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Department of Physics College of Arts and Sciences

Yogesh K. Vohra

Professor University Scholar and Associate Dean This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ESH 4131
(205) 975-3675

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Research and Teaching Interests: Solid State Physics, Nanotechnology, Materials Innovations

Office Hours: By appointment only

Education:

  • B.S., Delhi University, India, Physics
  • M.S., Delhi University, India, Physics
  • Ph.D., Bombay University, India, Physics
  • Postdoc, University of Paderborn, Germany, Physics 
  • Postdoc, Cornell University, Materials Science & Engineering

Dr. Yogesh Vohra joined UAB in 1992 after completing his postdoctoral research training at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Dr. Yogesh Vohra is currently a Professor University Scholar in the Department of Physics and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is the founding Director of the UAB Center for Nanoscale Materials and Biointegration (CNMB) at UAB. CNMB is a world-class interdisciplinary research and student training center focusing on the synthesis and characterization of nanoscale materials with broad applicability in materials under extreme environments, nano-enabled biomedical imaging and drug delivery platforms, and nanostructured coatings and materials for biomedical implants and vascular grafts. 

Dr. Vohra has active research grants from National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Army Research Office, Alabama Department of Commerce, and the US Department of Education. 23 Ph.D. students and 9 MS students have completed their thesis dissertation research under Dr. Vohra’s supervision during 1992-2016. His Ph.D. students are enjoying rewarding careers at Department of Energy National Laboratories, as faculty members in academia, and as innovators in industrial research laboratories.

  • Research Interests

    Dr. Yogesh Vohra’s research expertise is in the properties of materials under extreme conditions of pressures and temperature, synthetic diamond growth and applications, nanomaterials for dental, hip and knee joints and biomaterials for regenerative medicine. Dr. Vohra has published over 330 original research papers in the international journals in physics, materials science and biomaterials. Dr. Vohra is a co-inventor of several leading patents in the growth of single crystal diamonds and nano-diamonds that are undergoing commercialization.

  • Recent Courses
    • PH 487/587: Nanoscale Science and Applications
    • PH 453-4/553-4: Introduction to Solid State Physics
  • Select Publications
    • J. M. Montgomery, G. K. Samudrala, N. Velisavljevic, and Y. K. Vohra, “High-pressure high-temperature phase diagram of gadolinium studied using a boron-doped heater anvil”, J. Appl. Phys. 119, 135902 (2016).
    • Yogesh K. Vohra, Gopi K. Samudrala, Samuel L. Moore, Jeffrey M. Montgomery, Georgiy M. Tsoi & Nenad Velisavljevic, “ High pressure studies using two-stage diamond micro anvils grown by chemical vapor deposition”, High Pressure Research 35, 282 (2015).
    • Shane A. Catledge, Vinoy Thomas, Yogesh K. Vohra, Book Chapter entitled “Nanostructured Diamond for Othopaedic Implants”, in Diamond-based Materials for Biomedical Applications Edited by R. Narayan, pp 105-150, Published by Woodhead Publishing Limited 2013.
    • Gopi K. Samudrala, and Yogesh K. Vohra, “Structural Properties of Lanthanides at Ultra High Pressure” in Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths, Jean-Claude G. Bünzli and Vitalij K. Pecharsky editors, Vol. 43, Elsevier, 2013, pp. 275-319.
    • Xing Zhang, Vinoy Thomas, Yuanyuan Xu, Susan L. Bellis, and Yogesh K. Vohra, “An in vitro regenerated functional human endothelium on a Nanofibrous electrospun scaffold”, Biomaterials 31, 4376 (2010).
    • Chih-Shiue Yan, Yogesh K. Vohra, Ho-kwang Mao, and Russell J. Hemley, “Very High Growth Rate Chemical Vapor Deposition of Single-Crystal Diamond”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99, 12523 (2002).
    • Yogesh K. Vohra, and Philemon T. Spencer, “Novel γ-Phase of Titanium Metal at Megabar Pressures”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3068 (2001).
    • Jeremy R. Patterson, Shane A. Catledge, Yogesh K. Vohra, Jagannadham Akella and Samuel T. Weir, “Electrical and Mechanical Properties of C70 Fullerene and Graphite Under High Pressures Studied Using Designer Diamond Anvils”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5364 (2000).
    • S. K. Sikka, Y. K. Vohra, and R. Chidambaram, “Omega phase in materials", Progress in Materials Science 27, 245 (1982).
  • Academic Distinctions and Professional Societies
    • American Physical Society
    • Materials Research Society
    • Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship for Post-doctoral Research, Germany, 1981-1982
    • National Science Foundation (NSF) - Research Creativity Award, 2000-2002
    • Chartered Physicist and Fellow of the Institute of Physics, United Kingdom, 2001-present
    • Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction, UAB, 2003
    • Member Councilor, Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), 2014-present
    • Sam Brown Bridge Builder Award, UAB, 2016