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Leah Espenhahn

Education

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Thesis: Heterogeneous Integration of III-V Epitaxial Material for Photonic Devices
August 2020 – Present (expected graduation May 2025), Urbana, IL
GPA 3.85/4.00

Minor in College Teaching – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
August 2022 – Present (expected completion May 2024), Urbana, IL

B.S. in Electrical Engineering — North Carolina State University
August 2016 – May 2020, Raleigh, NC
GPA 4.00/4.00, Summa Cum Laude

Minor in Nano-Science and Technology – North Carolina State University
August 2018 – May 2020, Raleigh, NC

Study Abroad Semester – Adam Mickiewicz University
August 2017 – September 2017, Poznan, Poland

Research Experience

Graduate Research Assistant — Advanced Semiconductor Device and Integration Group
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
July 2020 – Present

    • Researching the heterogeneous integration of III-V material with silicon via epitaxial transfer and the fabrication of photonic devices into this integrated material.

Graduate Research Assistant — MAINTLET
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
July 2022 – Present

    • Interfacing between computer science graduate students and cleanroom facilities and staff to make a “smart” cleanroom
Fabrication Assistant — NCSU Nanofabrication Facility
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
August 2019 – April 2020
    • Calibrated and ran metal deposition tools (ex. e-beam evaporators, DC sputter)
    • Analyzed metal films (ex. profilometer, reflectometer)

Undergraduate Research Assistant — Nano-, Bio-, and Quantum Photonics REU
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
May 2019 – July 2019

    • Developed program to automate analysis of photonic data
    • Performed optical characterization, testing & analysis of photonic structures

Undergraduate Research Assistant — Applied Research Experience in ECE
Oakland University, Rochester, MI
May 2018 – July 2018

    • Designed custom hardware via FPGA to optimize convolutional neural networks

Publications & Presentations

Factors Influencing Researcher Identities in Minority Gender Students in Electrical Engineering
Conference Paper [First author]
October 2024, IEEE FIE

 

Polarization Control in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers via Elliptical Aperture Definition in Optical Coatings
Conference Paper [Co-author]
May 2024, CS MANTECH

 

Silicon Anti-Phase Optical Coatings for High-Power, Single-Mode Operation in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers
Conference Paper [Co-author]
May 2023, CS MANTECH

 

VCSELs on Silicon
Invited Talk
April 2023, Compound Semiconductor (CS) International Conference

 

Heterogeneous Integration via Epitaxial Transfer of GaAs-VCSEL
Poster Presentation
April 2022, Center for Aggressive Scaling by Advanced Processes (ASAP)

 

Heterogeneously Integrated VCSELs on Silicon
Conference Paper [First author]
January 2022, SPIE Photonics West

 

Heterogeneous Integration for Silicon Photonic Systems: Challenges and Approaches
Conference Paper [Co-author]
April 2021, IEEE Electron Devices Technology and Manufacturing Conference

 

Using Microring Resonators for Biological Detection
Poster Presentation
July 2019, Kearns Summer Research Symposium

 

Hardware Implementation of Convolutional Neural Networks
Poster Presentation
July 2018, Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experience

Teaching Experience

Guest Lecturer — Introduction to Digital Materials (MSE 598)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Spring 2023, Spring 2024

    • Lectured on use of digital notebooks for scientific research

Graduate Teaching Assistant — Compound Semiconductors and Devices (ECE 488)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Fall 2023

    • Presented select lectures
    • Developed homeworks, maintained website, ran weekly office hours

Graduate Teaching Assistant — Semiconductor Devices (ECE 340)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Fall 2021, Spring 2023

    • Developed homeworks and ran semiweekly office hours

Graduate Teaching Assistant — Fields and Waves I (ECE 329)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Spring 2022

    • Head online TA
    • Updated online resources, provided semiweekly office hours

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant — Intro. to Signals, Circuits and Systems (ECE 200)
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Fall 2018

    • Instructed students in introductory hands-on circuits labs

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant — Computer Systems Programming (ECE 209)
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Spring 2018

    • Assisted students with their C programming projects & answered relevant programming questions

Service

President of Optica Student Chapter
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
August 2023 – Present

    • Organize lecture series with internal and external speakers discussing optics

President of Historically Underrepresented Genders (HUG) Initiative
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
January 2023 – Present

    • Mentoring program for undergraduate, underrepresented ECE students on their academic and career goals
    • Research into underrepresented genders and researcher identities in ECE

Awards

IDEA Institute GIANT Student Diversity Leadership Award – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2023
Promise of Excellence Fellowship – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2020 – 2021

Dean’s List – North Carolina State University, 2016 – 2020

University Scholar – North Carolina State University, 2016 – 2020

Dean’s Citation – University of Rochester, 2019