Dr. Daniela Radu has been named the new director of FIU’s Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute (AMERI).

AMERI’s mission is to enable the development of future technologies by combining open-access and state-of-the-art analytical/fabrication tools with innovative research ideas from award-winning faculty and industry across South Florida and throughout the world. The institute serves local academic researchers from FIU, University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University as well as national laboratories, small businesses, and large corporations.

About Radu

Radu joined the College of Engineering and Computing in 2018 as an associate professor of materials and mechanical engineering. She leads several NASA, NSF, and DoD-funded programs. Radu’s research focuses on renewable energy and quantum science. She has been an AMERI user since she joined FIU.

Radu’s background covers a broad range of disciplines. Her research combines materials science with chemistry and nanotechnology to research novel materials with properties that enable their application in renewable energy, space technologies, quantum science, and nanotechnology. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Iowa State University (Ames, IA) and has completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA). Before her academic appointments, she was a DuPont Central Research and Development (Wilmington, DE) senior scientist, where she developed a novel technology for thin-film solar photovoltaics using earth-abundant materials. Dr. Radu authored over 40 journal articles and more than 30 conference presentations. She is also the holder of 5 granted patents. She was selected as FIU Top Scholar for research activities and was recently awarded the FIU Faculty Awards for Excellence in Research.

Radu’s vision for the AMERI is a state-of-the-art instrumentation facility that matches FIU’s R1-Carnegie classification and supports faculty research and student training. Dr. Radu aims to expand the user base internally and externally by engaging in industrial and academic collaborations.

We want to thank Arvind Agrawal for his exemplary service as AMERI Director since June 2012.

Congratulations to Daniela Radu on this appointment!