Dr. Vinod Sangwan is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University (NU). He did a B. Tech. in Engineering Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, under the supervision of Profs. Ellen D. Williams and Michael S. Fuhrer, where he received the Iskraut award for scoring highest in the Ph.D. qualifier examination. He joined NU as a postdoctoral researcher jointly with Profs. Mark C. Hersam, Lincoln J. Lauhon, and Tobin J. Marks. After that, he continued at NU as a research faculty member. His current research intersects multiple disciplines, including materials science, applied physics, electrical engineering, and chemistry. He leads and supervises projects ranging from materials growth to integrating high-performance electronics and optoelectronics. Fundamental research themes are nanoscale charge transport, ultrafast optical processes, heterojunctions, and quantum information science.

Dr. Sangwan's main interest focuses on bio-realistic computing hardware, exploring tunable nanosystems to emulate bio-realistic neuronal networks and other energy-efficient computing primitives, as recognized by the 2021 IEEE Chicago Outstanding Senior Research and Development Award. He is a 2026 IEEE Distinguished Lecturer of Nanotechnology, giving talks on "Emerging Nanomaterials for Bio-Realistic Neuromorphic Computing". He is pursuing neuromorphic computing systems using nanomaterial-based memristive and heterojunction devices with internal non-linear dynamical processes. He has published more than 130 papers (32 as a first co-author) in journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Materials, etc. He has mentored more than 50 students and postdoctoral researchers, and served as a co-principal investigator in several government- and industry-funded grants. He is a senior member of IEEE and an active member of several societies, including APS, MRS, ACS, AVS, SPIE, and AAAS.