New Faculty Spotlight: Neamul H. Khansur

Neamul H. Khansur

Assistant Professor
Materials Science and Engineering

It started in high school when Neamul H. Khansur learned about the working principle of quartz watches—a watch powered by a battery with timekeeping regulated by a quartz crystal that vibrates at a certain frequency. Then he learned the term ‘piezoelectricity’, the phenomenon where certain materials generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress, and how it affects quartz crystal.

That early interest continued to develop and by the time Khansur was pursuing his undergraduate degree in chemistry, he was deeply interested in solid state materials and their applications for modern day electronics and went on to receive his master's degree and PhD in materials engineering.

“Numerous functional properties of advanced solid state materials and their real world applications was the main driving force for me to focus on materials engineering,” the assistant professor of materials science and engineering, said.

Khansur’s research focuses on understanding the structure-property relationships in inorganic functional materials—metals, ceramics, minerals—with specific focus on how atomic arrangement influences functional properties.

He will bring this expertise to the classroom with lessons focused on the fundamentals of engineering materials and advanced structural characterization techniques.

What are you most looking forward to at Case Western Reserve University?

I am looking forward to working with the undergrad students. I am also interested in establishing collaboration with different research groups.

Do you have any personal goals, hobbies, family, interests that you would like to share?

I like to play Badminton and my favorite sport is Cricket. As a family, we like trekking and generally the little one of our family decides the direction.

What’s one piece of advice you have for students? Or what’s a great piece of advice you’ve received?

The advice I found very helpful was [to] find the balance between thinking and acting.