Meet Our New Faculty

The NC State University Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) is excited to welcome four new faculty members this fall.

“We are proud to announce four dynamic new faculty who will expand the excellence of our department in multiple areas of materials science,” says MSE Department Head and Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor Donald Brenner. “The addition of these leading experts and innovators in the fields of polymers, metals, optoelectronics, and thin films demonstrates our ongoing commitment to being a leading department in the United States and abroad.” 

Martin Thuo

Martin Thuo, Ph.D. joins the department as a full Professor. Prof. Thuo’s research focuses on surface and thermodynamics-driven frugal innovation, investigating soft matter (molecular electronics, polymers, and low-melting alloys), frugal material processing, and metastable materials.

Bharat Gwalani

Bharat Gwalani, Ph.D. joins the department as an Assistant Professor. Prof. Gwalani’s research focuses on the synthesis, processing, and physical property measurements of metallic materials.

Yin Liu

Yin Liu, Ph.D. joins the department as an Assistant Professor. Prof. Liu’s research focuses on low-dimensional materials for their novel optoelectronic properties and potential applications, using TEM imaging and spectroscopy to understand excitons, polaritons, and optically active quantum defects in 2D materials.

Ruijuan Xu

Ruijuan Xu, Ph.D. joins the department as an Assistant Professor. Prof. Xu’s research focuses on novel oxide thin-film materials for next-generation nanomechanical, electromechanical, magnetoelectric applications, complex oxide materials exhibiting dielectric, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric, multiferroic properties, multi-scale characterization, and nanofabrication techniques.


Since 2020, the department has hired eight new tenured and tenure-track faculty. Congratulations to our new talent and welcome to the MSE family!