Colin Ophus | Faculty Spotlight
Colin Ophus
Associate Professor
Materials Science and Engineering
"Our group performs research on many different aspects of computational imaging, data science, and electron microscopy."
Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in the frozen northlands of Canada. At about 12 years old, our family relocated to the interior of British Columbia, east of Vancouver. I returned to Alberta for university - I have no idea what possessed me to return to the land of endless winter! Luckily I escaped to California shortly thereafter. I enjoy cycling, running, and building things – I’ve converted my tiny Berkeley apartment into a wood-working shop with my laser cutter.
Where did you study?
I received both my BSc and PhD at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. During my PhD, I had a chance to work in the Molecular Foundry user facility at Berkeley Lab, and so when I received an NSERC postdoc scholarship from the Canadian government, I chose to do computational and theoretical materials modeling at UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab.
What led you to the engineering field?
My original BSc degree was a dual Electrical Engineering / Engineering Physics program, which I chose because I’d always liked circuit design and heavy math / physics. My final projects were building a wireless audio system for concerts and building NEMS/MEMS devices in a fab. My advisor for that second project invited me to do a summer of research - after that, I was hooked – an academic for life! I immediately enrolled into a Materials Engineering PhD program.
What led you to Stanford and your current role?
As I was finishing up my postdoc, I had experience in synthesis, analysis, and simulation. I was pondering which aspect of Materials Science to pursue when the director of the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) told me that the center had traditionally had a data-science focused scientist. My other job offers were all MatSci professor positions, but I elected to try the most unique path forwards and focus on the intersection of data science and electron microscopy as a Staff Scientist at NCEM. I never forgot my dreams of being a MatSci professor; however, after over a decade working as a Berkeley Lab scientist, I had learned that the parts of the job I was most passionate about was mentoring and educated students. Where to go next was a very difficult decision, but I ultimately chose Stanford because of its combination of amazing students, a strong focus on education, and world class research. I am also a member of the Precourt Institute for Energy and a cross-appointee at SLAC National Lab.
Current research highlights / aspirations
Our group performs research on many different aspects of computational imaging, data science, and electron microscopy. One of our recent success stories was how we combined 4DSTEM ptychography and atomic electron tomography to solve the structure of a complex ZrTe nanowire, encapsulated in a double-walled carbon nanotube:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43634-z
We have also recently developed deep learning methods to invert multiple scattering of electron diffraction patterns to recover the underlying structure:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-022-00939-9
And to predict unknown crystal structures:
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.8.093802
We hope to adapt these electron diffraction + deep learning methods to work for all materials, from the most ordered to disordered, even liquids.
Our group also builds software for data analysis, for example our open source py4DSTEM toolkit:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927621000477
Codes like these allow us to extract material structure and properties from millions of diffraction patterns.
What advice do you have for aspiring scientist researchers in the field?
Study what you’re passionate about! Scientific research is a long hard road, but our results can meaningfully change the world. You should also actively work to develop your skillset; I firmly believe all scientists can benefit from developing skills in scientific communication, writing, and programming, in addition to strong research skills.
Note: Colin is currently recruiting Masters and PhD students! You can find more information on our group website:
You can reach Colin at cophus@stanford.edu.
