Dr. Carol Trager-Cowan - Semiconductor Spectroscopy and Devices
March 21, 2010, Sunday, 79

Dr. Carol Trager-Cowan

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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 with bright UV 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.

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 ECO-QUIZ, science tours Science on the Streets and providing kits to schools. She also writes and commissions articles for the Interfaces section of the MRS Bulletin as the European representative and now chairs the Interfaces Team.

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


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 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, funded by Non Applicable, from 2007 to 2008, value: £0
  • Carol Trager-Cowan Dyland Dowd's DTC Project - Summer Mini Project, funded by Other industry, from 2007 to 2007, value: £0
  • 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, value: £0
  • Carol Trager-Cowan Communicating Science - Engaging the public in science, funded by Non Applicable, from 2006 to 2006, value: £0
  • Carol Trager-Cowan Undergraduate Research Bursary Depth profiling of semiconductors by variable energy ........, funded by Nuffield Foundation, from 2003 to 2003, value: £0
  • Carol Trager-Cowan ?, funded by Science Year, from 2002 to 2002, value: £0
  • Carol Trager-Cowan Lighting the way - The science and technology of lighting, from candles to LEDs, funded by EPSRC, from 2001 to 2002, value: £0
  • Carol Trager-Cowan, Kevin O'Donnell Development of an injection luminescence scanning probe microscope, funded by EPSRC, from 1997 to 2000, value: £0
  • 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, value: £0
  • Carol Trager-Cowan EBSD Studies of Nitride Thin Films, funded by Royal Society, from 1999 to 2000, value: £0
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