My name Nailah Oliver and I am a first year Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) PhD student at Penn State, working as a graduate research assistant under Dr. Justin Schwartz, the Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering. ESM is a multidisciplinary major in the College of Engineering that exposes students to a wide range of STEM disciplines, including materials, mechanics, and advanced mathematics. My particular areas of interest include materials science and electromagnetism, especially as they pertain to superconducting materials, fiber optics and 2D nanoelectronics.

My undergraduate studies were in the Engineering Science and Mechanics department at Penn State University from June 2017 to December 2020, where I majored in Engineering Science, the honors major in the College of Engineering. My undergraduate research pertained to device fabrication for micro/nano electromechanical systems and nanoelectronics, and studying the interactions between metals and semiconductors. The undergraduate thesis topic was Metal Interactions and Wetting Behaviors with 2-Dimensional Molybdenum Disulfide. This research was conducted under Dr. Suzanne Mohney, professor of Materials Science and Engineering and professor of Electrical Engineering. Investigations were primarily conducted in the Nanofabrication Laboratory in the Millennium Science Complex, which is Penn State’s class 100/1000 cleanroom.