The work is funded by a new $1.3 million award from the W.M. Keck Foundation, one of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations, and the team includes researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, New York University and University of California, Riverside.

The researchers aim to fix a longstanding problem in today’s electronics – energy inefficiency.

Today’s electronics, from smartphones to electric cars, generate large amounts of heat as electrical currents flow through their components. This heat not only wastes energy but also damages devices over time.

The researchers are addressing this challenge by developing materials that allow electricity to move through devices without creating heat, potentially transforming how technology is built and powered.

“Keck funds projects that are inherently very high risk, but that if successful, could represent a scientific or technological breakthrough of the utmost impact in society,” Del Barco says. “This is certainly the case, as we aim at validating a theoretical proposal by one of our team members that promises a new way of processing information without energy waste.”

Current forecasts predict that most of the energy consumed in the world within the next couple of decades will be employed in data processing, and that 99.99% of it is wasted in heat due to existing inefficient electronic processes, Del Barco says.

“If we succeed, it could become a long-term solution for humankind and the way we consume our natural resources,” he says.

Cutting-edge Approach

The researchers are exploring intrinsic magnetic topological insulators, special materials that enable the control of magnetism using electricity with minimal heat generation. Their approach is unique because they are developing methods to harness the magnetic properties of these materials to influence electron spin, a fundamental aspect of spintronics devices such as hard drives and magnetic sensors.

This innovative use of intrinsic magnetic topological insulators in spintronic devices could lead to faster, more energy-efficient electronics with reduced heat generation and power consumption, thereby improving the performance of devices like smartphones and computers.

About the Research Team

The project is led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers, each contributing specialized expertise. Del Barco will oversee high-frequency spin dynamics studies. Simranjeet Singh from Carnegie Mellon University will focus on developing 2D-based devices and conducting electrical and magnetic characterization. Andrew Kent from New York University will conduct experiments to study the self-torques acting on the magnetic order in topological insulator materials that are the focus of the project. Ran Cheng from the University of California, Riverside, is the author of the theoretical proposal that this project is based on and will conduct theoretical modeling and computational research on magnetic topological insulators.

“This is a very prestigious award,” Del Barco says. “�鶹ӳ����ý has only been awarded it once before ours, which makes me particularly happy about it, as I like to see �鶹ӳ����ý becoming more prominent, and these awards provide institutional visibility.”

Researcher’s Credentials

Del Barco received his doctoral degree in condensed matter physics from the University of Barcelona in Spain. He worked as a postdoctoral associate in the physics department at New York University before joining �鶹ӳ����ý in 2005.

About the W. M. Keck Foundation

The W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 in Los Angeles by William Myron Keck, founder of The Superior Oil Company. One of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations, the W. M. Keck Foundation supports outstanding science, engineering and medical research. The Foundation also supports undergraduate education and maintains a program within Southern California to support arts and culture, education, health and community service projects.

The research centers on molecular-sized transistors and behavior that suggests they exchange information similar to neurons in the brain.

Pegasus Professor Enrique Del Barco Ph.D., in collaboration with Professor of Molecular Modelling Damien Thompson, Ph.D., of  the University of Limerick (Ireland), and Professor Christian Nijhuis, Ph.D., of the University of Twente, (the Netherlands), made the discovery while developing electrical current switches using molecules. They were prompted to investigate by an inconsistent energy flow between a special novel kind of organic switches that seemed to behave in a mysterious way.

“Instead of having two neurons connected through a synaptic gap, we have two electrodes connected through a molecule. We apply voltage to the electrodes and depending on the state of the molecule, the current will flow faster, slower, or not at all,” Del Barco says.

To find out why, they turned to neuron communication. The space between neurons (the synaptic gap), transports energy signals in the brain. The strengths of these signals have been observed to depend on the history of past estimuli.

“That kind of plasticity and memory that this molecule has, is exactly the same as the synaptic junction has,” Del Barco says. “In principle, if you were able to connect many of these molecular transistors together, like in the human brain, you should be able to process information in a way human brains do.”

Del Barco foresees the relationship being applied to artificial intelligence.

“The main application is to mimic the way the animal brain works. Autonomous driving, reaction to actions, these kinds of things that can be much, much more diffusive. This kind of operation actually will help very much in that line of processing,” Del Barco says.

Read the full paper in Nature .

Both honorees have been recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in their disciplines and are accomplished researchers, teachers and administrators. Honorees are selected by the president and provost and each receives $5,000.

While their research may be in two drastically different areas — quantum physics and crisis communications — they both possess the same qualities that make them worthy of this prestigious award.

Meet the 2022 Pegasus Professors:

Enrique Del Barco

Professor, Physics
Associate Dean of Research, Facilities
College of Sciences

Fun fact: He quit studying in college to join a heavy metal band as a guitarist.

Enrique Del Barco used his allowance money to buy scientific journals growing up in Spain. He was fascinated by quantum mechanics from an early age and knew he wanted to be a physicist. Although his path seems straight, he did waver for one passion: guitar.

