Pinshane Y. Huang, Racheff Faculty Scholar in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will give the talk "Building a new era of atom-by-atom materials characterization with electron ptychography" at 3:05 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, in 10 Sparks Building on the University Park campus.
The event is part of part of the Penn State Department of Materials Science and Engineering's (MatSE) 590 Seminar series. The talk is free and open to the public.
Electron microscopy and atomic-scale materials characterization are undergoing a revolution fueled by the new capabilities of electron ptychography, which is setting records for spatial resolution down to 20 picometers, according to Huang. Her research is developing atomically precise methods to characterize materials using electron ptychography.
"Our projects span from using ptychography to visualize thermal vibrations atom-by-atom to recovering 3D atomic coordinates of 2D moiré materials," said Huang, also associate director of the university's Materials Research Laboratory. "In addition, we are making cutting-edge techniques of advanced electron microscopy more accessible by using ptychography to achieve 0.44 angstrom spatial resolution in a conventional scanning transmission electron microscope, nearly quadrupling its intrinsic optical resolution."
Aberration correctors for materials characterization are among the most expensive components in modern electron microscopes, according to Hung.
"We demonstrate that aberration correctors are no longer required to achieve atom-by-atom imaging, a significant step toward democratizing access to high-end electron microscopy," Huang said.
Huang earned a doctorate in applied and engineering physics from Cornell University and a bachelor's in physics from Carleton College. Her research focuses on transmission electron microscopy and ptychography of two-dimensional and nanoelectronic materials.
Huang has been recognized for both her research with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a Packard Fellowship, a Sloan Fellowship, and the Burton Medal from the Microscopy Society of America. She also has received various teaching awards.
About MatSE 590 Seminar Series
The Fall 2026 MatSE 590 Seminar series offer graduate students, faculty, and the general public a wide range of lectures featuring invited speakers from academia and industry, providing a platform for sharing research, exploring emerging topics and fostering interdisciplinary dialogue in materials science and engineering.
Support for the MatSE 590 Seminar series is made possible through the generous contributions of industry partners through the Friends of MatSE program.
