Faculty

Research Center Affiliations:

• The Focus Center: Interconnections for Gigascale Integration»
• Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center»
• Multiscale Science and Engineering Center»
• Center for Integrated Electronics»
• Center for Automation Technologies and Systems»

General Areas of Research:

· Thermodynamics
· Nanotechnology
· Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems
· Heat Transfer

Research Activities:

Dr. Borca-Tasciuc's research includes:

• Nanoscale/ Microscale Heat Transfer and Thermal Phenomena
• Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS)
• Nanotechnology, Energy Conversion

Borca-Tasciuc is the director of the Nanoscale Thermophysics and Energy Conversion Laboratory (NanoTEC) on the Rensselaer campus. His research concentrations include nanoscale/microscale heat transfer and energy conversion, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and nanotechnology. His studies in nanostructured thermoelectronics involve characterizing thermoelectric properties of thin-film nanostructured materials and individual nanowires, identifying high figure of merit nanostructures, and developing fabrication and testing strategies for low-dimensional thermoelectric energy conversion devices.

Borca-Tasciuc's research into thermal transport in nanostructures includes performing experimental measurements of thermophysical properties on both thin-film nanostructured materials and individual nanostructures, improving the understanding of the relation between structural and growth parameters and effective thermal properties of nanostructures, and optimizing the heat transfer in nanostructures by controlling the mechanisms responsible for heat transport at the nanoscale level.

In his research into micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems, Borca-Tasciuc is working on energy conversion, chemical and biological detection, fast optical switching, flow control, and inertial sensors, as well as test-structures for thermo-fluid and thermoelectric characterization.

His current research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Sandia National Laboratories.