Supriyo Datta

Supriyo Datta, the Thomas Duncan Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the only Purdue faculty member ever honored with membership in both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. Datta's groundbreaking work includes introducing spin-orbit coupling as a means to control electron spin using an electric field rather than a magnetic field. This contribution has significantly advanced fields like spintronics and quantum computing. Datta's research focus on current flow in nanoscale electronic devices led to development of a novel approach: quantum transport modeling. By combining the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism from many-body physics with the Landauer formalism from mesoscopic physics, Datta pioneered a methodology that leading semiconductor technology companies have adopted widely in academic research and computer-aided design tools. This approach also has applications in molecular electronics research conducted by quantum chemists. In addition to NAE and NAS membership, Datta has earned recognition including the Proctor Prize from Sigma Xi, multiple awards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a University Research Award from the Semiconductor Industry Association and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.