About Me

I am currently a Process and Hardware Integration Engineer for at Intel in Portland, Oregon. Prior to this, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Northwestern University studying quantum materials and devices. I obtained my PhD in Condensed Matter Physics in April 2020 and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2014 with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering with a focus in nanotechnology. I also obtained minors in physics, mathematics, and music theory while taking on a variety of outreach and athletic roles. With varied experience in Python, Matlab, C++, Objective-C, Swift, and HTML, I attempt to come up with interesting ways to combine science, education, and technology in my spare time. In my spare spare time, I also love to travel, play the piano, and spend time with friends and family. Feel free to email me at pmasihd1[]gmail with any questions, volunteer and coding opportunities, or if you'd just like to say hey :)

Check out my minor planet located between Mars and Jupiter.

Research

I have performed research at a number of institutions around the country such as Intel Corp, Northwestern University, Stony Brook University, Stanford Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Pennsylvania under the kind mentorship of reknowned scientists. Past projects have covered a variety of topics in quantum computing, materials science, chemical engineering, chemistry, and condensed matter physics. Please see my CV above for a list of relevant skills or my Google Scholar page for an up-to-date list of publications.

Publications

Developing a Chemical and Structural Understanding of the Surface Oxide in a Niobium Superconducting Qubit

Akshay A. Murthy, Paul Masih Das, Stephanie M. Ribet, Cameron Kopas, Jaeyel Lee, Matthew J. Reagor, Lin Zhou, Matthew J. Kramer, Mark C. Hersam, Mattia Checchin, Anna Grassellino, Roberto dos Reis, Vinayak P. Dravid, and Alexander Romanenko.

ACS Nano, 2022, 16 (10).

Stability, Metallicity, and Magnetism in Niobium Silicide Nanofilms

Xuezeng Lu, Dominic P. Goronzy, Carlos G. Torres-Castanedo, Paul Masih Das, Maryam Kazemzadeh-Atoufi, Anthony McFadden, Corey Rae H. McRae, Peter W. Voorhees, Vinayak P. Dravid, Michael J. Bedzyk, Mark C. Hersam, and James M. Rondinelli.

Physical Review Materials, 2022, 6 (064402).

Stochastic Ionic Transport in Single Atomic Zero-Dimensional Pores

Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman, Paul Masih Das, and Marija Drndić.

ACS Nano, 2020, 14 (9).

Spatial Defects Nanoengineering for Bipolar Conductivity in MoS2

Xiaorui Zheng, Annalisa Calò, Tengfei Cao, Xiangyu Liu, Zhujun Huang, Paul Masih Das, Marija Drndić, Edoardo Albisetti, Francesco Lavini, Tai-De Li, Vishal Narang, William P. King, John W. Harrold, Michele Vittadello, Carmela Aruta, Davood Shahrjerdi, and Elisa Riedo.

Nature Communications, 2020, 11 (3463).

In Situ 2D MoS2 Field-Effect Transistors with an Electron Beam Gate

Paul Masih Das and Marija Drndić.

ACS Nano, 2020, 14 (6).

Lifetime and Stability of Silicon Nitride Nanopores and Nanopore Arrays for Ionic Measurements

Yung-Chien Chou, Paul Masih Das, Dimitri S. Monos, and Marija Drndić.

ACS Nano, 2020, 14 (6).

This publication was featured on the June 2020 cover of ACS Nano.

Ions and Water Dancing through Atom-Scale Holes: A Perspective toward "Size Zero"

Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman, Paul Masih Das, and Marija Drndić.

ACS Nano, 2020, 14 (4).

Controlled Doping of Graphene by Impurity Charge Compensation via a Polarized Ferroelectric Polymer

Kelotchi S. Figueroa, Nicholas J. Pinto, Srinivas V. Mandyam, Meng-Qiang Zhao, Chengyu Wen, Paul Masih Das, Zhaoli Gao, Marija Drndić, and Alan T. Charlie Johnson.

Journal of Applied Physics, 2020, 127 (125503).

Atomic-Scale Patterning in Two-Dimensional Van der Waals Superlattices

Paul Masih Das, Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman, Meng-Qiang Zhao, Srinivas V. Mandyam, Alan T. Charlie Johnson, Marija Drndić.

