Rate My Professor Vinod Sangwan

Dr. Vinod Sangwan is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. He earned a B. Tech. in Engineering Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland College Park, where he received the Iskraut award for scoring highest in the Ph.D. qualifier examination under the supervision of Professors Ellen D. Williams and Michael S. Fuhrer. He completed postdoctoral research at Northwestern University with Professors Mark C. Hersam, Lincoln J. Lauhon, and Tobin J. Marks. His research intersects materials science, applied physics, electrical engineering, and chemistry. He leads projects from materials growth to the integration of high-performance electronics and optoelectronics, with fundamental themes including charge transport, defect dynamics, optical processes, heterojunctions, photonics, photovoltaics, and quantum information science.

Dr. Sangwan’s current focus is on bio-realistic computing hardware, exploring tunable nanosystems to emulate neuronal networks and other energy-efficient computing primitives. This work was recognized by the 2021 IEEE Chicago Outstanding Senior Research and Development Award. He is the 2026 IEEE Distinguished Lecturer of Nanotechnology and delivers talks on “Emerging Nanomaterials for Bio-Realistic Neuromorphic Computing.” He develops edge-computing systems that integrate artificial synapses and neurons using nanomaterial-based memristive and heterojunction devices. He has authored more than 130 papers, including 32 as first or co-first author, published in journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Materials. He has mentored more than three dozen students and postdoctoral researchers and serves as co-principal investigator on multiple government- and industry-funded grants. He is a senior member of IEEE and an active member of the American Physical Society, Materials Research Society, American Chemical Society, AVS, SPIE, and AAAS.