Prof. Ethan C. Ahn
Prof. Ethan Ahn joined the faculty of Electrical Engineering (EE) at George Mason University in 2023. He holds the VMEC endowed professorship. He was an Assistant (2016-2022) and Associate (2022-2023) Professor at UTSA (the University of Texas at San Antonio). Previously, he served as a Senior Panel Process Engineer at Apple, Inc. (Cupertino, CA) and as a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in EE at Stanford University in 2015, under the supervision of Prof. H.-S. Philip Wong (https://nano.stanford.edu). Before joining Stanford, he was a research scientist with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Seoul, Korea (2007-2010). He is the author of over 80 peer-reviewed research journal and conference papers and wrote one book chapter of Emerging Nanoelectronic Devices. Prof. Ahn has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Naval Research Laboratory Summer Fellowship (2022), the prestigious AFOSR and NSF grants (2019-2022), and the Air Force Research Laboratory Summer Fellowship (2019-2021). He currently serves as an editorial board member for Scientific Reports, has served as a technical committee member for IEEE EDS (2017-2020) Optoelectronic Devices, and currently serves as Vice Chair for IEEE EDS Northern Virginia/Washington DC Chapter. He loves music and wine, being an amateur guitarist and a collector of California Napa Cab wines.
Research Associates and Consultants
Dr. Sezin Sayin
Process Engineer at Mason NanoFab Facility (NFF)
Previous Degree: PhD in Electrical Engineering, George Washington University
Dissertation Topic: Development of Liquid-Phase Plasmonic Sensor Platforms for Biomedical Diagnostic Applications
Research Interest: Plasmonics, Nanofabrication & Nanocharacterization
Graduate Students
PhD Candidate
Fitunerediate G. Gebeyehu
Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)
QSEC (Quantum Science & Engineering Center) Summer GRA (Mason Office of the Provost, Graduate Division, 2025)
Program at Mason: PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Previous Degree: BS in Electrical Engineering, Bahir Dar University (Ethiopia)
Research Interest: 2D Materials and Quantum Devices
Rifa T. Rupoma
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA, Department of ECE)
Program at Mason: PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Previous Degree: BS in Electrical, Electronic, and Communication Engineering, Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), Dhaka (Bangladesh)
Research Interest: High Temperature Reliability of Memory
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MS Candidate
Pranav U. Choori
Process Engineer at Mason NFF
ECS Travel Grant Awardee (2025, Electronics/Photonics Division)
Program at Mason: BS/MS in Electrical Engineering
Research Interest: Nanofab, PCM (Phase Change Memory)
Khang B. Diep
STEM Student Employment Program (SSEP) at US Naval Research Lab
Program at Mason: BAM (Bachelor's to Accelerated Master's) in Electrical Engineering
Research Interest: Large-scale Exfoliation of 2D Materials, Light-Matter Interaction
John A. Baban
Program at Mason: MS in Electrical Engineering
Previous Degree: BS in Physics, George Mason University
Research Interest: Hardware Security of Emerging Nonvolatile Memory
Nigama V. Vajjula
Program at Mason: MS in Electrical Engineering
Previous Degree: BT in Biomedical Engineering, Lovely Professional University (India)
Research Interest: Finite Element Simulation (COMSOL)
Hwijung Kang
Program at Mason: MS in Electrical Engineering
Previous Degree: BS in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University (South Korea)
Research Interest: Transport in 2D Materials
Isa I. Saleheen
Program at Mason: MS in Electrical Engineering
Previous Degree: BS in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, BRAC University (Bangladesh)
Research Interest: TCAD Simulation, Nanofab
Undergraduate Students
Emily Keung
Mason URSP (Undergraduate Research Scholars Program) Awardee (2025 Summer)
Undergraduate Lab Assistant (through 2025)
Program at Mason: BS in Chemistry, Class of 2026
Research Interest: 2D Materials, Nanochemistry
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Seoyoung Jun
Undergraduate Lab Assistant (through 2025)
Summer Intern (Northrop Grumman, 2025)
Program at Mason: BS in Electrical Engineering, Class of 2028
Research Interest: Energy Harvesting and Storage
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Tina Nguyen
Undergraduate Lab Assistant (through 2025)
Summer Intern (Movement Chiropractic, 2025)
Program at Mason: BS in Biomedical Engineering, Class of 2027
Research Interest: Biomedical Device
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Evan Greene
Undergraduate Lab Assistant (through 2025)
Program at Mason: BS in Electrical Engineering, Class of 2028
Research Interest: Semiconductor Manufacturing​
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Sharif Saeed
Undergraduate Lab Assistant (through 2025)
Program at Mason: BS in Computer Engineering, Class of 2026
Research Interest: TCAD Simulation​
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Virginia R. Nardelli
Undergraduate Researcher (through 2024)
Program at Mason: BS in Electrical Engineering, Class of 2027
Research Interest: Nanomaterial Characterization​
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Samantha Whetzler
Undergraduate Lab Assistant and Webmaster (through 2023)
Program at Mason: BS in Business (Concentration in Finance and Business Analytics), Mason Honors College, Class of 2026
Research Interns
VMEC (Virginia Microelectronics Consortium)
2025: Noreen Hossain (University of Virginia), Julia Rodrigues (William & Mary)
2024: Julia Rodrigues (William & Mary, Gold Award Winner), Michael Liang (Virginia Tech)
ASSIP (Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program)
2025: Aarna Gupta (Oakton High), Aditi Karnik (Chantilly High), Emma Graf (Walt Whitman High), Sean Kim (Centreville High), Suan Cho (Sunset High)
2024: Anusha Agarwal (TJ High), Risha Krishnan (Chantilly High)
Alumni (UTSA Roadrunners)
Ashkan Aminian (MS in Electrical Engineering, 2023)
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Md.Khirul Anam (PhD in Electrical Engineering, 2022) @ Intel
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Pratheek Gopalakrishnan (PhD in Electrical Engineering, 2022) @ Intel
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Ann Rose Sebastian (PhD in Electrical Engineering, 2022) @ Tokyo Electron
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Hebin Roy Cherian (PhD in Electrical Engineering, 2022) @ Micron
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Joshua Procell (BS in Electrical Engineering, 2022)
Chris Carley (MS in Advanced Materials Engineering, 2021)
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Nhu Huynh (MS in Advanced Materials Engineering, 2021)
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Danny Espinoza (MS in Advanced Materials Engineering, 2021)
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Spencer Palmer (BS in Electrical Engineering, 2021)
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Susana Ortega Contreras (MS in Electrical Engineering, 2019)
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Hebin R. Cherian (MS in Electrical Engineering, 2018)
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Melissa Escobar (BS in Mechanical Engineering, 2017)
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Azeez Layeni (BS in Electrical Engineering, 2017)
Visitors and Interns (@UTSA)
Prof. Heonchang Yoo (Korea University, 2020)
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Arushi Shrivastava (International Institute of Information Technology, India, 2020)
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Guillermo Olivarria Arnold (Universidad de Sonora, Mexico, 2019)
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Kyle Slattery (Northwest Vista College, 2019)
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Dr. Laura Verdugo (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexico, 2018-2019)
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Robert Mendoza (Northwest Vista College, 2018)
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H.-J. Seong (Kyung-gi Science High School, Korea, 2018)
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C. Kim (Kyung-gi Science High School, Korea, 2018)
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John Cruz (School of Science and Technology, San Antonio, 2018)