Professor of Electrical Engineering
Moore Laboratory
Pasadena, CA 91125
U.S.A.
email:
yctai@mems.caltech.edu
phone: (626) 395-8317
fax: (626) 584-9104
Education
Ph.D., 1989, EECS Department, University of California at Berkeley, CAM.S., 1986, EECS Department, University of California at Berkeley, CA
B.S., 1981, EE Department, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Academic Experience
| Caltech |
2005-present, Executive Office of EE, Caltech 2005-present, Full Professor of EE, ME and BE, Caltech 2002-present, Professor of Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering 2002-present, Option Representative, Electrical Engineering 2000-present, Professor of Electrical Engineering 1995-1999, Associate Professor of EE. 1989-1994, Assistant Professor of EE. Research: MEMS – sensors, actuators, smart skins, lab-on-a-chip |
| U.C. Berkeley |
1988-1989, Graduate Instructor (GI)
1983-1988, Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) Research: Polysilicon Mechanisms and Micromotors |
| NTU (Taiwan) | 1977-1981, Undergrad, EE Department |
Awards
Best Poster Paper (PhD
students: PJ Chen, et al.), MicroTAS Confernece (2006)
Best Student Paper (PhD student: Jason Shih), IEEE Sensors Conference (2006)
Fellow, IEEE (2006)
ASCIT Teaching Award, Caltech (2005)
Fellow, Institute of Physics (2004)
Achievement Award, Association of Laboratory Automation (ALA) (2002)
General co-Chair, IEEE MEMS Meeting (2002)
Technical Program co-Chair, IEEE MEMS Conference (2001)
Finalist Award in Aerospace, 11th Discover Award (2000).
Achievement Award, CESASC (1999)
Best Paper Award, 1998 Int. Relay Conference, NARM/EIA (1998)
Packard Fellowship, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (1991-1997)
Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) Award, NSF (1991-1996)
Senior Member, IEEE and ASME (1995-present)
Member, Phi Tau Phi (1990-present)
David J. Sakrison Memorial (Best Thesis) Prize, EECS, UC Berkeley (1989)
Best Student Paper, 1988 IEEE Int. Electron Device Meeting (IEDM’88) (1988)
IBM Fellowship (1988)
Ross N. Tucker, AIME Electronics Material Award (1987)
Membership/Societies
IEEE Electron Device Society (EDS)
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Phi Tau Phi
Academic Activities
| 2005 | Program Committee, IEEE MOEM Conference |
| 2005 | Technical Program Committee, IEEE Sensors Conference |
| 2004 | Program Committee, IEEE MOEM Conference |
| 2004 | Technical Program Committee, IEEE Sensors Conference |
| 2003-present | Member, BMES ERC Center at USC, NSF |
| 2003-present | Steering Committee, National Nanotechnology Center, Taiwan |
| 2003-present | Subject Editor, IEEE/ASME Journal of MEMS |
| 2003 | Chair of the Steering Committee, 2003 IEEE MEMS Conference |
| 2003 | Program Committee, IEEE MOEM Conference |
| 2002-present | Member, URETI CMISE Center at UCLA, NASA |
| 2002-present | Member, CENS ERC Center at UCLA, NSF |
| 2002-2004 | Section Editor, Sensors and Actuators |
| 2002 | Program Committee, IEEE MOEM conference |
| 2002 | General Chairman, IEEE MEMS Conference |
| 2001-present | Advanced R&D Steering Committee, ITRI, Taiwan |
| 2001 | Designated Chairman, IEEE MEMS Conference |
| 2001 | Technical Program Committee, IEEE MEMS Conference |
| 2000 | Technical Program committee, IEEE ICRA Conference |
| 2000 | Technical Program Committee, IEEE MEMS Conference |
| 1999 | Technical Program Committee, IEEE MEMS Conference |
| 1999 | Program/Steering Committee, MOEM’99 |
| 1998-present | Member, CNSE ERC Center at Caltech, NSF |
| 1998 | Technical Program Committee, IEEE MEMS Conference |
| 1998 | Scholarship Committee, Phi Tau Phi |
| 1997 | Technical program Committee, IEEE MEMS Meeting |
| 1997-present | MEMS Administration Committee, IEEE ED Society |
| 1997 | Technical Committee, 1997 IEEE LEOS Meeting |
| 1997 | Technical Program Committee, Int. Optical MEMS Meeting |
| 1996-present | Associate Editor, J. of Micromechanics and Microengineering |
| 1995 | Technical Committee, IEDM’95 |
| 1994 | Technical Committee, IEDM’94 |
| 1993 | Technical Committee, IEDM’93 |
| 1990-1996 | 1990-1996 Scholarship Committee, CESASC |
National Committees
| 2004 | Invited Expert, EPA, USA |
| 1999-2003 | DARPA Information Science and Technology (ISAT) Study Group |
Research Activities and Interests
Yu-Chong Tai has over 12 years of experience doing micromachines and/or Micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) research. His research interests include MEMS technology, microsensors, microactuators, microstructure, MEMS systems, and MEMS science. To name a few, successfully developed MEMS devices in his lab include pressure sensors, shear-stress sensors, hot-wire anemometers, magnetic actuators, microphones, microvalves, micromotors, and so on. System-level MEMS research projects then include integrated M3 (microelectronics + microsensors + microactuators) drag-reduction smart surface, flexible smart skin for the control unmanned aerial vehicles, and micro fluid delivery systems. He is also interested in MEMS sciences such as MEMS material (mechanical and thermal) properties, micro fluid mechanics, and micro/nano processing issues.
Dr. Tai built the Micromachining Laboratory at Caltech, which is an 8,000 sq. ft. facility completely designed for MEMS research. This facility has a clean-room lab (4,000 sq. ft), CAD lab, and a measurement/metrology lab. It is currently supporting more than 20 researchers (mainly graduates and postdocs) with various MEMS research projects (https://mems.caltech.edu). Examples include micro scanning mirrors, neural chips, micro electromagnetic relays, field-emission tips, etc. For the last few years, he has extensively worked on MEMS devices for active fluid sensing and control. Successfully developed MEMS devices include flexible sensor skins, rubber-balloon actuators, etc. In addition, he also has research on integrated MEMS systems such as MEMS for delta-wing aerodynamic control, and MEMS-maneuvered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Since seven years ago, he has initiated a major effort on microfluidics and labs-on-a-chip. He has built devices like micro channels, membrane filters, micro valves, pumps, and bioreactors for bio-medical applications. He has an extensive and collaborative research program with USC Medical School on retinal implants, including MEMS devices for eye applications. He also has a significant research effort on nanotechnology for artificial muscle applications.