Jacob Jones
Department of Materials Science and Engineering (College of Engineering)
Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor
STEPS Center Director
3128 Plant Sciences Building
Bio
Dr. Jacob Jones is a Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Director of the Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center (www.steps-center.org), Director and Principal Investigator of the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network (www.rtnn.org), former Director of the Analytical Instrumentation Facility (www.aif.ncsu.edu), and a University Faculty Scholar.
Jones’ research interests involve developing structure-property-processing relationships in emerging functional materials, primarily through the use of advanced X-ray and neutron scattering tools. Jones has published over 240 papers and delivered over 130 invited lectures on these topics since 2004. Jones is a Fellow of the IEEE Society and the American Ceramic Society and has received numerous awards for his research and education activities, including an NSF CAREER award, a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the IEEE Ferroelectrics Young Investigator Award, the 2019 NC State Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, the 2016-2017 NC State College of Engineering George H. Blessis Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Award, a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Defense Program Award of Excellence, and a UF-HHMI Science for Life Distinguished Mentor Award for his mentoring of undergraduate researchers, and two Edward C. Henry “Best Paper” awards from the Electronics Division of the American Ceramic Society.
Jones is known for promoting international science and engineering initiatives. He has been Principal Investigator on three NSF awards to provide international research experiences to U.S. students at foreign research laboratories. Using these programs, Jones has enabled over 50 U.S. students to obtain international research experiences overseas and has hosted a multitude of foreign students at U.S. institutions. Since 2012, he has been a Senior Visiting Fellow in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales. At NC State, he is engaged in the University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) and promotes interactions with the University of Surrey in the U.K. and the University of Wollongong in Australia. In recognition of his international activities, Jones received the International Educator of the Year award (Senior Faculty Awardee) from the University of Florida International Center in 2012.
Jones participates and leads many interdisciplinary teams and projects on topics including nanotechnology, crystallography, functional materials in environmental applications, water sustainability, and healthcare. Many of these interdisciplinary collaborations utilize the suite of analytical tools and in situ capabilities available within the Analytical Instrumentation Facility. Representative projects include collaborations with statisticians and mathematicians in applying Bayesian inference to crystallographic structure refinement and the use of nanotechnology and materials science in environmental remediation and water treatment. As a representative example of the latter, from 2017-2019, Jones led an interdisciplinary project through the highly competitive Game-Changing Research Incentive Program (GRIP) at NC State on the topic “Water Sustainability through Nanotechnology: Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the Solid-Water Interface team.”,” which helped to seed the STEPS Center.
Jones is an elected member of the Research Leadership Academy at NC State, the faculty-driven epicenter of research leadership and faculty mentoring to enhance NC State’s research culture, and has interdisciplinary leadership training in Team Science.
Jones received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2004, after which he completed an international postdoctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. He was an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of MSE at the University of Florida from 2006-2013 and joined NC State in August of 2013.
Dr. Jones’s research interests include functional materials such as piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials, materials for phosphorus recovery, nanomaterials, mechanics of materials, and the promotion of international science and engineering.
Visit the Jones Research Group website at https://www.mse.ncsu.edu/jones.
