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SHORT BIOGRAPHY:

Abu Sebastian was born in Kerala, India. He received a B. E. (Hons.) degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani, India and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering (minor in Mathematics) from Iowa State University. Since 2006, he is a Research Staff Member at IBM Research - Zurich in Rüschlikon, Switzerland.

His research has spanned several topics broadly related to dynamics and control at the nanometer scale. He was a contributor to several key projects in the space of storage and memory technologies. Most recently, he is actively researching the area of non-von Neumann computing with the intent of connecting the technological elements with applications such as cognitive computing. He has published over 150 articles in journals and conference proceedings. He also holds over 40 granted patents.

Dr. Sebastian is a co-recipient of the 2009 IEEE Control Systems Technology Award and the 2009 IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Outstanding Paper Award. In 2013 he received the IFAC Mechatronic Systems Young Researcher Award for his contributions to the field of mico-/nanoscale mechatronic systems. In 2015 he was awarded the European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant. In 2016 he was named an IBM Master Inventor and in 2018, he was named a Principal Research Staff Member. Dr. Sebastian served on the editorial board of the journal, Mechatronics from 2008 till 2015. He served on the memory technologies committee of the IEDM from 2015-2016. He currently serves on the Technical Program Committees of European symposium on Phase-Change and Ovonic Sciences (E\PCOS) and Non-volatile memory technology symposium (NVMTS).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

EMERGING COMPUTING PARADIGMS:

• T. Moraitis*, A. Sebastian* and E. Eleftheriou, "Short-term plasticity in neuromorphic learning", IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 2018
• Boybat*, M. Le Gallo, S. R. Nandakumar, T. Moraitis, T. Parnell, T. Tuma, B. Rajendran, Y. Leblebici, A. Sebastian*, E. Eleftheriou, “Neuromorphic computing with multi-memristive synapses”, Nature Communications, 2018
• Gong, T. Ide, S. Kim, I. Boybat, A. Sebastian, V. Narayanan, T. Ando*, “Signal and noise extraction from analog memory elements for neuromorphic computing”, Nature Communications, 2018
• Le Gallo*, A. Sebastian*, R. Mathis, M. Manica, H. Giefers, T. Tuma, C. Bekas, A. Curioni, E. Eleftheriou, “Mixed-precision in-memory computing”, Nature Electronics, 2018
• Sebastian*, T. Tuma, N. Papandreou, M. Le Gallo, L. Kull, T. Parnell, E. Eleftheriou, “Temporal correlation detection using computational phase-change memory”, Nature Communications, 2017
• G. W. Burr, R. M. Shelby, A. Sebastian et al., “Neuromorphic computing using non-volatile memory”, Advances in Physics X, vol. 2(1), pp. 89-124, 2017
• Tuma, A. Pantazi, M. Le Gallo, A. Sebastian, E. Eleftheriou, “Stochastic phase-change neurons”, Nature Nanotechnology, 2016 (Cover)
• Hosseini, A. Sebastian, N. Papandreou, C. D. Wright, H. Bhaskaran, “Accumulation-based computing using phase change memories with FET access devices”, IEEE Electron Device Letters, 2015

EXPLORATORY MEMORY:

• Salinga*, B. Kersting, I. Ronneberger, V. P. Jonnalagadda, X. T. Vu, M. Le Gallo, I. Giannopoulos, O. Cojocaru-Miredin, R. Mazzarello, A. Sebastian*, “Monatomic phase change memory”, Nature Materials, 2018 (Cover)
• Le Gallo, D. Krebs, F. Zipolli, M. Salinga, A. Sebastian, “Collective structural relaxation in phase-change memory devices”, Adv. Electronic Materials, 2018
• W. Burr, M. J. Brightsky, A. Sebastian et al., “Recent progress in phase-change memory technology”, IEEE Journal on emerging and selected topics in circuits and systems, 2016
• Le Gallo, A. Athmanathan, D. Krebs, A. Sebastian, “Evidence for thermally assisted threshold switching behavior in nanoscale phase-change memory cells”, Journal of Applied Physics, 119, 025704, 2016
• Le Gallo, M. Kaes, A. Sebastian, D. Krebs, “Subthreshold electrical transport in amorphous phase change materials”, New Journal of Physics., 2015
• C. A. Santini*, A. Sebastian*, C. Marchiori, V. P. Jonnalagadda,  L. Dellmann, W. W. Koelmans, M. D. Rossell, C. P. Rossel, E. Eleftheriou, “Oxygenated amorphous carbon for resistive memory applications”, Nature Communications, 2015
• W. Koelmans*, A. Sebastian, V. P. Jonnalagadda, D. Krebs, L. Dellmann, E. Eleftheriou, Projected phase-change memory devices, Nature communications, 6, 2015
• A. Sebastian*, M. Le Gallo, D. Krebs, “Crystal growth within a phase change memory cell”, Nature Communications, 5(4314), 1-9, 2014
• A.  Sebastian*, A. Pauza , C. Rossel, R. M. Shelby, A. F. Rodriguez, H. Pozidis and E. Eleftheriou, “Resistance switching at the nanometer scale in amorphous carbon”, New Journal of Physics, vol. 13, pp. 013020, 2011
• Sebastian*, N. Papandreou, A. Pantazi, H. Pozidis and E. Eleftheriou, “Non-resistance based cell-state metric for multi-level phase change memory”, Journal of Applied Physics, 110, 084505, 2011

NANOTECHNOLOGY:

