Alireza Nojeh

Wall Scholar

Title

Professor

Department/School

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Faculty

Applied Science

University

UBC

Geographic Location

Canada
Alireza Nojeh

Alireza Nojeh received his BS and MS in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology. His work there focused on optoelectronic modulators based on interface charge layers. He then received a DEA in electronics/optoelectronics from the University of Paris XI – Orsay, where he worked on high electron mobility transistors, and a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University (2006). There, his research was on nanoscale electron emitters based on carbon nanotubes before joining UBC’s department of electrical and computer engineering. He is also a professional engineer of British Columbia.

His technical interests are still in nanotechnology, in particular in carbon nanotube devices; interaction of light with nanostructures; electron sources, vacuum electronics and electron microscopy; thermionic and thermoelectric energy conversion; solid-state electronics; micro/nanofabrication; and modeling and simulation of nanoscale structures. Among his main contributions are the discoveries of the “electron stimulated field-emission” and “heat trap” effects. Dr. Nojeh’s work has been largely interdisciplinary, involving collaborations across engineering, physics and chemistry.

Primary Recipient Awards

Alireza Nojeh – Wall Scholars – 2015

Dr. Nojeh will expand the scope of this interdisciplinary research to mathematical, social and environmental sciences, through activities under three main themes

  1. developing a better understanding of the societal and environmental aspects of clean energy and sustainability, in order to put his work on nanotechnology for clean energy in perspective and guide it more effectively;
  2. exploring the concepts of vacuum, dimensionality and nonlinearity that have been prominent in his research in nanotechnology and energy conversion, at a more abstract level and in various other contexts;
  3. furthering his understanding of the potential health hazards and benefits of nanotechnology.
Alireza Nojeh – Wall Scholars – 2014

As a Wall Scholar, Dr. Nojeh hopes to pursue activities in two directions: on the more concrete side, he plans to further study the physics of heat trap in nanostructures for energy conversion and phononic devices, gain an understanding of the importance of clean energy in the context of climate change, and continue a newly-formed collaboration with life scientists on using nanostructures to study transport phenomena inside cells. On the more exploratory side, he is interested in the questions of meta-disciplinarity, what natural scientists and engineers can learn from humanists and social scientists, and what the inherent value of natural sciences might be- beyond the realms of human and social experience.

Co-Principal Investigator Awards

Fabian Pease – International Visiting Research Scholars – 2015