Binghamton University Research Annual Report 2019

Bahgat Sammakia Vice President for Research Binghamton University just wrapped up a remarkable year.

For the first time in our campus’ history, we have a Nobel laureate on the faculty. M. Stanley Whittingham, a pioneer in the invention and improvement of lithium-ion batteries, was recognized with the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with two colleagues. Stan, who maintains an active lab as director of a federally funded research center at Binghamton, helped establish our Materials Science and Engineering Program. He’s a valued mentor to many of our graduate students and faculty members, and he has generously shared his newfound fame with Binghamton University.

Last spring, Binghamton joined the list of schools considered “very high research” universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

Our campus’ research portfolio has grown during the past two decades, with rising expenditures as well as expanding doctoral enrollment. This classification is a gratifying recognition of that success. Our ranking in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey also has improved. In 2018, we moved from 46th to 41st place among public universities without medical schools.

We continue to invest in new facilities and partnerships that will enable our researchers to do work that they’re passionate about and that will benefit society. The Koffman Southern Tier Incubator is full of start-up companies and bustling with entrepreneurial energy. Our campus will soon be home to a major new X-ray tool, the first of its kind outside of Europe. And a well-established faculty team working on electronics packaging won a major grant from the Semiconductor Research Corp. to create a research center focused on heterogeneous integration for electronic devices.

I look forward to seeing what 2020 has in store for us!

Sha Jin, undergraduate director of biomedical engineering, works with student Deana Moffat in her lab, which recently received several grants related to its search for a cure for diabetes.

BINGHAMTON EARNS SPOT AMONG SCHOOLS LABELED ‘VERY HIGH RESEARCH’ Binghamton University received the “very high research” classification from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in 2019.

It’s the first time Binghamton has been included in the R1 category for the classifications, which began in 1973 and are reviewed and updated every five years. The new classifications are based on data from the 2016-17 academic year that looked at research and development expenditures, research staff and doctorates conferred.

This update puts Binghamton in the company of 130 other elite universities such as Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Binghamton University researcher M. Stanley Whittingham, distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science at Binghamton University, received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Whittingham won the prize for pioneering research leading to the development of the lithium-ion battery along with John B. Goodenough, Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University in Japan.

Whittingham came to Binghamton in 1988 after 16 years at Exxon Research and Engineering Company, where he received the patent for a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and SchlumbergerDoll Research. He holds the original patent on the concept of the use of intercalation chemistry in high-power density, highly reversible lithium batteries — work that provided the basis for subsequent discoveries that now power most laptop computers.

With more than 200 publications and 16 patents, Whittingham has earned an international reputation as a prolific scientist.

His research in the area of synthesis and characterization of novel transition metal oxides for energy storage and conversion, separations or as sensors has been continuously supported since his arrival in Binghamton, with over $7 million in federal research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.

Whittingham and his research group emphasize novel approaches to synthesis at ambient temperature. He serves as director of the NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage, an Energy Frontier Research Center that’s also part of Binghamton’s New York State Center of Excellence.

FEDERALLY DESIGNATED CENTERS AT BINGHAMTON Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems A National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center Developmental Exposure Alcohol Research Center A National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Alcohol Research Center New York Node of the Next Flex Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute A Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institute Nobel laureate M. Stanley Whittingham, right, consults with graduate student Ben Pei in a laboratory at the NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage.

NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage An Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the Department of Energy Office of Science

Binghamton to acquire advanced X-ray tool Binghamton University will acquire a sophisticated new X-ray tool useful in materials research and R&D for electronics. The $1.75M system — the third of its kind in the world and the first outside of Europe — will be funded by $1.23M from the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation program and additional money from the campus.

The instrument, a HArd X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy system (or HAXPES), allows researchers to get detailed information about a device or material without taking it apart.

HAXPES relies on the photoelectric effect, one of the most important tools in condensed matter physics and in materials science. The machine shines light (in this case hard X-rays) into a material. The material accepts the energy and momentum and kicks out electrons. Conservation of energy and momentum allows researchers to determine the chemical and electronic structure of the material being studied.

HAXPES requires a powerful source of X-rays and an extremely sensitive detector. The techniques associated with it have been used for about a decade, but previously were only possible with a synchrotron — a kind of particle accelerator that generates X-rays.

At those facilities, visiting scientists typically conduct experiments over a period of hours and then leave.

HAXPES will provide synchrotron-comparable data in a laboratory setting. That makes it much more forgiving in terms of time and more useful for private industry, said Louis Piper, associate professor of physics and principal investigator for the grant.

ENGINEERING RESEARCHERS EARN NSF CAREER GRANTS Two Binghamton researchers received National Science Foundation CAREER Awards in 2018-19. Scott Schiffres, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Ning Zhou, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, won funding through the NSF’s most prestigious program for early-career faculty.

Anyone who has had a computer or cellphone overheat will appreciate Schiffres’ work. His goal is to find new alloys that form intermetallics — metal alloys with defined crystal structures — onto silicon Scott Schiffres with thermal properties that can dissipate heat more quickly than materials in current use. The work has applications in additive manufacturing as well as electronics packaging and superalloys.

Zhou aims to provide a vision for sustainable power systems as the use of renewable energy sources increases. He hopes to lay the groundwork for transforming power-systems operations to a dynamic Ning Zhou paradigm that can accommodate more renewable generation.

