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WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
 Dr Norman C. Beaulieu

INTELLIGENT RF RADIO TECHNOLOGY
 Dr Fadhel Ghannouchi

WIRELESS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
 Dr Jim Haslett

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS
 Dr Graham Jullien

WIRELESS LOCATION RESEARCH
 Dr Gérard Lachapelle

HIGH CAPACITY DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
 Dr Christian Schlegel

ALGORITHMIC NUMBER THEORY AND CRYPTOGRAPHY
 Dr Hugh Williams

BROADBAND WIRELESS NETWORKS, PROTOCOLS, APPLICATIONS AND PERFORMANCE
 Dr Carey Williamson

WIRELESS TRAFFIC MODELING
 Dr Carey Williamson



NANOENGINEERED ICT DEVICES
 Dr Michael Brett

THIN FILM ENGINEERING
 Dr Michael Brett

NANOSCALE ENGINEERING PHYSICS
Dr Mark Freeman

QUANTUM INFORMATION SCIENCE
 Dr Barry Sanders

QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY AND COMMUNICATION
 Dr Wolfgang Tittel

 NANOSCALE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Dr Robert Wolkow



MULTIMEDIA
 Dr Anup Basu

COLLABORATIVE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
 Dr Pierre Boulanger

INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
 Dr Sheelagh Carpendale and
Dr Saul Greenberg

BIOCOMPLEXITY AND INFORMATICS
 Dr Stuart Kauffman

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING DECISION SUPPORT
 Dr Guenther Ruhe

HIGH PERFORMANCE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
 Dr Jonathan Schaeffer

APPLIED BIOINFORMATICS
 Dr Christoph Sensen

COMPUTER PROCESS CONTROL
Dr Sirish Shah

REINFORCEMENT LEARNING & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
 Dr Richard Sutton

INTELLIGENT SENSING SYSTEMS
 Dr Hong Zhang

 

Dr Michael Brett
 Nanoengineering ICT Devices

In 2006, Dr Michael Brett’s research contract was renewed, supporting the evolution of his research into Nanoengineered ICT Devices. Previously, Dr Brett had been named Senior Research Fellow of the iCORE Nanoscale Engineering Physics Initiative, to lead a project in collaboration with Dr Mark Freeman. iCORE has committed $500,000 per year for five years for a total of $2.5 million dollars to develop this research group at the University of Alberta. This represents roughly 50 percent of the total budget, which also includes funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Dr Brett is Director of Engineering Physics in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Alberta.

Biographical Information
Dr Brett’s study of microstructure in thin-film coatings led to authorship of an internationally known simulator (SIMBAD) to predict thin film structure. Most major microelectronic and equipment firms worldwide, including IBM, Toshiba and Intel, have purchased SIMBAD for use in development of integrated circuit processes. Dr Brett’s interest in microstructures also led him and his research group to invent the GLAD (Glancing Angle Deposition) process for nanoengineering thin films capable of controlling structure at the nanometre scale.

Dr Brett consistently establishes standards of excellence and innovative leadership at the University of Alberta. He was a key leader in the creation of the University of Alberta MicroFab, a micro fabrication lab with an open access policy so that industry and external researchers can use the equipment. He has been awarded the McCalla and Killam Research Professorships, and the Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.


Research Program
The iCORE Nanoscale Engineering Physics Initiative will build a research group and facility to attract faculty of international calibre to Alberta. Dr Brett's research will include nanoengineering of thin film structures for application in devices in the fields of photonics, displays, magnetic storage, catalysis, and sensing. In collaboration with other researchers, this work will involve, for instance, development of hybrid inorganic/liquid crystal optical devices, mechanical resonators with tunable characteristics, and methods for low cost nanofabrication methods for photonic crystals, a possible component of future optical computers.


Research Team
In addition to Drs Freeman and Brett, the iCORE Nanoscale Engineering Physics Initiative involves current nanoscience and engineering researchers from the departments of physics and computer and electrical engineering at the U of A, and incorporates a plan for additional recruitment in this field. The initiative also supports the MicroFab in maintenance of the open access policy, which will enable industry researchers, and researchers from other universities, to access specialized nanofabrication equipment and processes that would otherwise be unavailable.


Home Page
Dr Brett's Homepage
National Institute for Nanotechnology
NanoFab