Bio: Silvanus S. Lau came to UCSD in 1980 after working at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Caltech. A fellow of the American Physical Society, Lau was a Fulbright scholar. He was founding coordinating editor of Materials Science and Engineering Reports. He is on the editorial board of Materials Chemistry and Physics , and Councilor, The Bohmische Physical Society. He received all of his engineering degrees from UC Berkeley, with a Ph.D. in materials sciences in 1969.

Research:  An engineer trained in high-temperature chemistry, materials science, and solid-state engineering, Professor Lau researches materials for electronic and optical devices. He has contributed to the understanding of silicidation, and metal-semiconductor interactions. This pioneering work helped develop the information today's chipmakers use to pick between the various silicides of titanium, cobalt, nickel, and other metals for structures, sometimes called pins, over which transistors in an integrated circuit communicate. Lau is also an expert in ion-beam processing of electronic materials, which can be used to form single crystal silicon on glass, a potential replacement for polysilicon in thin-film transistors for flat panel displays. Lau's investigations into the fundamental aspects of interactions of metal/Ill-V compounds (the Roman numerals are references to the location of the metals within the periodic table) has led to innovative fabrication techniques.