Caress Alumni Speaker: Malika Jeffries-EL PhD, Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Boston University

The past two decades has seen a dramatic increase in the number of consumer electronics in use. Previously, most households had a landline phone, one or two televisions and the occasional desktop computer. These days most people own numerous electronic devices, resulting in an increased demand on the semiconducting materials that drive this technology, in addition to the energy needed to power them. Accordingly, there has been a large amount of interest in the development of organic semiconductors, as many of the inorganic materials used in these devices are in limited supply.  

Image

Organic semiconductors are either polymers or small molecules that feature and extended pi-conjugation. These materials possess many exceptional electronic, optical, and thermal properties and thus are well suited for applications, such as transistors, solar cells, and light emitting diodes. Unfortunately, there are several issues that must be addressed before real-life products can be developed. Unfortunately, there are several issues that must be addressed before real-life products can be developed. Our group focuses on the design and synthesis of new organic semiconductors based on low cost and/or easily prepared starting materials. Since the properties of organic semiconductors can be readily modified through chemical synthesis, we have turned our attention towards the design and synthesis of novel aromatic building blocks. Our group developed several new materials based including wide band gap materials for use in organic light-emitting diodes and narrow band gap materials for use in photovoltaic cells. Our recent work on will be presented.

BIO

Malika Jeffries-EL holds Bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Africana Studies from Wellesley College, and went on to earn her M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from The George Washington University. She completed her post-doctoral research under the guidance of Professor Richard D. McCullough at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Jeffries-EL began her academic career as a faculty member in the Chemistry Department at Iowa State University, where she later became an Associate Professor with tenure. She has also served as a Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professor in the Chemistry Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Jeffries-EL is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Division of Materials Science at Boston University. She has also served as the Associate Dean of the Graduate School in Arts and Sciences since July 2020.

Dr. Jeffries-EL is a prominent researcher focused on developing organic semiconductors. She has authored 50+ publications, given 200+ lectures, and received numerous awards, including the inaugural  Robert Holland award from Research Corporation. She is a fellow of ACS, RSC, and AAAS. She is an Associate Editor of Chemical Science and has served on editorial advisory boards for ACS Central Science, Macromolecules, and Chemical and Engineering News. She is a strong advocate for diversity and volunteers with the American Chemical Society and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Dr. Jeffries-EL is from Brooklyn, New York.