Ph.D. student Keith Chang receives NDSEG Fellowship

Ph.D. student Keith Chang has received a prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, recognizing his outstanding academic achievements and research potential.

The highly competitive fellowship is administered by the U.S. Department of Defense and supports graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees in science and engineering disciplines that are impactful to national defense. The award provides three years of tuition and fees, a monthly stipend, and a medical insurance allowance.

"It is a great honor to be selected as an NDSEG Fellow," Chang said. "It is not only a recognition of the work that my research group and I are doing, but also an affirmation of the impact this research will have in the future. This fellowship gives me greater freedom to explore new ideas and strive to make a meaningful difference in the world, which I am especially grateful to do at a resourceful institution like the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While my time here has not been without challenges, it has been deeply rewarding, and I have grown as a researcher and as a person."

Intel Alumni Endowed Faculty Scholar Can Bayram said the fellowship recognizes both Chang's exceptional abilities and the importance of his research area.

"Keith represents the absolute highest caliber of engineering talent in our nation, and his selection as an NDSEG Fellow is a profound federal validation of the critical work being conducted in our laboratory," Bayram said. "To maintain our nation's technological superiority in defense, radar, and secure communications, we must urgently push beyond the physical limitations of traditional silicon semiconductors. Keith's ambitious research into cubic phase gallium nitride and high-critical field diamond wide- and ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductors provides the foundational science necessary to achieve that critical leap in power electronics and photonics. This fellowship affords him the vital academic independence to continue innovating at the very vanguard of the emerging wide-bandgap semiconductor revolution."

Chang earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 2023, from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois in 2024 and is a member of Professor Can Bayram's research group. Now entering his third year as a Ph.D. student, Chang's research focuses on wide-bandgap semiconductors, particularly cubic gallium nitride and diamond, for advanced photonic and power electronic applications.

The NDSEG Fellowship will support Chang's continued research into next-generation semiconductor materials that have the potential to improve the performance and efficiency of future photonic and power electronic technologies.