James Hone

James Hone

Wang Fong-Jen Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering

James Hone creates and studies nanoscale materials and structures for basic understanding and a wide variety of applications.

This work combines materials synthesis, fabrication of nanoscale structures, and characterization by mechanical, electrical, and optical techniques. 

Over the past ten years, a primary focus has been on two-dimensional materials created from atomically thin sheets.  Hone and collaborators have shown that an atomic sheet of carbon, known as graphene, is the strongest material ever measured. Hone has also developed new ways of manipulating two-dimensional materials to create layered heterostructures, in which intrinsic properties can be studied due to the lack of environmental disorder, electrical and optical devices demonstrate the highest performance, and new properties emerge at atomically precise interfaces.  In collaboration with biologists, Hone has developed tools that have revealed new processes by which cells sense the physical properties of their environment at the sub-micrometer scale. 

Hone received a BS in physics from Yale University in 1990 and a PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1998.

Research Areas

  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Micro/Nanotechnology (MEMS)
  • 2D materials
  • Micro and Nanoscale Engineering
  • Nanoelectronics

Additional Information

  • Professional Affiliations
    • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
    • American Physical Society (APS)
    • Materials Research Society (MRS)
  • Honors & Awards
    • Millikan Fellowship in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, Caltech, 2000
    • Society of Columbia Graduates Great Teacher Award, 2014
    • Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, Columbia Engineering Alumni Association, 2015
  • Professional Experience
    • Director, Columbia MRSEC, 2014-
    • Wang Fong-Jen Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 2015–
    • Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 2012-
    • Associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 2007-2012
    • Assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, 2003-2007