People

Andrea Donohue received a B.S. degree in physics and psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December of 2003. She spent one year in the physics department at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) taking graduate courses in electromagnetic theory, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics. Andrea began working part-time for the J.A. Woollam Company in 2001 while working on her undergraduate degree. She spent a little under two years working full-time in production and in the Fall of 2006 joined the applications team.

James Hilfiker received his Master’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As an undergraduate, he was involved in research on computer simulations of high-speed microelectronic devices. His graduate interests included materials processing, multilayered nanostructures, and in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. He designed and built a liquid cell for in situ monitoring of electrochemical deposition. James has been an applications engineer with the J.A. Woollam Company since 1995. His recent publications involve vacuum ultraviolet ellipsometry and liquid crystal characterization.

Andrew Martin received a Master’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. As a graduate student, he focused the degradation of anti-reflective coatings in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) environment. Andrew began working part-time for the J.A. Woollam Company in 2004 while working on his undergraduate degree in computer engineering. He joined the applications team in the winter of 2009.

Greg Pribil holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is currently finishing work on his M.S. degree in electrical engineering. His graduate research includes development of a hollow cathode reactive sputtering UHV system with magnetic field confinement. His research focuses on the deposition of a-Si:H, a-Ge:H and a-SiGe:H thin films for use in solar cells. He has been an applications engineer at the J.A. Woollam Company since January 2002 and works with the in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry group.

Neha Singh received a Master’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. As a graduate student, she focused on femtosecond laser ablation of metal surfaces. She joined the J.A. Woollam Company applications team in 2005, after completing an internship in the analytical services laboratory.

Ron Synowicki holds a B.S. degree in physics and a Master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His master’s research involved laboratory simulation of materials degradation in Low Earth Orbit. He has worked in the analytical services laboratory at J.A. Woollam Company since 1993, specializing in customer applications development and service measurements using spectroscopic ellipsometry.

Tom Tiwald received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His Ph.D. research focused on infrared free carrier and phonon absorptions in semiconductors. He also studied the infrared properties of anodic SiO₂, thin films, and plasma-treated polycarbonates. Prior to that, he worked with SIMS, AES, and other surface spectroscopies in the semiconductor industry. He joined the J.A. Woollam Company in 1999 as an applications engineer.