Michael L. Roukes
Frank J. Roshek Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Bioengineering

Research activities are currently focused on developing advanced nanodevices, engineering them into complex systems, and using them to enable fundamental problems in physics, neuroscience and proteomics. A continuing thread in theoretical and experimental investigations focuses on fundamental properties of nanomechanical systems.

Roukes was founding Director of Caltech's Kavli Nanoscience Institute from 2003-2006, and Co-Director from 2008-2013. 

During 2021-2022 he is on sabbatical (at Caltech) and is primarily focusing full-time on collaborative research towards realization of instrumentation for deep profiling of the single-cell proteome.

Professor Roukes completed undergraduate majors in both physics and chemistry at the University of California Santa Cruz, and thereafter earned a Ph.D. in physics at Cornell University, focusing upon electron transport in microstructures at ultralow temperatures. Subsequently, he joined Bell Communications Research as a Member of Technical Staff / Principal Investigator in the (then-new) Quantum Structures Research Group, where he carried out some of the earliest explorations of the physics of nanoelectronic devices. In 1992 he joined the tenured faculty at the California Institute of Technology, where he built nanofabrication facilities and has established a large nanoscience research group, now heavily involved in cross-disciplinary collaborations. Roukes' scientific interests range from fundamental science to applied biotechnology —with a unifying theme centered upon development, application, and very-large-scale-integration of complex nanostructures. He has published and written extensively on nanoscience and nanotechnology, has lectured at most major research centers world-wide, and is active on many national and international committees that promote this field.

Current Projects

Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS): nonlinear, non-equilibrium and quantum physics with NEMS; novel NEMS device concepts, design, fabrication, and exploration; very-large-scale integration of NEMS, and applications in fundamental biological research and bioengineering.

NEMS arrays for single-molecule analysis, including mass spectrometry, inertial imaging, single-molecule calorimetry and action spectroscopy.

Multiphysical nanosystems for highly-multiplexed neurophysiological measurement, recording, and stimulation

Neurotech Alliance (with multiple institutions) openneurotech.org

Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI (very-large-scale integration)
with CEA/Leti-MINATEC, Grenoble, France
nanovlsi.com

Contact Information

e-mail: roukes at caltech.edu
Office: 131 Bridge Annex
GPS: 34.136543, -118.126166

Roukes Group Admin:
Tracy Mikuriya,  tmikuriy at caltech.edu,   +1 (626) 395-8579

Mailing Address:
California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, MC149-33, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA

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