Prof. Tien-Chien Jen, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Speech Topic: Atomic Layer Deposition: A Numerical Approach to the Next Generation Nanofabrication Technology
Prof Jen joined University of Johannesburg on August 2015, before he was a Full Professor and Dean of College of Engineering and Applied Science at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Prof Jen received his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from UCLA, specializing in thermal aspects of grinding. He has received several competitive grants for his research, including those from the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy and the EPA. Dr. Jen has brought in $3.0 million of funding for his research, and has received various awards for his research including the NSF GOALI Award. Prof Jen has recently established a Joint Research Centre with Nanjing Tech University of China on the "Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing." Prof Jen is also the Director of Manufacturing Research Centre of the University of Johannesburg. Meanwhile, SA National Research Foundation has awarded Prof Jen a NEP grant (National Equipment Program) worth of USD 1 million to acquire two state-of-the-art Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Tools for ultra-thin film coating. These two ALD tools will be the first in South Africa and possibly the first in Africa continent. Furthermore, in order to house these two state-of-the-art reactors, an ISO-7 industrial level cleanroom with a footage over 220m2 has been built (worth of roughly USD 1 million) and are fully functional in February 2021. In June 2021, this facility has been named the Atomic Layer Deposition Research Centre.
In 2011, Prof Jen was elected as a Fellow to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), which recognized his contributions to the field of thermal science and manufacturing. As stated in the announcement of Prof Jen Fellow status in the 2011 International Mechanical Engineering and Congress Exposition, its states "Tien-Chien Jen has made extensive contributions to the field of mechanical engineering, specifically in the area of machining processes. Examples include, but not limited to, environmentally benign machining, atomic layer deposition, cold gas dynamics spraying, fuel cells and hydrogen technology, batteries, and material processing." In 2020, Prof Jen was inducted to as the Academician of the Academy of Science of South Africa (AASAf) for his significant research contribution in the fields of thermal sciences and advanced manufacturing.
Prof Jen has written 360 peer-reviewed articles, including 180 peer-reviewed journal papers, published in many prestigious journals including International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Additive Manufacturing, Coordination Chemistry Review, Journal of Molecular Liquids, Journal of Materials Science and Technologies and ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering. He also has written over 17 chapters in special topics book. For example, Prof Jen has a chapter in Numerical Simulation Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, published by WIT Press, and another chapter in Application of Lattice Boltzmann Method in Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Computational Fluid Dynamics – Technology and Application. Very recently, Prof Jen published a research book in “Chalcogenide: Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene Composites,” published by Taylor Francis and CRC press in January 2021.