University of Maryland Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECE FACULTY
Dr. Romel D. Gomez
PROFESSOR

Faculty Photo Placeholder Phone: 301-405-7755
Fax: 301-314-9281
Office Address:
2347 AV Williams Building
College Park, MD 20742
E-mail: rdgomez@eng.umd.edu

Biography:
Prof. Gomez received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park, specializing in Condensed Matter Physics and Surface Science. Prior to this, he obtained an MS degree from Wayne State University in Experimental Atomic Physics and a BS degree from the University of the Philippines. His Ph.D. work was the development of scanning tunneling microscopy to probe the atomic structures of semiconductor surfaces. Since then he became interested in information storage technology and the fundamental nanotechnological properties of magnetic thin films. He is actively engaged in the development of scanned probe magnetic microscopy to understand the physics of magnetism at reduced dimensions as well as the development new magnetic devices that utilize the novel magnetic properties at the nanometer length scales. He has authored over 60 papers, a book chapter and holds 2 U.S. Patents on this and other related subjects. He has served in various positions with the IEEE Magnetics Society, including an editor and Publication Chair of Intermag 2000 and the 8th Joint MMM-Intermag Conference in 2001 and a member of the IEEE Transaction of Magnetics Editorial Board. In 2004, he was appointed as the General Chair of Intermag 2006 and the Chair of the Technical Committee of the IEEE Magnetics Society. He was awarded the department's 1998 George Corcoran Award for significant contributions to engineering education and the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2000. He is particularly proud of being recognized as an influential educator in the 2001 Celebrating Teachers Program of University of Maryland's Center for Teaching Excellence.

Research Focus Areas: Magnetism, Nanodevices, Surface Science, Biochemical Detection, Instrumentation Development

Research Interests:
Prof. Gomez research interests lie in the broad areas of magnetism, nanotechnology and biochemical detection with emphasis on the phenomena and processes at the atomic and molecular length scales. He directs a modest group of postdoctoral associates and students (Nano/Magnetics) who seek to understand and exploit novel quantum effects that manifest themselves at reduced dimensions and size.

Research Website: Nanomagnetics Group

Outreach and Research Nuggets:

Please visit the Nanomagnetics Group website under Educational Outreach to find an informative gallery of images of data bits on a hard disks , magnetic moment switching of small islands , novel films, magneto-optic data erasure, imaging the current and voltages on a tiny strip of wire, and other cool stuff. You can find animations of water condensing on a surface , magnetic domain wall motion in small NiFe elements, magnetic switching behavior of submicron cobalt islands and magnetic domain wall propagation using pulsed current.