Daniel Gall

Associate Professor

Affiliation

School of Engineering
Department of Materials Science & Engineering
The Center for Advanced Interconnect Systems Technologies
Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center
Multiscale Science and Engineering Center
Center for Integrated Electronics

Education

Ph.D., Physics, University of Illinois
M.S., Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland
B.S., Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland

Background

Prof. Gall has been a Visiting Scientist at the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Illinois, has served as Assistant Editor and Editorial Board Member for Thin Solid Films, and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A. He is the elected secretary of the AVS Advanced Surface Engineering Division and serves as session chair, program committee chair, and proceedings editor for the International Conference for Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films and the AVS International Symposium.

Research Interests

• Nanomaterials
• Thin Film
• Tribology
• Solar energy
• Electronic materials
• Nanotechnology
• Advanced materials

Thin film and nanostructure growth from the vapor phase, with particular focus on the atomic-level processes that control surface diffusion, growth kinetics, and microstructural evolution. Atomic shadowing and ion-surface interactions are exploited to design nanostructures with applications as sensors, electronic materials, self-lubricious hard coatings, and energy conversion devices.

Awards

• 2007, Career Award, National Science Foundation
• 2008, Young Faculty Researcher Award,
  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 2007, Outstanding Research Award, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Engineering
• 2006, Alfred H. Geisler Memorial Award for "Outstanding Contributions in Education and Thin Film Growth Research,"
• 2006, Young Researcher Award, ASM International
• 2005, PRF new faculty grant, American Chemical Society
• 2001, Prof. Gall's results on novel transition-metal nitrides selected as one of "the 100 most important scientific discoveries supported by the Office of Science during the past two and a half decades," The U.S. Department of Energy
• 2000, AVS Dorothy and Earl S. Hoffman Scholarship, American Vacuum Society 47th International Symposium.
• 1992-1994, Gruniger Fellowship, Burgergemeinde Basel-Stadt