“People would be surprised to know I stopped studying for five years to play in a heavy metal rock band,” Del Barco says. “My father did not take it well. I had to leave his house and work really hard, and that’s when I realized I didn’t want to work, I wanted to study so I could play for the rest of my life.”

His passion for music remains — he still plays guitar daily — and his dream of becoming a quantum physicist became reality. He relocated his young family to New York City from Spain for a postdoctoral position at New York University. He credits his wife with surviving in a small Manhattan apartment with an infant and a toddler. Neither of them knew English well, and he says those first few years were challenging. But they paid off.

Del Barco has brought more than $11 million in external research funds since he joined �鶹ӳ����ý in 2005. He has published over 90 research papers and is known as an international leader in his field.

“We put a molecule in between two electrodes and pass currents through it and see how the current behaves, then we explore functionality that comes from the quantum mechanical behavior from these molecules for use in things like switches,” he says. “We are working on a molecule that learns behaviors like a neuron in your brain.”

A skilled researcher, Del Barco is equally beloved by his students. Including a graduate student who recently convinced him to officiate his wedding in Mexico. Del Barco says he has always tried to make complicated subjects fun by performing magic tricks in the classroom.

“I hope people remember that I was a nice guy and that I focused on the wellbeing of the group,” he says. “That was one of the things my mom taught me. If you want to be well, everyone around you also has to be well. I put a lot of energy into that.”

Timothy Sellnow

Professor, Nicholson School of Communication and Media
Associate Director of Graduate Studies, Research and Creative Activity

Fun fact: He was a collegiate gymnast who can still walk on his hands.

“The right words at the right time can save lives,” says Sellnow.

Those are the words he’s built his career on.

Sellnow is an international leader on risk and crisis communication. He is amongst the top 10 most-cited scholars in his field and has published seven books and over 100 articles. Sellnow has secured more than $1 million in external grants since coming to �鶹ӳ����ý in 2015. He was called by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to help in the anthrax crisis shortly after 9/11. His career spans industry and academia.

So how did he establish such a prestigious strategic communications career? He credits his parents as the driving force behind his success. Sellnow grew up in a family of hardworking journalists, with two parents who are first-generation college students. He says they worked extremely hard and instilled a respect for higher education in him and his siblings.

“I did start out in journalism, and I became so concerned about what I saw as a journalist,” he says. “I was seeing some communities and organizations did better in crisis and some did worse, and I wanted to understand why, and it led me down the academic path.”

His academic path also led him to his wife and fellow researcher and professor — Deanna Sellnow. Together they’ve traveled the world, mentored a countless number of students, created �鶹ӳ����ý’s first strategic communications Ph.D. program and become grandparents.

“I tell students to find something they are really passionate about, and if they do that, they will have the energy and commitment to focus on pushing borders and making a difference,” he says.

Sellnow says he’s hopeful that people will remember how he made them feel. But there’s one thing many students will remember and that’s his office. He’s collected a number of bobble heads and other trinkets over the years that have given his space a warm and inviting feel. As a former collegiate gymnast, he also has a habit of asking others to take photos of himself doing handstands in various places — including Millican Hall.

“I just hope that when my students are around me, they have felt supported, educated and encouraged,” he says.

Nanoscience is the study of materials on the nanometer scale. That’s exceedingly small – a sheet of paper is about 75,000 nanometers thick. At the nanoscale, materials can exhibit unusual properties that scientists have put to use in a range of fields including physics, chemistry, biology and materials science.

There are frequent discoveries related to nanoscience, from simple tests for cancer to new types of sensors and ways to detect mosquito-borne diseases. But nanoscience degree programs are still relatively uncommon.

The at �鶹ӳ����ý aims to give students a grounding in the fundamentals of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Undergraduates gain a working knowledge of nanoscience principles and the industrial applications of nanoscience.

Physics professor Enrique del Barco, who helped launch the minor, said it will give students a leg up.

“There are more and more companies that are based in nanoscience,” del Barco said. “Whether students eventually go to a small, emerging nanoscience company or a big industry, if they have the root knowledge of what nanoscience is they may be first in line to get the job.”

The minor is an 18-credit hour program that includes three new core courses coupled with nine elective credit hours picked from a variety of disciplines, such as physics, materials science and chemistry.

The minor was designed with a service learning component. Student teams developed presentations about advances in nanoscience, then visited local middle schools to share them with young students.

“The idea behind service learning is that when you teach, you learn,” del Barco said.

Megan Turner, a junior majoring in biology and journalism, was one of the first 12 students to enroll in the nanoscience minor in fall 2015. She said the program’s focus on service learning helped her master the material.

“I don’t know how I would have managed without it,” she said. “With service learning in general, you have to understand the material so well you can teach it. And it was a really great feeling to see the connection and influence on these kids.”

Del Barco already has measured the success of the service learning component in research that is due to be published soon. The study found clear improvement in subject knowledge and critical-thinking skills among students who’d helped develop and deliver lessons to middle schoolers.

Turner found great value in the nanoscience minor.

“It’s applicable to every science – to biology, to physics, to chemistry,” she said. “It’s really easy for any science major to become involved in this, and it’s just so relevant.”