Florida Tech Faculty Member Earns NSF Grant for Thin Film Work

– Florida Tech associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Pei-feng Hsu, has earned a $149,000 grant from the National Science Foundation
(NSF) for studies on thin film materials. The materials are used in diverse scientific and engineering applications such as semiconductor chips, solar
cells and in electro-optical components.

Hsu’s project will seek to predict the radiative properties of thin film, an understanding that is critical in manufacturing to ensure quality and
reliability. He and his team will develop analytical models, using the university’s “Bluemarlin” 48-processor computer cluster. The cluster is supported by
another, previous NSF grant.

“The applications of this analytical and experimental study, among many others, include the design, optimization and control of thermal processing. These
applications are critical to manufacturing current and next generations of semiconductors and many other thin film materials,” said Hsu.

Florida Tech offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering.