2020 Albert Crewe Award
Andrew B. Yankovich
Chalmers University of Technology
Dr. Andrew B. Yankovich is a research scientist and faculty member in the Department of Physics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. His academic background includes earning a dual Bachelor of Arts in Physics and Mathematics from Saint John’s University in Minnesota in 2005, and a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2008. Additionally, he received a Master of Science in 2011 and a PhD in 2015 in Materials Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the supervision of Professor Paul Voyles. His PhD research primarily focused on developing and using quantitative STEM techniques to elucidate structure-property relationships in a variety of technologically relevant material systems, including InGaN quantum well LEDs, ZnO nanostructures, and metallic nanocatalysts. Afterwards, he became a postdoctoral research scholar at Chalmers University of Technology under the supervision of Professor Eva Olsson. During this time, Andrew not only continued to develop quantitative STEM imaging techniques, but he also explored new research areas that utilized state-of-the-art monochromated STEM EELS and theoretical calculations. These new pursuits provided information about electronic and optical excitations in plasmonic and transition metal dichalcogenide nanomaterials that is inaccessible by optical techniques. Most notably, his postdoctoral research has contributed to: (1) demonstrating the precise measurement of atomic site-specific strain in nanocatalysts and the influence of these strain patterns on catalytic properties, (2) discovering fundamental interactions between surface plasmons in coupled metallic nanostructures, and (3) establishing STEM EELS as a crucial technique for understanding and visualizing strong light-matter interactions at the nanoscale.