Steven Tjung

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always liked to tinker with my toys. Usually, this involves me taking apart a toy to figure out how it works. At first, it ended with my parents yelling at me when they saw their cassette player in pieces. But eventually, I was able to put them back together and have them in working condition. This is where I started to develop an interest in engineering. In high school, I really enjoyed my physics course and realized that the field has so much to offer. So, I decided to major in Physics at University of California, Riverside (UCR). As an undergraduate, I had the opportunity to work in Dr. Kawakami's research lab where I learned molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). MBE is a way to grow a single crystal thin film atom by atom. You can think of it as spray painting with atoms. I also learned to work with ultra high vacuum chambers, which involved lots of wrenches and was as fun as my toys (except the vacuum chambers are a lot more expensive than a cassette player). It was not until my junior year that I found out about scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), where I can image atoms. This is when I told myself that I want to become an expert in not only growing thin films atom by atom, but also looking at and studying those atoms. After graduating from UCR, I become a PhD graduate student in Dr. Gupta's lab at The Ohio State University where I can learn more about STM. When I am not doing physics, I have many hobbies to keep me occupied. I like to play many instruments (guitar/bass/mandolin), tinker with my car, take pictures, and ride my motorized skateboard.

July 2014