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Associate Professor
Undergraduate Program Director
camata@uab.edu
ESH 4129
(205) 934-8143

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Research and Teaching Interests: Clean Energy, Ionic Transport in Electroceramics, Mid-infrared Semiconductor Optoelectronics, Laser and Aerosol Synthesis of Thin Films and Nanomaterials

Office Hours: By appointment

Education:

  • B.S., University of São Paulo, Physics
  • M.S., California Institute of Technology, Applied Physics
  • Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, Applied Physics

I was drawn to physics by the elegance and symmetry we perceive at the most fundamental levels of the universe. As an undergraduate physics major, I discovered that the same beauty we apprehend in cosmology and the theory of general relativity, is close at hand in the everyday world of atoms and in how they combine to form the modern materials of solar cells and touchscreens.

It was through an undergraduate research project that I learned how use Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry to locate, inside a crystal, tiny amounts of dopant atoms responsible for the essential properties of the devices in today’s computer chips. That project, using an offshoot of Ernst Rutherford’s approach to demonstrate the existence of the atomic nucleus, sealed the “physics deal” for me: Here I was, applying methods that revealed the very structure of matter, to the study of the inner workings of microelectronic processes that had significant societal and economic impact.

My interest in the physics of materials and their applications grew during my years as a graduate student at Caltech and as a postdoc at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) in Japan, where I developed research expertise in laser-matter interactions and gas-phase synthesis of nanomaterials.

Since joining the UAB faculty in 2000, I have mentored 26 undergraduate students in experimental materials research and trained 9 PhD scientists. Eight students have received the MS degree in physics under my mentorship. My research program has been funded by NSF, NASA, DOD, and industry. I currently serve as the Director of the Physics Undergraduate Program.

Two of my favorite hobby activities are stargazing with my 6” reflector and playing classical guitar.