Students

PhD Students

Heng-Ray (Henry) Chuang

PhD in Materials EngineeringExpected 2029

chaung55 AT Purdue DOT Edu

Heng-Ray Chuang earned his BS from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, and his MS degree from Cornell University. During his time at Cornell, he acquired experience with operating an UHV system to investigate the ALD and area-selective ALD of aluminum precursors. He joined RISE lab at Purdue in Fall 2024 to pursue his PhD degree in Materials Engineering. With the support from the Fulbright Fellowship, he will focus his research on materials growth for device fabrication. Besides doing research, he enjoys playing badminton and Fortnite. After graduating from Purdue, he anticipates benefiting the semiconductor industry through his experiences in cultural exchange and semiconductor processing.

Ram Munde

PhD in Materials EngineeringExpected 2029

rmunde AT Purdue DOT Edu

Ram Munde is a PhD student in the RISE group. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, where he worked on 2D MXene and material characterization. His current research focuses on semiconductor modeling, nano-scale heat transfer, and advanced semiconductor packaging. Ram aims to tackle a broad range of nanoscale research challenges in electronic devices and their integration into key applications. Outside of research, he enjoys hiking and playing cricket.

Yifan (Linus) Wang

PhD in Electrical and Computer EngineeringExpected 2029

wang4838 AT purdue DOT edu

Yifan (Linus) Wang joined as an ECE Ph.D. student in Fall 2024. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2024. His previous research on semiconductor heterojunction grafting includes p+/n+ GaAs/Si and Si/Si Esaki diode, and p+Si/n-GaAsSb photodiodes fabrication with Al₂O₃ atomic layer deposition (ALD) buffer layer. His research interests lie in semiconductor device fabrication and characterization. Expected to graduate as an ECE PhD in 2029.

Zeyu Cao

PhD in Materials EngineeringExpected 2030

cao565 AT purdue DOT edu

Zeyu Cao received his M.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University in 2025 and his B.E. degree in Materials Forming and Control Engineering from Northeastern University (China). His research experience spans zwitterionic polymer-lipid systems, as well as metallic materials. His current research interests focus on materials design for semiconductor devices using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Outside of research, he enjoys cycling and playing soccer.

Saumik Dey Shovan

PhD in Electrical and Computer EngineeringExpected 2030

sshovan AT purdue DOT edu

Saumik Dey Shovan is a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. He received his MASc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from York University (Toronto, Canada) and his BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Dhaka (Bangladesh). His current research focuses on the thermal and dielectric characterization of semiconductor materials for heterogeneous integration. Previously, his research included laser-induced graphene-based electrochemical sensors and printed electronic devices, as well as nanopriming and nanomaterials-enabled approaches for sustainable agriculture and thin-film solar cell performance optimization.

Hyeonjun Bae

PhD in Materials EngineeringExpected 2030

bae123 AT purdue DOT edu

Hyeonjun Bae joined the RISE Lab at Purdue University in Fall 2025. He received his B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Korea University in Seoul in August 2025. During an internship at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, he worked on modeling, electrical poling, and characterization of ferroelectric thin films for quantum nanophotonic devices. At Purdue, his research interests focus on modeling, fabrication, and electrical testing of memory semiconductor devices for efficient and reliable neuromorphic computing. In his free time, he enjoys running and playing tennis.

Masters Students

Noah Vaillancourt

MS in Materials EngineeringExpected 2027

nvaillan AT Purdue DOT Edu

I am an MS student in MSE with an interest in semiconductor modelling and simulation. My primary research project is funded by Nuclear Regulatory Comission to study the effect of radiation in different semiconductors and dielectrics. Also, I am working with Sentaurus TCAD software for the modelling of memristors and RRAM devices. Additionally, I have a dye automation programming/machine learning project. I love being outside and both playing and watching sports, as well as reading. In the future, I hope to continue working in the semiconductor research industry.

Undergraduate Students

Johanna Walther

Major: Materials Engineering

walther4 AT purdue DOT edu

I am a current sophomore at Purdue University majoring in Materials Engineering. In the past, I researched in Purdue's Department of Chemistry at the Andrews Lab under Dr. Justin Andrews, where I synthesized two electrically conductive metal-organic frameworks using a novel procedure. I was then selected for the 2025 Materials for Future Computing REU at Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Under Dr. Rachel Kurchin and Dr. Lisa Porter, I conducted a study on the morphological mechanisms of gallium oxide phase transformations. I presented my findings at CMU and at TECHCON 2025 in Austin, Texas. I am now part of the RISE group at Purdue led by Dr. Raisul Islam, where I will be studying thermal transport in semiconductors.