Professor
Research Interests:
Novel Materials
My lab, the Novel Materials Laboratory, focuses on synchrotron-radiation based x-ray spectroscopic studies of the electronic structure of materials. Systems of fundamental scientific and technological interest are investigated, with definitive measurements made of their surface, bulk, interface, and nano-scale electronic properties. Among the spectroscopies used are angle resolved photoemission, soft x-ray emission, resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, and x-ray absorption.
Selected Publications:
“Potassium and Ion Beam induced Electron Accumulation in InN” L. Colakerol, L.F.J. Piper, A. Fedorov, T. Chen, T.D. Moustakas, and K.E. Smith, Surf. Sci. 632, 154 (2014)
“Direct Observation of Decoupled Structural and Electronic Transitions and an Ambient Pressure Monoclinic-Like Metallic Phase of VO2”, J. Laverock, S. Kittiwatanakul, A.A. Zhakarov, Y. Niu, B. Chen, S.A. Wolf, J.W. Lu and K.E. Smith, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 216402 (2014)
“Resonant soft x-ray emission as a bulk probe of correlated electron behavior in metallic SrxCa1-xVO3”, J. Laverock, B. Chen, K.E. Smith, G. Balakrishnan, M. Gu, J.W. Lu, S A. Wolf, R.M. Qiao, W. Yang, J. Adell, and T. Balasubramanian, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 047402 (2013)
“Probing the effect of relative molecular orientation on the photovoltaic device performance of an organic bilayer heterojunction using soft x-ray spectroscopies”, S.W. Cho, A. DeMasi, A.R.H. Preston, K.E. Smith, L.F.J. Piper, K.V. Chauhan and T.S. Jones, App. Phys. Lett. 100, 263302 (2012)
“Boron Subpthalocyanine Chloride as an Electron Acceptor for High Voltage Fullerene Free Organic Photovoltaics.” N. Beaumont, S.W. Cho, P. Sullivan, D. Newby, R.A. Hatton, K.E. Smith, and T.S. Jones, Adv. Func. Mat. 22, 561 (2012)
For a full list of publications, please see the attached CV
Biography:
Kevin Smith is a Professor of Physics and Professor of Chemistry at Boston University. He received a B.A. in Physics from Trinity College Dublin, and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University. He then spent three years as a postdoctoral research associate with the University of Oregon. He was based full time at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory for two of those three years. He then joined the Department of Physics at Boston University. His research program focuses on the soft x-ray spectroscopic study of the surface and bulk electronic structure of novel materials. The primary techniques used in his research are soft x-ray emission spectroscopy, resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering, and photoemission spectroscopy. All of his research is undertaken at synchrotron radiation facilities, primarily the National Synchrotron Light Source and the Advanced Light Source. The material systems presently under investigation include correlated and low dimensional solids, thin film organic semiconductors, transparent conducting oxides, and thin film rare-earth nitrides. He has co-authored over 145 publications and has delivered 140 invited talks. Aside from his research accomplishments, Kevin Smith is a prize winning teacher, having been awarded the Boston University Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1999, and was named the Massachusetts Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2001.
Honors/Awards:
- Fellow, American Physical Society.
- Fellow, American Vacuum Society.
- Massachusetts Professor of the Year, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Washington DC, 2001.
- Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick, U.K.
- Honorary Member, Phi Beta Kappa, Boston University
- Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Boston University.
- National Science Foundation CAREER Award,
- Henry Prentiss Becton Prize, Yale University.
- Student Prize, American Vacuum Society.
- Gold Medal (Natural Sciences), Trinity College Dublin.
- Hackett Prize, Trinity College Dublin.
- Fitzgerald Medal and Prize, Trinity College Dublin