Nanotechnology, 2020, 31 (105302).

Controlled Growth of Large-Area Bilayer Tungsten Diselenides with Lateral P-N Junctions

Srinivas V. Mandyam*, Meng-Qiang Zhao*, Paul Masih Das, Qicheng Zhang, Christopher C. Price, Zhaoli Gao, Vivek B. Shenoy, Marija Drndić, Alan T. Charlie Johnson.

ACS Nano, 2019, 13 (8).

Irradiation of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides Using a Focused Ion Beam: Controlled Single‐Atom Defect Creation

Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman*, Paul Masih Das*, and Marija Drndić.

Advanced Functional Materials, 2019, 30 (1904668).

This publication was part of a special issue of Advanced Functional Materials on atomic fabrication.

Centimeter-Scale Nanoporous 2D Membranes and Ion Transport: Porous MoS2 Monolayers in a Few-Layer Matrix

Paul Masih Das, Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman, Yung-Chien Chou, Gopinath Danda, and Marija Drndić.

Nano Letters, 2018, 19 (1), pp 392–399.

Laser-Induced Fabrication of Nanoporous Monolayer WS2 Membranes

Gopinath Danda*, Paul Masih Das*, and Marija Drndić.

2D Materials, 2018, 5 (035011).

Angstrom-Size Defect Creation and Ionic Transport through Pores in Single-Layer MoS2

Jothi Priyanka Thiruraman*, Kazunori Fujisawa*, Gopinath Danda, Paul Masih Das, Tianyi Zhang, Adam Bolotsky, Néstor Perea-López, Adrien Nicolai, Patrick Senet, Mauricio Terrones, and Marija Drndić.

Nano Letters, 2018, 18 (3), pp 1651–1659.

This publication was featured on the University of Pennsylvania homepage.

Periodic Arrays of Phosphorene Nanopores as Antidot Lattices with Tunable Properties

Andrew Cupo*, Paul Masih Das*, Chen-Chi Chien, Gopinath Danda, Neerav Kharche, Damien Tristant, Marija Drndić, and Vincent Meunier.

ACS Nano, 2017, 11 (7), pp 7494-7507.

Monolayer WS2 Nanopores for DNA Translocation with Light-Adjustable Sizes

Gopinath Danda*, Paul Masih Das*, Yung-Chien Chou, Jerome T. Mlack, William M. Parkin, Carl H. Naylor, Kazunori Fujisawa, Tianyi Zhang, Laura Beth Fulton, Mauricio Terrones, Alan T. Charlie Johnson, and Marija Drndić.

ACS Nano, 2017, 11 (2), pp 1937–1945.

This publication was featured in a Penn News article.

Transfer of Monolayer TMD WS2 and Raman Study of Substrate Effects

Jerome T. Mlack*, Paul Masih Das*, Gopinath Danda*, Yung-Chien Chou, Carl H. Naylor, Zhong Lin, Nestor Perea Lopez, Tianyi Zhang, Mauricio Terrones, Alan T. Charlie Johnson, and Marija Drndić.

Scientific Reports, 2017, 7 (43037).

Controlled Sculpture of Black Phosphorus Nanoribbons

Paul Masih Das*, Gopinath Danda*, Andrew Cupo*, William M. Parkin, Liangbo Liang, Neerav Kharche, Xi Ling, Shengxi Huang, Mildred S. Dresselhaus, Vincent Meunier, and Marija Drndić.

ACS Nano, 2016, 10 (6), pp 5687–5695.

This publication was featured on the June 2016 cover of ACS Nano.

Raman Shifts in Electron-Irradiated Monolayer MoS2

William M. Parkin*, Adrian Balan*, Liangbo Liang*, Paul Masih Das, Michael Lamparski, Carl H. Naylor, Julio A. Rodríguez-Manzo, A. T. Charlie Johnson, Vincent Meunier, and Marija Drndić.

