Faculty Profile
Yayoi Takamura
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Growing up in Canada, Yayoi Takamura always enjoyed and excelled in her science and math courses. However, it was not until her undergraduate years at Cornell University that her career path began to emerge. This time was marked by two notable opportunities. The first opportunity involved performing undergraduate research in the laboratory of Prof. Christopher Ober during her junior and senior years. Working under the guidance of a senior graduate student opened her eyes to the excitement and intrigue of the academic research environment. Later, as a senior she got her first experience with teaching by working as a laboratory teaching assistant helping freshman to conduct simple experiments in an introduction to engineering course.
After graduating magna cum laude from Cornell in 1994 with a bachelor of science degree in Materials Science and Engineering, Takamura moved to California to attend graduate school. She received her master of science and doctorate degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University before moving across the bay to serve as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. Finally, she came to UC Davis Engineering in 2006.
“I really like teaching” Takamura says, “and I particularly encourage undergraduates to get involved in the research projects of the UC Davis faculty. These activities allow students to tackle real world problems instead of self-contained textbook problems.”
Recently Takamura received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, a prestigious five year grant supporting the early career development activities of teacher/scholars who effectively integrate research and education. She and her students are studying the growth and characterization of nanometer scale oxide films grown by a laser-assisted deposition technique. In particular, they will investigate the unusual magnetic and electronic properties that occur at the interfaces between dissimilar layers. The research could lead to improvement in the miniaturization, storage capacity, speed, and energy efficiency of information storage devices, sensors, and solid oxide fuel cells.
Under the guidance of Renée Maldonado, the student development and recruitment director for UC Davis Engineering, funds from the CAREER Award and the NSF funded California Alliance for Minority Program will help to bring back the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Transfer Day to UC Davis. This one day event will give prospective transfer students from local community colleges with Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) programs an opportunity to learn about the research and academic opportunities available to them before they transfer.
