Professor Michael Kearney

Biography

I was born in Crawley, Sussex, in 1962, but spent much of my childhood in Melbourne, Australia. Returning to England in 1976, I completed my schooling at Lancaster Royal Grammar School before entering St. John's College Oxford in 1982 to study Physics. A PhD in theoretical solid state physics followed at the University of Warwick, whereupon in 1988 I joined the Long Range Research Laboratory at the GEC Hirst Research Centre. After serving a period as Manager of that Laboratory, I left in 1995 to join the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Loughborough University as Professor of Electronic Device Engineering. Whilst there, I served as Head of Department between 1997 and 2000. I joined Surrey in 2002 as the inaugural Director of the Advanced Technology Institute, and was appointed Head of the School of Electronics and Physical Sciences in January 2005. On August 1st 2007 I became Dean of the newly formed Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Research Interests

Many and varied, spanning engineering, physics and mathematics. Examples include (i) electronic and thermoelectric transport in low dimensional disordered materials, (ii) III-V devices for RF and microwave applications (e.g. mixers, detectors, sources), (iii) SiGe heterostructures for FET applications (particularly p-type devices), and (iv) thin-film solar cells (especially amorphous silicon). Recently I have been studying various stochastic processes (both discrete and continuous) which find application to percolation and queueing pehenomena.

Research Collaborations

Again, many and varied, with colleagues in both industry and academia. In particular, I have enjoyed a longstanding connection with the University of Warwick, where I am an Honorary Professor of Physics.

Teaching

These are some of the subjects I have taught:

Electromagnetism (First year and Second year)
Introduction to communication systems (Second year)
Semiconductor materials and devices (Third year)
Novel concepts in electronics (Third year)
Advanced stochastic modelling (Third year)
Statistical physics (Third and fourth year)
Fractals and geometric randomness in physics (Third and fourth year)
Introduction to photovoltaics (MSc)
Advanced solar-cell design (MSc)
Digital data transmission systems (MSc)
Microwave and photonic devices (MSc)
Research techniques (MSc and PhD)