Honors and Awards
- R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Extension, 2020
- Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, 2019
- Fellow, IEEE Society, 2020
- Outstanding Materials Engineer Award, School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, 2020
- NC State College of Engineering George H. Blessis Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Award, 2017
- Fellow, American Ceramic Society, 2015
- International Educator of the Year, University of Florida, 2012
- HHMI Science for Life Distinguished Mentor Award, University of Florida, 2012
- IEEE Ferroelectrics Young Investigator Award, 2011
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2008
- National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Defense Program Award of Excellence, 2009
- NSF CAREER award, 2008
- Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, 2009
Education
Ph.D. Materials Engineering Purdue University 2004
M.S. Mechanical Engineering Purdue University 2001
B.S. Mechanical Engineering Purdue University 1999
Publications
- Circumventing thermodynamics to synthesize highly metastable perovskites: nano eggshells of SnHfO3 , NANOSCALE ADVANCES (2022)
- High-power energy harvesting and imperceptible pulse sensing through peapod-inspired hierarchically designed piezoelectric nanofibers , NANO ENERGY (2022)
- Impact of oxygen content on phase constitution and ferroelectric behavior of hafnium oxide thin films deposited by reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering , ACTA MATERIALIA (2022)
- Inhomogeneous electric field-induced structural changes in soft lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric ceramics , ACTA MATERIALIA (2022)
- Many routes to ferroelectric HfO2: A review of current deposition methods , JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A (2022)
- Mechanisms of orthophosphate removal from water by lanthanum carbonate and other lanthanum-containing materials , SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT (2022)
- Phase coexistence and grain size effects on the functional properties of BaTiO3 ceramics , JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY (2022)
- Prediction and Kinetic Stabilization of Sn(II)-Perovskite Oxide Nanoshells , CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS (2022)
- Renaissance of Topotactic Ion-Exchange for Functional Solids with Close Packed Structures , CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL (2022)
- Role of Oxygen Source on Buried Interfaces in Atomic-Layer- Deposited Ferroelectric Hafnia-Zirconia Thin Films , ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES (2022)
Grants
The Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center is a convergence research hub for addressing the fundamental challenges associated with phosphorus sustainability. The vision of STEPS is to develop new scientific and technological solutions to regulating, recovering and reusing phosphorus that can readily be adopted by society through fundamental research conducted by a broad, highly interdisciplinary team. Key outcomes include new atomic-level knowledge of phosphorus interactions with engineered and natural materials, new understanding of phosphorus mobility at industrial, farm, and landscape scales, and prioritization of best management practices and strategies drawn from diverse stakeholder perspectives. Ultimately, STEPS will provide new scientific understanding, enabling new technologies, and transformative improvements in phosphorus sustainability.
The RTNN is a consortium of three North Carolina (NC) institutions and is a site in the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) network. NC State, Duke, and UNC-Chapel Hill are all located in close geographical proximity within North Carolina’s Research Triangle. The RTNN currently offers fabrication and characterization services and education to a diverse range of users from colleges, universities, industry, non-profits, and individuals. The RTNN brings specialized technical expertise and facilities to the National NNCI in areas that include wide bandgap semiconductors, soft materials (animal, vegetative, textile, polymer), functional nanomaterials, in situ nanomaterials characterization and environmental impact, nanofluidics, heterogeneous integration, photovoltaics, and positron annihilation spectroscopy. The RTNN strengthens the National NNCI in the areas of social and ethical implications of nanotechnology, environmental impacts of nanotechnology, and education/workforce development through interaction with industry and community colleges in the Research Triangle. All facilities engaged in this consortium have established track records of facilitating industrial research and technology transfer, strengths that further leverage the proposed site within the Research Triangle.
The research focus of the RET site is atomic-scale design and engineering. Participants in the program will be paired with research mentors in one of the three Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network (RTNN) institutions: NC State, Duke, or UNC. Research projects will enable participants to engineer, create, and characterize nanoscale materials or devices and connect their work to real-world applications. Teachers will gain experience with state-of-the-art tools and techniques that are used in scientific and engineering research. By integrating their research into creative lesson plans, educators can introduce nanotechnology concepts to their students, inspire and motivate them to pursue STEM careers, and prepare them for the scientific workforce. Participants will be recruited from local school districts (Johnston County Schools, Durham Public Schools) and community colleges with high populations of underrepresented students. Prior to conducting research, participants in the site will attend a week-long orientation. The following weeks will intertwine research activities with curricular development. To cap off the program, participants will finalize curricular materials and share their research experiences with fellow RET participants in a symposium. Upon return to their home institutions, educators will implement their curricula and work with open-access facilities at RTNN institutions to expose students to cutting-edge fabrication and characterization tools. Participants will share their curricula online as well as at local education conferences.
The Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics (CDP) is an internationally recognized research center dedicated to improving the science and technology of dielectric and piezoelectric materials and their integration into components and devices. This class of materials underpins the functionality of a broad array of electronic and electromechanical systems that are enabling for the transportation, energy, aerospace and defense, communications, and medical sectors of the economy. In response to the needs and opportunities for academic-focused research to support these technology areas, the CDP was established in 2013 as a joint center between North Carolina State University (NCSU) and The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and became an official NSF I/UCRC in 2014. The center attracts companies across the supply chain from raw materials suppliers, to component/subsystems manufacturers, to test equipment suppliers, to device and systems integrators.
North Carolina State University will work with Sandia to characterize changes in microstructure and phase of the HZO as a function of radiation and cycling in order to elucidate origins of radiation-induced failure.