Dr. Carol Trager-Cowan

Dr Carol Trager-Cowan

Carol Trager-Cowan graduated with a degree in Natural Philosophy from Glasgow University in 1983, and then went east for a year to St Andrews University where her MSc studies found her studying ‘hot’ electrons in GaAs in the laboratory of Tony Stradling. Her travels then took her south to the laboratory of Prof Heddle at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College where she spent 2 and half years constructing, measuring and modelling the properties of electrostatic electron lenses. On completing her PhD studies in 1987, she returned to Glasgow to work with Brian Henderson and Kevin O’Donnell in the Department of Physics, Strathclyde University, where she got hooked on studying the luminescence properties of solids. Initially she used lamps and lasers to study light emission from rubies, garnets, glasses and II-VI semiconductors, but with lots of encouragement from her colleagues she combined her newly acquired appreciation of spectroscopy with her knowledge of electron optics to use electron beams to excite light emission from solids, and successfully applied for a SERC Fellowship to continue her studies. On April 1st, 1992, she joined the lecturing staff at Strathclyde and now uses electron beams to interrogate the structure, defects and light emission from solids. She was promoted to senior lecturer in June 1998 and Reader in April 2009.

Present Research: Carol is presently fascinated the bright light emission and the crystallography of nitride semiconductors, the material from which commercial UV/blue semiconductor LEDs and laser diodes are now being produced. In collaboration with Angus Wilkinson, Materials Department at Oxford University, Austin Day, Aunt Daisy Scientific Ltd and Aimo Winkelmann, Max-Planck-Institute for Microstructure Physics, she is working on new developments and novel applications of the electron beam techniques of electron backscatter diffraction, electron channelling contrast imaging and cathodoluminescence imaging. Nitride semiconductors from laboratories in the UK, Europe, USA and Japan are presently under study. She has published/presented over 100 papers on her research. In March 2007 she jointly organised the RMS Electron Backscatter Diffraction Conference with colleagues from Oxford and the US. She is presently a member of the RAINBOW Initial Training Network which aims to determine the best conditions for the growth of highest quality InN and In rich (In,Ga,Al)N alloys by the growth techniques (MOVPE, PAMBE, and HVPE).

Undergraduate teaching: Carol’s undergraduate teaching includes lecturing on Properties of Matter, Solid State Physics, Biophysical Instrumentation, Imaging Instrumentation, Communicating Physics and Physics in Medical Diagnostics and Treatment, participating in the Ethics for Science and Engineering class and the Introduction to Scientific Programming, Design and Development class, running and teaching in the 3rd year laboratory and running final year and summer projects. She also headed up the development of and is now the Course Director of a new MSci Degree in Biophysics taught jointly by the Department of Physics, and the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences at Strathclyde University.

Public Engagement: Carol is also committed to public engagement activities, and has been involved in science and engineering outreach projects for over 20 years – she was named ‘Strathclyder of the Year in 2007’ in recognition of this work. The projects with which she has been involved include lectures, workshops, quizzes, science tours Science on the Streets and providing kits to schools. She also writes and commissions articles for the 'Beyond the Lab' section of the MRS Bulletin as the European representative and now chairs the 'Beyond the lab' Team.

She is now very pleased to be part of ‘Glasgow City of Science’ which brings together individuals, groups, universities and higher education institutions, science centres, museums and industry in the West of Scotland who are committed to better engaging the public in what they do. We aim to engage people with the wonders of science and technology, to inspire them with the opportunities that science offers and to highlight how science can contribute to a healthier, wealthier and sustainable future.‘Glasgow City of Science’ aims to drive economic development by increasing the number of people trained in science, medicine, engineering and technology and by making Glasgow the preferred location for the new industries of the 21st Century.

Contact details

Room 2.08 Department of Physics University of Strathclyde John Anderson Building 107 Rottenrow Glasgow G4 0NG U.K.	c.trager-cowan-at-strath.ac.uk
	Office: Lab: Fax:	+44(0)141 548 3465 +44(0)141 548 3458 +44(0)141 548 2891

Selected publications

Cover of Ultramicroscopy 107 (4-5) (2007)

