People
Principal Investigator

Wenwen Zhao is an Assistant Professor in ESCE at RPI since July 2025. She obtained her Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Cornell University in 2025. She is the recipient of Kavli Institute at Cornell (KIC) Graduate Fellowship and Nellie Ye-Poh Lin Whetten Memorial Award. She likes hiking and dancing.
Her research focuses on semiconductor devices and integration using ultra-wide bandgap materials, with an emphasis on high-frequency, high-Q, and integrable acoustic filters. She is particularly interested in monolithic integration of acoustic and electronic devices for RF systems, multifunctional sensing, and quantum technologies.
Ph.D. Students

Siyuan Alpha Ma
Alpha joined the group in Fall 2025 after earning his M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Physics and Math in 2022. As a Ph.D. student, his research focuses on modeling and characterization of III-Nitride acoustic and electronic devices. His M.S. research was on GaN HEMT modeling and characterization.

Hemant Gulupalli
Hemant joined the group in Fall 2025 after earning his M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University. As a Ph.D. student, his research focuses on fabrication and characterization of III-Nitride acoustic and electronic devices. His M.S. research was on Mist-CVD growth of α-Ga₂O₃, β-Ga₂O₃, NiO, GeO₂, and the fabrication of NiO/Ga₂O₃ heterojunctions for high-power electronics.
M.S. Students

Meftah Zaki
Meftah Zaki started his M.S. in Electrical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Fall 2025. Previously, he worked as an electrical engineer specializing in PCB design, EMC testing, and medical device development. He is now pursuing emerging interests in the field of semiconductors such as hybrid sensing and advanced fabrication, aiming to help drive innovation in these areas.
Undergraduate Researchers

Massimo Mikio Martini
Max joined the group in Fall 2025. He is an Electrical Engineering major graduating in Spring 2027, with concentrations in Microelectronics & Photonics and Mixed-Signal Design. Max is assisting with the characterization and fabrication of III-V semiconductor devices.

Junjie Xie
Junjie joined the group in Fall 2025. He is an Electrical Engineering major graduating in Spring 2026, with a focus on the full flow of integrated circuits, including design, fabrication, and device simulation. His interests lie in solid-state physics, device principles, and VLSI design. In the group, Junjie will assist with semiconductor device processing while also contributing to device modeling and simulation using TCAD tools.
Yuming Tseng
Yuming joined the group in Fall 2025.
Yuanjia Zhang
Yuanjia joined the group in Fall 2025.