Thomas
F. Kuech earned a bachelor's degree in physics and master's degree in
materials science from Marquette University and master's and PhD degrees
in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology
(CalTech).
After that, he worked nine years as a research staff member and research
manager for IBM. In 1990 he came to University of Wisconsin-Madison.
There he chaired the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
from 2003 - 2007. He played a key role in establishing the UW-Madison
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on
Nanostructured Interfaces, which he directed for several years. This
center combines the expertise of more than 90 UW-Madison faculty, staff
and students who study how to form, characterize and use materials on
the scale of individual atoms and molecules. To date, this
interdisciplinary center has received more than $30 million in total NSF
funding.
From 2003 until now he is the Principal Editor of the Journal of Crystal
Growth. In 2010 he was elected to the US National Academy of
Engineering. Membership honors people who have made significant
contributions to engineering through groundbreaking research and
innovative educational approaches. T. F. Kuech has made fundamental
contributions to the understanding of chemical vapor deposition,
especially to the role of surfactants.
His fields of interest comprise
- solid-state materials synthesis and characterization
- electronic and semiconductor materials
- materials integration
- nanostructure formation