See the accomplishments of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) graduate and Mt. Laurel native Dylan Renaud.
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) graduate Dylan Renaud, a Mt. Laurel native, now has his sights set on Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Having majored in applied physics and mathematics at NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College, next up for Renaud is pursuing a Ph.D. in applied physics at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where he will work with researchers from a broad array of disciplines to develop novel systems that require a physicist’s fundamental grasp of material properties.
Initially uncertain about his academic plans, Renaud became captivated by research while at a interdisciplinary graduate university in Okinawa, Japan during the summer after his freshman year.
While there, sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s International Research Experiences for Undergraduates NanoJapan program, Renaud investigated low-dimensional materials with extraordinary optical and electronic properties.
“My goal was to spend the summer abroad, so I searched for opportunities and found this program which sent me to the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology to be a research intern. It turned out to be a life-changing experience,” Renaud said.
According to Renaud, he discovered what research really entailed through the independence he was granted, and he learned firsthand how and why things worked.
“It was so exciting that we would often stay until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. and even sleep in the lab on occasion,” Renaud said.
At Harvard, Renaud said he’ll be working with low-dimensional materials that could give rise to new compact devices and technologies.
