Sean Rommel named Distinguished Lecturer

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Sean Rommel

While an undergraduate engineering student, Sean Rommel became involved with the Electron Devices Society and sought out its members to present graduate lectures. Today, he will be one of the distinguished lecturers who current university students seek out.

The IEEE Electron Devices Society recently named Rommel, associate professor of microelectronic engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, a Distinguished Lecturer, and available as a expert resource or consultant about key technical contributions for society conferences, colloquia and other regional or national seminars.

Rommel leads the Emerging Devices Research Group, part of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. He was recognized for his work in tunneling diodes, electron beam lithography and scanning electron microscopy. In 2013, his group demonstrated a breakthrough in tunneling field effect transistor, specifically that use of new methods and materials for building integrated circuits can reduce power—extending battery life to 10 times longer for mobile applications compared to conventional transistors.

“I’m looking forward to being involved as a lecturer,” said Rommel, who has been teaching at RIT since 2002. “As a long-time member, the society and professional conferences provide a home-away-from-home for members, and being involved as a distinguished lecturer is a chance to get involved with groups of people, to know their work, in different ways, on the local, national and international level. It’s also a chance to share information as broadly as you can to others to disseminate.”

Rommel has held leadership positions with the local section of the society as its vice president as well as holding membership and education/communications committee chairs. He was nominated for the distinguished lecturer position by Suman Datta, a professor of electrical engineering at Pennsylvania State University, and peer-researcher.