• G.Naresh-Kumar, B.Hourahine, P.R.Edwards, A.P.Day, A.Winkelmann, A.J.Wilkinson, P.J.Parbrook, G.England and C.Trager-Cowan (2012) Rapid nondestructive analysis of threading dislocations in wurtzite materials using the scanning electron microscope, Physical Review Letters 108 135503 doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.135503
• K.Lorenz, I.S.Roqan, N.Franco, K.P.O'Donnell, V.Darakchieva, E.Alves, C.Trager-Cowan, R.W.Martin, D.J.As and M.Panfilova (2009) Europium doping of zincblende GaN by ion implantation, Journal of Applied Physics 105 113507 doi:10.1063/1.3138806
• C.Trager-Cowan, F.Sweeney, P.W.Trimby, A.P.Day, A.Gholinia, N.H.Schmidt, P.J.Parbrook, A.J.Wilkinson and I.M.Watson (2007) Electron backscatter diffraction and electron channeling contrast imaging of tilt and dislocations in nitride thin films, Physical Review B: Condensed Matter 75 085301 doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.75.085301
• A.Winkelmann, C.Trager-Cowan, F.Sweeney, A.P.Day and P.Parbrook (2007) Many-beam dynamical simulation of electron backscatter diffraction patterns, Ultramicroscopy 107 414-421 doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2006.10.006
• C.Trager-Cowan, F.Sweeney, A.Winkelmann, A.J.Wilkinson, P.W.Trimby, A.P.Day, A.Gholinia, N.-H.Schmidt and P.J.Parbrook and I.M.Watson (2006) Characterisation of nitride thin films by electron backscatter diffraction and electron channelling contrast imaging, Materials Science and Technology 22 1352-1358 doi:10.1179/174328406X130957
• C.Trager-Cowan, F.Sweeney, J.Hastie, S.K.Manson-Smith, D.A.Cowan, D.McColl, A.Mohammed, K.P.O'Donnell, D.Zubia, S.D.Hersee, C.T.Foxon, I.Harrison and S.V.Novikov (2002) Characterization of nitride thin films by electron backscatter diffraction, Journal of Microscopy 205 226-230 doi:10.1046/j.1365-2818.2002.00996.x
• C.Trager-Cowan, F.Sweeney, A.J.Wilkinson, I.M.Watson, P.G.Middleton, K.P.O'Donnell, D.Zubia, S.D.Hersee, S.Einfeldt and D.Hommel (2002) Determination of the structural and luminescence properties of nitrides using electron backscattered diffraction and photo- and cathodoluminescence, physica status solidi (c) 0 532-536 doi:10.1002/pssc.200390107
• S.Pereira, M.R.Correia, E.Pereira, K.P.O'Donnell, C.Trager-Cowan, F.Sweeney and E.Alves (2001) Compositional pulling effects in In_xGa_1-xN/GaN layers: A combined depth-resolved cathodoluminescence and Rutherford backscattering/channeling study, Physical Review B: Condensed Matter 64 205311 doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.64.205311
• S.K.Manson-Smith, C.Trager-Cowan and K.P.O'Donnell (2001) Scanning tunneling luminescence studies of nitride semiconductor thin films under ambient conditions, physica status solidi (b) 228 445-448 <445::AID-PSSB445>3.0.CO;2-I doi:10.1002/1521-3951(200111)228:2<445::AID-PSSB445>3.0.CO;2-I

Recent grants

• Carol Trager-Cowan, Benjamin Hourahine, Robert Martin, Kevin O'Donnell, RAINBOW ITN (Marie Curie), funded by EU, from 2008 to 2012, value: £1,088,545
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Direct electron imaging for electron backscatter diffraction and electron channelling contract imaging, funded by Strathclyde - Research development fund, from 2012 to 2012
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Emergent - Aunt Daisy (KT Account) - Commercialisation of a novel rapid non-destructive technique .., funded by EPSRC, from 2011 to 2012
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Outreach and Public Engagement Network in the West of Scotland (OPEN West), funded by SFC, from 2009 to 2010, value: £104,604
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Science Communication Event Development, from 2007 to 2008
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Dyland Dowd's DTC Project - Summer Mini Project, funded by Other industry, from 2007 to 2007
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Electron channelling contrast imaging in the scanning electron microscope for the characterisation of dislocations in nitride thin films, funded by EPSRC, from 2005 to 2006
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Communicating Science - Engaging the public in science, from 2006 to 2006
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Undergraduate Research Bursary Depth profiling of semiconductors by variable energy ........, funded by Nuffield Foundation, from 2003 to 2003
• Carol Trager-Cowan, funded by Science Year, from 2002 to 2002
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Lighting the way - The science and technology of lighting, from candles to LEDs, funded by EPSRC, from 2001 to 2002
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Kevin O'Donnell, Development of an injection luminescence scanning probe microscope, funded by EPSRC, from 1997 to 2000
• Carol Trager-Cowan, Probing the Properties of Nitride Semiconductor Thin Films in 3-D Using a Variable Energy Electron Beam, funded by Nuffield Foundation, from 1999 to 2000
• Carol Trager-Cowan, EBSD Studies of Nitride Thin Films, funded by Royal Society, from 1999 to 2000