 | FieldSync™ & Boise State CS MS Program | |
| Jessica Minick | MSE | Winter 2009 | Spring 2012 | Invenio Solutions, HR Support Coordinator |
| Shem Purnell | ECE | Winter 2009 | Adecco Engineering and Technical | |
| Allen Benz | CS | Spring 2011 | Boise State Computer Science Undergrad | |
| Tyler Clark | Physics | Summer 2011 | Boise State Physics Undergrad | |
| Kimball Anderson | MBE | Spring 2011 | Boise State Mechanical Engineering Undergrad | |
| Amber Thompson (Lay) | MSE | Summer 2011 | NxEdge | |
| Courtney Hollar | MBE | Winter 2010 | Univ. of Idaho ME Ph.D. program | |
| Noah Morris | ECE | Winter 2010 | Control Engineering | |
| Donald Kellis | MSE | Fall 2010 | may 2020 | |
| Nick Luong** | ECE | Spring 2011 | University of California – San Diego PhD program | |
| Nick Schmidt | MSE | Spring 2011 | Spring 2013 | University of Washington PhD program |
| Dominic Wayda | CS | Summer 2011 | Nanophotonics | |
| Lejmarc Snowball | MSE | Summer 2010 | Spring 2014 | Tokyo Electron, Process Engineering Technician |
| Jasen Nielsen | MBE | Summer 2012 | Engineer at the Puget Spund Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA. | |
| Kelly Schutt | MSE | Winter 2012 | Spring 2016 | Oxford, Pursuing PhD (on Marshall Fellowship) |
| Corey Efaw | MBE | Spring 2013 | Boise State MSE Ph.D. program | |
| Adam Solomon | MBE | Summer 2013 | Constellium-UACJ | |
| JT Sam | MBE | Summer 2013 | ||
| Brain Combs | Chemistry | Summer 2013 | ||
| Sam Haigh | MBE | Spring 2014 | ||
| Steve Johns | MSE | Summer 2014 | Spring 2017 | Boise State MSE Ph.D. program |
| Griff Allen | MSE | Summer 2014 | COEN Machine Shop | |
| Nick LaCombe | MSE | Summer 2014 | ||
| Elijah Spears | MSE | Summer 2014 | Spring 2016 | Process Engineer, Micron Technology |
| Katie Livingston Yocham | MBE | Summer 2014 | Boise State MBE Accelerated MS program | |
| Daniel Kelly | MSE | Summer 2014 | ON Semiconductor | |
| Jesse Schimpf | MSE | Spring 2016 | Spring 2020 | Graduate School - UC Berkeley |
| Olivia Maryon | MSE | Summer 2017 | Spring 2020 | Graduate School - Boise State PhD in MSE |
| Kari Livingston | MBE | Spring 2015 | Surface Science Lab | |
| Sam Ryan | Bishop Kelly High School | Summer 2016 | Surface Science Lab | |
| William Crow | MSE | Winter 2015 | Spring 2018 | Micron manufacturing technician |
| Tyler Webb | MSE | Summer 2017 | Spring 2020 | Space Dynamic Laboratory - North Logan, Utah |
| Mayzie Houdek | MSE | Summer 2020 | Spring 2021 | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Hannah Byers | MSE | Spring 2020 | Spring 2022 | Arizona State University |
| Celine Tran | Biological Sciences | Fall 2016 | ||
| Jake Soares | Physics | Summer 2017 | ||
| Karen Perez | MBE | Summer 2017 | ||
| Sophia Mitchell | MSE | Spring 2019 | Spring 2021 | |
| Ashton Enrriques | MSE | Summer 2019 | Spring 2022 | Park AFT |
| Audrey Parker | MSE | Summer 2019 | Spring 2022 | MIT |
| Alejandra Almaraz | MSE | Spring 2022 | ||
| Fabian Molina | Pre-Engineering (CWI) | Spring 2022 |
* : Lead Undergraduate Research Assistant
**: Top Ten Scholar