Dr. Costel Constantin received his Ph.D. from Ohio University. He held a postdoctoral position at Carnegie Mellon University. He then held a position at Seton Hall University. Dr. Constantin joined the faculty at JMU in the Fall of 2010. Dr. Constantin's research focuses on the growth and characterization of rare earth oxides and nitride semiconductors.

Dr. Sachith Dissanayake received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He then held postdoc positions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Duke University. Dr. Dissanayake joined the faculty at JMU in the fall of 2024. Dr. Dissanayake’s research interests are in experimental condensed matter physics, which aims to discover, synthesize, and characterize novel quantum materials, such as superconductors, frustrated magnets, and multiferroic materials. After synthesizing these materials in-house, he use advanced techniques like X-ray diffraction, neutron scattering, magnetic and transport measurements, and microscopy to explore and tune the electronic phase diagrams of strongly correlated materials by applying control parameters such as chemical doping, pressure, and magnetic fields.

Dr. Christopher Hughes received his Bachelors from Davidson College and his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. He then held a postdoc position at North Carolina State coming to JMU in the Fall of 1997. He is currently the Unit Head of the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Dr. Hughes researches microfluidic devices and nanocomposite polymer surfaces.

Dr. Giovanna Scarel received her Ph.D. from the Department of Materials Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She then became a postdoctoral associate, and later, a research associate at the CNR-INFM-Materials and Devices for Microelectronics National Laboratory, Italy. More recently, she was a research associate at North Carolina State and then joined the faculty at JMU in the Fall of 2009. Dr. Scarel is interested in experimental and simulation work to investigate fundamental optical properties related to optical phonons in thin films. Dr. Scarel studies the response of oxide layers deposited with high uniformity using atomic layer deposition exposed to infrared radiation. The response is determined by surface longitudinal optical modes and transverse optical phonons.