• Shamsudhin, N. Laeubli, H. B. Atakan, H. Vogler, C. Hu, W. Haeberle, A. Sebastian, U. Grossniklaus and B. J. Nelson, “Massively parallelized pollen tube guidance and mechanical measurements on a Lab-on-a-Chip platform”, PLOS ONE, 11(12), 2016
• Tuma, A. Pantazi, D. R. Sahoo, P. Eib, G. Salis, H. Pozidis and A. Sebastian, “A high-bandwidth spintronic position sensor”, Nanotechnology, 25(37), 375501, 2014
• T. Tuma, A. Sebastian, J. Lygeros and A. Pantazi, “Four pillars of nanopositioning,” IEEE Control Systems Magazine, 2013
• Tuma, J. Lygeros, V. Kartik, A. Sebastian and A. Pantazi, “High-speed multiresolution scanning probe microscopy based on Lissajous scan trajectories,” Nanotechnology, 23(18), pp. 185501, May 2012
• A. Sebastian* and A. Pantazi, “Nanopositioning With Multiple Sensors: A Case Study in Data Storage,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, vol. 20(2), pp. 382-394, Mar. 2012.
• Bazaei, S. O. R. Moheimani and A. Sebastian, “An Analysis of Signal Transformation Approach to Triangular Waveform Tracking”, Automatica, vol. 47(4), pp. 838-847, Apr. 2011
• H. Bhaskaran, B. Gotsmann, A. Sebastian, U. Drechsler, M. A. Lantz, M. Despont, P. Jaroenapibal, R. W. Carpick, Y. Chen and K. Sridharan, “Ultralow nanoscale wear through atom-by-atom attrition in silicon-containing diamond-like carbon”, Nature Nanotechnology, vol. 5, pp. 181-185, Mar. 2010
• Bhaskaran, A. Sebastian and M. Despont, “Nanoscale PtSi tips for conducting probe technologies”, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 128-131, January 2009.
• A. Sebastian* and D. Wiesmann, “Modeling and experimental identification of silicon micro-heater dynamics: A systems approach”, IEEE/ASME Journal of Micro-electromechanical Systems, vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 911-920, Aug. 2008.
• A. Sebastian*, A. Pantazi, H. Pozidis, and E. Eleftheriou, “Nanopositioning for Probe-based Data Storage,” IEEE Control Systems Magazine, pp. 26-35, August 2008
• Pantazi, A. Sebastian et al.,” IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 52, no. 4/5, Jul/Sep 2008.
• A. Sebastian* and S. Salapaka, “Design methodologies for robust nanopositioning”, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, vol. 13(6), pp. 868-876, Nov. 2005.
• A. Sebastian*, M. V. Salapaka, D. J. Chen and J. P. Cleveland, “Harmonic and power balance tools for atomic force microscopy”, Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 89(11), pp. 6473-6480, Jun. 2001.

SELECTED TALKS/LECTURES:

Plenary Talk, ICEE, Bangalore, India, Dec 2018

Invited Talk, NVMTS, Sendai, Japan, October 2018

Invited Talk, E/PCOS, Catania, Italy, September 2018

Invited Talk, CIMTEC, Perugia, Italy, June 2018

Invited Talk, MRS Spring Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, April 2018

Invited Lecture, Computer Systems Colloquium, Stanford University, Stanford, USA, Mar 2018

Invited Talk, mDAC: Memristor Technology, Desing, Automation and Computing, HiPEAC, Manchester, UK, Jan 2018

Keynote Lecture, 17th Non-volatile Memory Technology Symposium, Aachen, Germany, 2017

Keynote Lecture, International Conference on Memristive Materials, Devices and Systems, Athens, Greece, 2017

Invited Talk, Beyond CMOS: From Devices to Systems, Haifa, Israel, 2017

Invited Talk, MINDMEM Workshop, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2017

Invited Tutorial, MRS Spring Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2017

Invited Lecture, CDT Advanced Technology Lectures, Univ. of Cambridge, UK, 2016

Invited Talk, CIMTEC, Perugia, Italy, 2016

Invited Talk, E/PCOS, Cambridge, UK, 2016

Invited Talk, Memristive Symposium, Dresden, Germany, 2016

Invited Talk, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 2016

Invited Talk, MRS Spring Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 2016

Keynote Talk, Memrisys, Cyprus, 2015

Invited Lecture, Univ. of Oxford, UK, 2015

Invited Talk, Swiss Nano Convention, Neuchatel, Switzerland, 2015

RESEARCH IN THE NEWS:

Keep it simple: Towards single-elemental phase-change memory

Novel synaptic architecture for brain inspired computing

Glassy antimony makes monatomic phase change memory

IBM's new in-memory computing solution makes business AI training faster, easier

IBM: Our in-memory computing breakthrough will cut cost of training AI

IBM scientists demonstrate mixed-precision in-memory computing for the first time; Hybrid design for AI hardware

Understanding resistance drift in amorphous semiconductors

IBM Blog on National Inventor's day

IBM can run an experimental AI in memory, not on processors (MIT Tech Review)

Computational Memory (IBM Blog)

IBM PhD Fellowship to Nandakumar (IBM Blog)

Unsupervised learning with artificial neurons (IBM Blog)

Newsweek article on phase-change neuron

Kuenstliche Neuronen aus Rueschlikon

ERC Consolidator Grant (IBM Blog)

Projected memory (EE Times)

Projected Memory (Le Monde)

Carbon memory (EE Times)

Sub-threshold transport in PCM (EE Times)

Threshold switching in PCM (EE Times)

Crystal growth in PCM (EE Times)

Crystal growth in PCM (IBM Blog)

Profile of a scientist (IBM Blog)