Rate My Professor David Cahill

David G. Cahill is the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, holding courtesy appointments in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering and the Department of Physics. He earned a Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter physics from Cornell University in 1989 and a B.S. in Engineering Physics from Ohio State University in 1984. Following postdoctoral research at the IBM Watson Research Center from 1989 to 1991, he joined the University of Illinois faculty in 1991 as an Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, advancing to Associate Professor in 1997, Professor in 2002, Willett Professor of Engineering from 2005 to 2020, Department Head from 2010 to 2018, and Grainger Distinguished Chair since 2020. Additional roles include co-Director of the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute from 2021 to 2024 and Advisory Professor at Tongji University's Center for Phononics and Thermal Energy Science since 2014.

Cahill's research advances understanding of thermal transport at the nanoscale, extremes of low and high thermal conductivity in hard and soft materials, thermal science of magnetic materials, and coupled transport of heat and mass in battery materials, utilizing techniques like time-domain thermoreflectance. Key publications include 'Nanoscale thermal transport' (Journal of Applied Physics, 2003), 'Nanoscale thermal transport II: 2003–2012' (Applied Physics Reviews, 2014), and 'Ultrahigh thermal conductivity in cubic boron arsenide crystals' (Science, 2018). His innovations have shaped nanoscale thermal metrology worldwide. Major awards encompass the Paul G. Klemens Award (2023), election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023), Innovation in Materials Characterization Award from the Materials Research Society (2018), Yeram S. Touloukian Award from ASME (2015), Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award (2020), and fellowships from AAAS (2020), MRS (2012), APS (2005), and AVS (1998). Cahill chaired the APS Division of Materials Physics (2011-2014), served on editorial boards of Journal of Applied Physics (2010-2020) and Applied Physics Letters (2010-2014), and chaired the 2003 Gordon Research Conference on Thin Film and Crystal Growth Mechanisms.