Professor Cheng Gong Awarded $1M Single-PI Grant from U.S. Navy

Quantum mechanics has revealed that an electron is not only a charge but also a spin. When electrons as charges flow in a conductor or semiconductor, electrical current is generated, inevitably causing Joule heating while these moving charges hit nearby electrons and ions. If electrons as spins can be manipulated to store information (just like the conventional computer hard disks) and do computing, charge flow may be no longer needed and thus energy consumption can be minimized. In this case, spintronic memory and logic devices hold promise in providing a new scheme to get rid of Joule heating, leading to energy-efficient spintronic hardware. Professor Cheng Gong’s proposal of advancing nanoscale spintronic devices by atomically thin magnetoelectric materials may blaze the trail towards energy-efficient, ultracompact devices, which won his research group at University of Maryland (UMD) a $1M grant from Office of Naval Research (ONR).

“I am excited to hear Professor Gong’s research has been continuously supported by federal funding agencies, including this newest addition from ONR,” remarked Professor Ankur Srivastava, the Director of Semiconductor Initiative and Innovation at UMD. “Spintronics as a main branch of next-generation computing and storage platforms certainly deserves the nation-wide effort and its breakthrough could fundamentally impact the resurgence of microelectronics in the U.S.” Professor Srivastava added.

“While employing atomically thin magnetoelectric materials to develop nanoscale functional devices, we are creating the prospects towards highly integrated nanodevices with ultracompact footprint, in which a small voltage (without need of electric current) can impinge the collective behaviors of electron spins, thereby enabling energy-efficient spintronics.” Professor Gong explained.

“We at UMD ECE care deeply about electronic devices, in their energy consumption, footprint and scalability, heterogeneous integration, advanced function, and so on. Professor Gong’s research is focused on these core aspects of electrical engineering, by developing functional devices through manipulating the exotic electron physics in novel quantum materials,” remarked Professor Sennur Ulukus, ECE Chair and University Distinguished Professor at UMD.

This project will be performed by Professor Cheng Gong’s research group in his laboratory located in Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building at University of Maryland, College Park.

Published December 19, 2025