Dr. Eric Dongheon Ha (Ph.D., Maryland) is a tenured Associate Professor at Eastern Illinois University (EIU).

He obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. His research spans several fields, including optics, photonics, electronics, nanomaterials, semiconductor devices, nanofabrication, nanoscale measurement techniques, and renewable solar energy harvesting.

Before pursuing his doctoral studies, Dr. Ha was employed at SK Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-largest memory semiconductor manufacturer, following his education at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). As a Staff Engineer, he focused on developing advanced semiconductor devices and circuits for consumer electronics such as cell phones, laptops, and servers. During his college years, he pursued a double major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Dr. Ha has published extensively in leading high-impact journals, including Advanced Energy Materials, Nano Letters, Nano Energy, Advanced Electronic Materials, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, and The Journal of Physical Chemistry, among others.

At EIU, he supervises a range of research projects related to renewable energy and nanoscale physics and technology. His projects involve developing high-efficiency solar energy devices, creating novel photonic and electronic materials, and enhancing nanoscale measurement systems using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical microscopy. 

He has also enjoyed teaching engineering and physics courses, offering practical insights into engineering design. His courses cover topics such as analog-digital-mixed circuit design at both the chip and transistor levels, semiconductor devices, electromagnetics, feedback and control systems, field-programmable gate arrays, and others. Additionally, he has taught various physics courses to engineers, physicists, and scientists from other fields.

Dr. Ha is also affiliated with several professional organizations, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the American Physical Society (APS), the Materials Research Society (MRS), and the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).