Xu Group

Nithil Harris completed his master’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, with research focus on polymers and microbiology. He briefly worked as a process engineer at a WES Pharma Inc., a generic pharmaceutical company in Maryland, before starting his Ph.D. in Microsystems Engineering at RIT. He is currently a 3rd year student working on 2D materials-based ion gated transistors for neuromorphic computing applications.

Outside of school, Nithil is an avid rock climber and enjoys biking. Also a fan of doing too many things, he is a freelance photographer with the Reporter magazine and a volunteer with RIT Ambulance working towards his EMT certification.

Claire Dantzlerward joined the Xu lab in Summer 2022 as a rising sophomore from the School of Physics and Astronomy. Claire began pursuing her Bachelors in Physics in 2021, and has since changed majors to pursue her B.Sc.-M.S. in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Currently, she is researching the differing methods for exfoliating two-dimensional materials for transistor fabrication.

Outside of the lab, she enjoys drawing, traveling, journaling, and playing piano.

Wyatt Morrell is a second year master’s student in the School of Chemistry and Material Science. During his undergraduate education he studied Physics at Rochester Institute of Technology, and he is currently working on his master’s in Material Science and Engineering. Wyatt joined the Xu Lab in Summer 2022 to work on his MS degree, where his focus is on the fabrication and characterization of electric double layer gated devices.

After a hard day of research, Wyatt enjoys cooking food for friends, playing cooperative video games, and playing Magic the Gathering. When time permits, Wyatt practices his blacksmithing by making cooking implements and various knick-knacks at his propane forge.

Huayuan Han joined the Xu lab in Summer 2023 as a first year MS student in School of Astronomy and Physics. Han is from China and earned his B.S in Physics from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2023. He is currently assisting Wyatt on the fabrication of electric-double layer gate devices and his research focus is on ionic transistors for random access memory.

Outside of lab, he enjoys road trip, playing soccer, reading, photography and cooking. He has traveled to more than half of the states in US.

Jimmy Li joined the Xu lab in Fall 2024 as a first year Master student in the School of Physics and Astronomy. He earned his B.Sc. in Physics from University of Southern California in 2024 and is working towards a Ph.D. in Physics at RIT. He worked as an undergraduate researcher for Dr. Povinelli in the lab of nanophotonics. Jimmy is taking over the fabrication responsibility and characterization of electric double layer gated transistors from Wyatt.

Outside of the lab, Jimmy enjoys reading light novels, playing video games with friends, and driving around. Jimmy is also an anime lover that collects figurines from shows that he loves.

Jake Streamer joined the Xu lab in Spring of 2023 as a sophomore in the Department of Computing Security. Jake’s current research involves creating artificial neural networks that represent and model physical devices based on novel material systems.

Outside of the lab, he enjoys playing ice hockey, hiking, and amateur radio communications.

Steve Zehua Liang joined the Xu lab in Fall 2023 as a third year student in the School of Physics and Astronomy. He had an REU on high energy physics and di-Higgs production at Fermilab and University of Maryland. Steve’s currently furthering his knowledge and understanding of the device physics and the 2D nanolectronics field as a whole.

Outside of the lab, he enjoys ceramics, cooking, drink mixing, board games, PC games, sailing and kayaking. Steve also wants to ask everyone who saw this page: Have you heard of Stellaris?

Jacob Ziegler joined the Xu lab in summer 2024 as a fourth year BS student in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Jacob is working on finite element modeling of ion conductors for artificial neural networks simulation, and for integrating ion and electron transport in modeling to predict ionic and electronic responses in synaptic transistors

Joniel Yege joined Xu lab in 2023 as a first-year undergraduate student in the School of Physics and Astronomy/Electrical Engineering. Joniel is interested in gaining skills regarding the experimental and computational modeling of nanoelectronic systems.

In his free time, Joniel enjoys playing volleyball, skateboarding, and sketching whatever comes to his mind.

Jacob Eisensmith joined the Xu lab in Fall 2022 as a fourth year physics BS student in the School of Physics and Astronomy, and will be graduating his fifth year with a Materials Science and Engineering MS degree. He was also employed at Owl Autonomous Imaging as a junior device engineer. Jacob’s research targets the quantum mechanical impacts on the capacitance of electric double layer systems. His other interests include TCAD and DFT simulation, especially considering nanomaterials.

In his personal life, Jacob is an avid homebrewer and spends time with friends PC gaming.

Jacob graduated from the Xu Group and RIT in 2024 and is now working at Northrop Grumman.

Cori Sutton joined the Xu lab in Summer 2022 as a second year undergraduate student in the School of Physics and Astronomy. He is currently pursuing his Bachelor’s degree and is expected to graduate in 2024. Cori’s current research involves using finite element modeling to study the movement of ions in solid polymer electrolytes and creating a predictive model for ionic responses in synaptic transistors.

Outside of lab, he enjoys snowboarding, skateboarding and he is also an avid guitar player.

Cori graduated from the Xu Group and RIT in 2024 and is now pursuing a PhD at Georgia Tech

Caleb Bush started in the Xu lab in the fall of 2022 as an undergraduate senior in physics. He has had an REU involving condensed matter physics and inter metallic crystal growth at the MagLab(NHMFL) in Tallahassee, Florida. In the Xu lab, he worked on building an artificial neural network and comparing the learning accuracy of different activation functions.

Besides doing physics, Caleb is also the treasurer of RIT’s philosophy club, and he enjoys climbing, exploring, and playing strategy games.

Caleb graduated from Xu Group and RIT in 2023 and is currently working at Northrop Grumman.