RESEARCH FUNDING

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 2018-2019

expenditures

committed funds

NEW TECHNOLOGY DISCLOSURES

$60M $55M $50M

U.S. PATENT APPLICATIONS

$45M $40M $35M $30M

U.S. PATENTS ISSUED 2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

RESEARCH EXPENDITURES BY SPONSOR AND BY TOPIC Total Expenditures $48,569,718 in 2018-2019 C

2

D

E

3 B

BY SPONSOR

BY TOPIC F

1 4

G

5

H A

1 Federal/Federal Flow-through • 60.9% 2 State and Local Governments • 17% 3 Research Institutes, Universities, Hospitals and others • 13.9% 4 Industry and Small Business • 7.9% 5 Private Foundations • 0.4%

A Healthcare • 28.5% B Electronics Packaging/ Systems Science • 22.2% C Education/Training/Outreach • 15% D Energy/Materials Science • 13.2% E Information Security/Networking • 8.2% F Environment/Historic Preservation/ Sustainability • 5.3% G Economic Development • 5.2% H Other • 2.3%

ROYALTIES

AVERAGE COMPANIES IN FISCAL YEAR The Binghamton Incubator Program (BiP) has grown to include campus Start-Up Suites, the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, the Clean Energy Incubator, companies in a coworking program and off-campus Start-Up NY firms.

$199,538.90

2018-2019

Total Active Companies In BiP

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Organized Research Centers Binghamton Biofilm Research Center

Cumulative Companies In BiP

Start-Up Suite

Koffman Incubator

2017

Center for Translational Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Institute for Materials Research

Center for Affective Science

Public Archaeology Facility

Center of Biomanufacturing for Regenerative Medicine

Roger L. Kresge Center for Nursing Research

Center for Cognitive and Psycholinguistic Sciences

Tick-borne Diseases Center

Center for Collective Dynamics of Complex Systems Center for Development and Behavioral Neuroscience Center for Healthcare Systems Engineering

2018

Institutes for Advanced Studies Center for Israel Studies Center for Korean Studies Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations

Koffman Cowork

Clean Energy Incubator

Start-Up NY

2019

Human Rights Institute Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities Institute for Asia and Asian Diasporas Institute for Evolutionary Studies Institute for Justice and Well-Being Watson Institute for Systems Excellence Binghamton University/Harriet Tubman Center for the Study of Freedom and Equity

Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity Center for Imaging, Acoustics and Perception Science Center for Integrated Watershed Studies Bernard M. & Ruth R. Bass Center for Leadership Studies Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Center for Research in Advanced Sensor Technologies and Environmental Sustainability Center for Writers

Historian Anne C. Bailey is director of the Binghamton University/Harriet Tubman Center for the Study of Freedom and Equity, an Institute for Advanced Studies established in 2019.

New research center aims to define future of electronics packaging Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) chose a team of researchers from Binghamton University and Purdue University to lead a new multimillion dollar research center. The Center for Heterogeneous Integration Research in Packaging, or CHIRP, will help to define the future of electronics packaging for the next decade.

Moore’s Law — the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles about every two years — held steady for 50 years. Due to increased integration, along the way, consumers became accustomed to steady reductions in the cost of computing. That trend cannot continue without some significant changes in thinking; transistors simply can’t get much smaller than they already are.

That’s where CHIRP comes in.

S3IP, Binghamton’s New York State Center of Excellence, brings

Ganesh Subbarayan, professor of together teams of experts from industry and the campus to address pressing real-world problems in the systems integration and mechanical engineering at Purdue, manufacturing of electronics. developed the winning proposal with Bahgat Sammakia, vice president for research and a distinguished professor S3IP, A NEW YORK STATE of mechanical engineering at Binghamton; and Kanad Ghose, CENTER OF EXCELLENCE professor of computer science at Binghamton. Subbarayan AT BINGHAMTON and Sammakia will serve as co-directors of the center, whose UNIVERSITY research will address issues in global interconnects, efficient power delivery, system design, thermal management, novel Center for Advanced materials, reliability and other topics.

Microelectronics Manufacturing Heterogeneous integration of many microchips into single packages will be essential to technology ranging from cell phones to mainframe computers for at least the next decade.

Semiconductor Research Corp., a technology research consortium, promotes collaborations among academic institutions, technology companies and government agencies.

It will provide $1.8 million to the center in the first four years; another $1.8 million will come from the campuses, the State University of New York and other sources.

Center for Autonomous Solar Power Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems Center for Heterogeneous Integration Research in Packaging Integrated Electronics Engineering Center NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage

binghamton.edu/s3ip

Office of the Vice President for Research Binghamton University PO Box 6000 Binghamton, NY 13902-6000

Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID Binghamton, NY Permit No. 61

binghamton.edu/research

CONNECT WITH BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY’S DIVISION OF RESEARCH Bahgat Sammakia

Nancy Lewis

Vice President for Research bahgat@binghamton.edu

Assistant Vice President for Research Compliance nlewis@binghamton.edu

Paul Parker Associate Vice President for Research Administration pparker@binghamton.edu

Mary Beth Curtin Assistant Vice President for Strategic Research Initiatives mcurtin@binghamton.edu

Lisa Gilroy Assistant Vice President, Office of Sponsored Programs lgilroy@binghamton.edu

Per Stromhaug Assistant Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development per@binghamton.edu

Rachel Coker Director of Research Advancement rcoker@binghamton.edu

Darcy Fauci Director of Government Relations dfauci@binghamton.edu

binghamton.edu/research On the cover: Jeffrey M. Mativetsky, associate professor of physics, was one of the winners in our 2019 Art of Science contest. This image, titled “Shards,” features crystals formed when an organic semiconductor “ink” dried.

Jessica Hua, left, assistant professor of biological sciences, conducts field work with help from undergraduate Princess Figueroa, center, and doctoral student Grascen Shidemantle. Hua’s lab investigates a broad range of questions related to the biology and conservation of aquatic systems.