Dr. Jingyue (Jimmy) Liu is now a Professor in the Department of Physics at Arizona State University (ASU). He obtained his Ph.D. degree in condensed matter physics at ASU and then was funded by Shell for 4 years to develop electron microscopy techniques for catalyst characterization before he joined Monsanto Company as a group leader (1994). He was promoted to Corporate Fellow and then Senior Fellow for sustained outstanding contributions to Monsanto's businesses. Dr. Liu was recruited to University of Missouri-St. Louis (2006) as Professor of Physics and Chemistry and Director of the Center for Nanoscience. He was then recruited back to ASU (2011) as Professor of Physics and serves as Director of the Professional Science Master’s in Nanoscience Program as well as Committee Chair of the John M. Cowley Center for HREM at ASU. Dr. Liu received the prestigious 2001 Edgar M. Queeny Award for Science and Technology, the highest award within Monsanto for scientific achievement and business impact. He is a Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America and has published over 300 journal and conference articles. https://physics.asu.edu/content/jingyue-liu

The recent focus on supported single atoms as functional materials includes single‐atom catalysis in chemistry, single-atom transistor and memory in physics, and various types of practical applications. This emerging and exciting research field integrates many branches of sciences at the single atom limit and underscores the fundamental principle that individual atoms excel as the smallest functional material. Such an understanding of the nature of materials opens up many possibilities of constructing novel functional materials for desired properties. It is expected that the single atom research field will have a significant impact on both fundamental physical sciences and development of sustainable societies. In this presentation, I will discuss the current research status on single atoms as functional units and give examples of how we can manipulate single atoms for practical applications with a focus on single-atom catalysis, single-atom transistors, and single-atom memories.