Naval Research Lab
E-mail: virginia_wheeler @ avs.org

VIRGINIA ‘GINGER’ WHEELER is a Materials Research Engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.  She currently leads the Thin Film Materials section within the Electronic Science and Technology division, where her team focuses on materials development for RF electronic devices through a wide range of deposition techniques including molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and atomic layer deposition/epitaxy (ALD/ALEp). 

She received her BS and PhD in Material Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2005 and 2009, respectively, where her PhD work focused on MOCVD growth of III-Ns, surface cleaning of GaN, and subsequent epitaxial rare earth gate oxide deposition by MBE for GaN MOSFET applications.  In 2009, she received an ASEE postdoctoral fellowship at NRL working on reducing defects in SiC epitaxy, as well as epitaxial graphene growth, intercalation, and integration with ALD films.  She received the Karles Fellowship at NRL in 2012, becoming a full-time government employee, where she continues to focus on the growth and characterization of complex ALD materials, including epitaxial stable/metastable semiconductors, phase change materials, superconductors, and advance dielectrics.  

She has over 15 years of experience in various materials growth and characterization techniques and during that time has mentored several postdoctoral fellows in her area of research.  She has published over 120 peer-reviewed articles (H index of 33 and over 3000 citations) and 3 book chapters and is a co-inventor on 12 US patents.

She has been an active member of AVS since 2010 and has served in many different capacities in the Thin Film Division including Executive Committee Member (TFD), Vice-chair, and Chair.  During her time as TFD Chair, she helped write and pass updated bylaws and roles for the Program Committee. She also served as the AVS68 Program Vice-Chair in 2022 and is currently serving as the AVS69 Program Chair in 2023.  She also served on the AVS topical ALD meeting program committee from 2014-2022 and continues to be quite active in this community.