Professor Deji Akinwande from the Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Texas Materials Institute at UT Austin was recently selected by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) for an award based on the joint proposal that was submitted for the 2022 Exploratory Project Call.
They doubled his funding which will be provided by the UT | Portugal Program. The UT Austin Portugal Program is a successful Science and Technology joint venture between Portugal and The University of Texas at Austin that has been running for more than a decade, fostering change through human capital development, mission-driven research and entrepreneurial support.
The UT-Portugal grant is for the 2D photonic memresistive devices for neuromorphic applications. The goal is to realize energy-efficient optoelectronic systems that mimic the capability and efficacy of vision sensor systems like the human eye. The research will focus on using two-dimensional materials to emulate the synaptic properties of the brain for energy-efficiency compared to classical computing systems.
The grant is a collaboration with Dr. Catarina Dias from Portugal who was previously a Fulbright scholar in Akinwande lab and now with University of Porto. This bilateral collaborative project was selected for this very competitive funding because of its benefit to advancing AI technology and workforce including in Portugal.
Please join us in congratulation Dr. Deji Akinwande on this significant accomplishment!
