Julia Hsu is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She also holds the Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair in Nanoelectronics. Her research focuses on nanoscale materials physics. She has done extensive work on local characterization of electronic and photonic materials and devices using scanning probe techniques. The material systems she has studied include metals and alloys, group IV, III-V and II-VI semiconductors, and oxides. She is most interested in the relationship between microscopic organization and macroscopic properties of nanocomposites, including controlling assembly of inorganic nanomaterials in organic matrices and understanding electronic properties at the organic-inorganic interface, with applications towards energy applications, such as nanostructured solar cells. The research projects will include improving organic photovoltaics, nanomaterial synthesis, electrical and electronic studies of nanocomposites and heterojunctions, and nanofabrication.