Professor Lu was selected to receive a 2009 FEST (Fund for Excellence in Science and Technology) Award. The Office of the Vice President for Research administers the awards which are given "for highly innovative research projects that will lead to strong proposals for outside funding and early career recognition."
The objective of Dr. Lu's proposal is to develop a phase change switch that is based on electronic driven transitions in vanadium dioxide (VO2) films. This represents a paradigm shift from strictly charge based structures to structures that take advantage of phase change, a new state variable that can significantly reduce the switching energy compared to a strictly charge based switch.
Congratulations Professor Lu!