Francisco Lagunas Vargas
Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science The Institute of Materials Science & Engineering
Google ScholarEducation
PhD, University of Illinois Chicago, 2023BS, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2018
Expertise
Developing structure-property relationships in functional materials using sub-angstrom resolution scanning transmission electron microscopes
Research
At Washington University, Francisco’s research focuses on developing an atomic scale understanding of materials' electrochemical, catalytic, and structural properties. His work aims to elucidate how these properties can be harnessed and optimized for various engineering applications through real-time observations of nanoscale interactions.
Biography
Francisco Lagunas Vargas will be joining the McKelvey School of Engineering in June 2025. He completed his post-doctoral work at Argonne National Laboratory, where he was engaged in pioneering research on renewable energy materials and next-generation ionic sensors. His expertise lies in utilizing advanced Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopes (STEM) to investigate materials at angstrom scales.
Francisco completed his PhD from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2023. During his doctoral studies, he received numerous accolades, including the Outstanding Dissertation Award, Access to Excellence Fellowship, and James Kouvel Fellowship. His dissertation work advanced the use of low temperature (100 K) STEM to analyze the atomic structure of novel 2D and 1D materials.