Biography

Dr. Stephen Fonash holds the Bayard D. Kunkle Chair in Engineering Sciences and is the Director of the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization at Penn State. He is the founding director of the Penn State Nanofabrication Facility, which is a national R&D user facility and one of the "charter" institutions of the National Science Foundation`s (NSF) National Nanofabrication Users Network (NNUN). Dr. Fonash is currently the director of the PSU site of the National Nanofabrication Infrastructure Network (NNIN), the NSF`s successor to NNUN. He is also currently director of Pennsylvania Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology (NMT) Partnership and of its NSF Advanced Technology Education Center in Nanotechnology. Prof. Fonash`s education contributions focus on nanotechnology workforce development and on nanotechnology education at the secondary and post-secondary level. His research activities encompass the processing and device physics of micro- and nanostructures. Current research programs include studies of the effects of nanoparticle plasmon-related enhancement of optical characterization techniques, electrical sensing based on nanowires, solar cells exploiting nanotechnology, and nanowire thin film transistors on glass. Dr. Fonash`s industry activities include his founding of the nanotechnology company NanoHorizons and his serving as a consultant to a variety of firms. He has published over 250 refereed papers in the areas of education, nanotechnology, photovoltaics, microelectronics devices and process, sensors, and TFTs. He has also published one book, contributed to numerous book chapters, and holds 22 patents in his research areas. Prof. Fonash received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and of the Electrochemical Society.