ACS Nano, 2016, 10 (4), pp 4134–4142

Anisotropic Electron-Photon and Electron-Phonon Interactions in Black Phosphorus

Xi Ling, Shengxi Huang, Eddwi H. Hasdeo, Liangbo Liang, William M. Parkin, Yuki Tatsumi, Ahmad R. T. Nugraha, Alexander A. Puretzky, Paul Masih Das, Bobby G. Sumpter, David B. Geohegan, Jing Kong, Riichiro Saito, Marija Drndić, Vincent Meunier, and Mildred S. Dresselhaus.

Nano Letters, 16 (4), pp 2260–2267

This publication was featured in an article on phys.org.

Mobile Applications

Master Sequencer

Master Sequencer is an instructional tool that demonstrates the principles of solid-state nanopore DNA sequencing using the well-known Temple Run format. The game involves a player running along a DNA strand, effectively threading it through a nanopore and inducing base-pair-dependent electric current changes, which in turn can be converted into a DNA sequence. Written in Objective-C, Master Sequencer employs the Cocos2D and Google AdMob frameworks. It has been showcased at regional outreach events such as the Philadelphia Science Festival and Philly Materials Day.

KOH Etch Rate Calculator

The KOH Etch Rate Calculator computes etch rates for silicon (Si) in potassium hydroxide (KOH) solutions for the <100>, <110>, and <111> planes in addition to silicon dioxide (SiO2). Inputs of KOH solution temperature and concentration can be tuned over a wide range in order to obtain the perfect etch rate. Written in Swift, values for the app were graciously provided by Maria Pace's comprehensive web-based KOH Etch Rate Calculator.

Talks

April 2020 - Defending my PhD virtually

June 2019 - Speaking at Graphene 2019 Rome in the middle of a heat wave

February 2019 - Giving a BEN talk at Penn on quantum materials

October 2017 - Explaining water desalination to high schoolers at Nanoday

December 2016 - Speaking about DNA sequencing at Philly's Franklin Institute

Synergistic Activities

Director, Moelis Access Science Physics

I have been involved with the Moelis Access Science outreach program through the University of Pennsylvania's Netter Center since coming to Philadelphia. Access Science has been working to improve STEM education since 1999 by promoting community partnerships between West Philadelphia public schools and University professors, graduates, and undergraduates. From 2014-2015, I performed long-term science fair projects with students from Huey Middle School. In the fall of 2015, I initiated the physics division of Access Science and currently serve as its Curriculum Director. Our program attempts to stimulate hands-on and inquiry-based learning by performing physics lab activities in under-funded West Philadelphia classrooms.

Visiting Scientist, Franklin Institute

Since the summer of 2016, I have been a visiting scientist at Philadelphia's reknowned Franklin Institute through various partnerships with the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to leading and participating in a number of interdisciplinary workshops for high school students during the academic year, I also perform weekly science experiments with elementary and middle school students in the Institute's annual Summer Camp program.

President, Johns Hopkins Jail Tutorial (former)

From 2011-2014, I was a member of Johns Hopkins Jail Tutorial program, which has been operating at the Baltimore City Detention Center since 1980. University volunteers in the program provide weekly math, computer, and language lessons to both male and female inmates in the Center's Juvenile, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and General Population facilities. From 2013-2014, I was President of the program and was in charge of coordingating roughly 40 undergraduate tutors as well as communication between Detention Center staff, University administration, and Baltimore-based prison reform activists.

During this period, I was also a part of Johns Hopkins' Bootup Baltimore (computer education) and Encore Music (music education) programs in addition to being a teaching assistant at Barclay Elementary School.

Experiments

Below are a list of science experiments that have been designed over the years for my various teaching positions. Depending on skill level, they are designed for students in Grades 7-11 and cover a wide range of topics such as Newtonian Mechanics, polymer synthesis, and DNA extraction. Feel free to download, distribute, and use them.

Student Worksheets	Answer Keys
Introduction to Physics and Mass/Volume	Introduction to Physics and Mass/Volume (Answer Key)
Position, Velocity, and Acceleration	Position, Velocity, and Acceleration (Answer Key)
Forces and Gravity	Forces and Gravity (Answer Key)
Friction	Friction (Answer Key)
Optics	Optics (Answer Key)
Polymers	Polymers (Answer Key)
DNA Extraction	DNA Extraction (Answer Key)