About

Professor Frances Ross is a TDK Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. Her research focuses on the development of functional nanostructures with atomic-level precision, utilizing transmission electron microscopy to observe crystal growth and reactions, and scanning tunneling microscopy to measure properties of nanomaterials. Her work explores growth mechanisms during epitaxy, electrochemical deposition, and catalysis, with applications in microelectronics and energy storage. She is actively developing new microscopy instrumentation to enable deeper exploration of these processes. Professor Ross earned her undergraduate degree in physics and her doctorate in materials science from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She conducted postdoctoral research at Bell Labs in New Jersey and was a staff scientist at the National Center for Electron Microscopy in Berkeley, California, specializing in high-resolution and in situ microscopy. She further focused on electron microscopy for crystal growth, including liquid and gas phase processes, as a research staff member at IBM TJ Watson Research Center in New York. She joined the MIT faculty in 2018. She is a fellow of several professional societies, including the American Physical Society, Materials Research Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Microscopy Society of America, and American Vacuum Society, and is an honorary fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. Her honors include an honorary doctorate from Lund University in Sweden and the IBM Outstanding Accomplishment Award for liquid cell transmission electron microscopy.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Inorganic chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Physics
• Physical chemistry
• Optics

Selected publications

• Mesoscale atomic engineering in a crystal lattice

  Nature · 2026-05-13 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Tailoring topological altermagnetic spin texture via interfacial exchange coupling in quasi-2D CrSb/(Bi, Sb)2Te3 thin film

  Nature Communications · 2026-04-17

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Altermagnets featuring collinear magnetic order and momentum-space spin splitting are a newly identified class of magnetically ordered materials. Most studies so far on altermagnetism focus on quasi-3D (e.g., > 10 nm) systems with bulk symmetry-dominance, while the quasi-2D regime with symmetry-breaking remains largely unexplored. Here, we report a pronounced anomalous Hall effect and tunable spin anisotropy arising from symmetry-breaking of the altermagnetic order in CrSb (2.4 nm)/(Bi 1- x Sb x ) 2 Te 3 heterostructures. The anomalous Hall effect strength, driven by the modulation of altermagnetic spin texture orientation, can be tuned through strain via controlling the thickness and Fermi level of the topological insulator (Bi 1- x Sb x ) 2 Te 3 . The effective Hamiltonian model reveals that the exchange coupling between the altermagnetic order and topology can produce a unique hybrid anomalous Hall effect. Angle-dependent magneto-transport investigation uncovers the magnetic dynamics of altermagnetic moments with exchange coupling. Our strategy broadens the way to explore altermagnetic interfacial physics and topological spintronics in quasi-2D altermagnet/topological insulator heterostructures.

  PublisherDOI

• Hybrid ferroelectric-ionic memristive hardware for high scalability in-memory computing

  Nature Communications · 2026-05-21

  articleOpen access

  ) ratios with a storage capacity of 10 Gb. These results highlight the potential of this device as a hardware building block for scalable in-memory computing platforms.

  PublisherDOI

• High-Order Multidisciplinary Time Integration Towards Adaptive Time Stepping

  2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  The aim of this work is to carry over adaptive higher-order time-stepping techniques -well-known and established for example in the context of single-disciplinary (CFD) time integration -to multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDAO).To this end, an MDAO framework extension built on OpenMDAO, RKOpenMDAO, was developed to allow for time-accurate multidisciplinary high-order time integration.RKOpenMDAO provides MDAO framework capabilities -such as multidisciplinary gradient-accumulation and monolithic nested solution techniques -usually known from steady-state type MDAO scenarios for multidisciplinary implicit time integration.It was enabled for adaptive time stepping in this work.The multidisciplinary error in time is estimated by means of embedded Runge-Kutta schemes.The new-generation CFD Software by ONERA, DLR and Airbus (CODA) was modularly integrated into the suggested MDAO framework approach for multidisciplinary, adaptive time-stepping in a time-accurate way.Numerical experiments were carried out for an elementary unsteady aeroelastic case of a NACA0012 section in compressible Euler flow coupled to a torsional spring.With the MDAO-framework approach we could show that (a) advanced implicit solution capabilities with nested multidisciplinary solvers can be used on the level of the monolithic multidisciplinary system, (b) a computationally efficient error estimator based on embedded Runge-Kutta methods is able to successfully drive the adaptive time-step control, (c) the targeted temporal accuracy can be achieved by effectively adjusting the time-step, and (d) the suggested MDAO-framework extension, RKOpenMDAO, is applicable for multiphysics analyses with high-fidelity simulation components.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Redistribution of Ru in Fe₂O₃–Ru Nanocatalysts through an Oxidative Pretreatment Improves Reverse Water–Gas Shift Activity

  ACS Applied Nano Materials · 2025-07-24

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  We have synthesized Fe–Ru nanoparticles via a solvothermal method to create catalysts for the reverse water–gas shift reaction and demonstrated the impact of reductive and oxidative pretreatments on both catalytic performance and structure. Catalytic testing showed improved activity after exposure to O2 at 600 °C. In contrast, the activity became lower if then exposed to H2 at 600 °C. Environmental scanning transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed that exposure to O2 at 600 °C changes the morphology and completely oxidizes Fe into Fe2O3. Exposure to H2 at elevated temperature caused Ru coalescence at the surface of the nanoparticle, forming clusters which decreased the optimization of Ru. Reoxidation of the particles exposed to H2, however, caused a redistribution of Ru that appears beneficial in maximizing Ru exposure and synergy with Fe oxide, with no major changes in the morphology and oxide structure. Our diagnostics demonstrate the complex and reversible rearrangements possible in these multicomponent particles and the benefits of oxidative pretreatment to enhance or regenerate Fe–Ru catalysts in other important catalytic reactions such as Fischer–Tropsch synthesis.

  PublisherDOI

• Patterned Electrochemical Deposition through Local Heating of Electrodes

  Journal of The Electrochemical Society · 2025-02-01 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  The ability to control the rate and nature of electrochemical deposition at different locations on a single electrode could enable pattern generation and the formation of functional structures with dimensions that are smaller than the electrodes themselves. Here we explore the kinetics of this effect by incorporating a heater beneath an electrode to increase the deposition rate locally. For galvanostatic copper deposition from acidified copper sulphate, we perform deposition in a liquid cell in the transmission electron microscope to measure the deposited thickness as a function of time. We show that the Cu deposition rate can double for a temperature rise of 20 °C, but the enhancement occurs only at early times, after which the growth rate converges to the unheated value. We model the factors responsible for the enhancement and conclude that the excess material deposited is limited by diffusion. We discuss opportunities for deposition patterned in this way to control thickness, composition or structure.

  PublisherDOI

• Epitaxial Formation of Ultrathin HfO₂ on Multilayer Graphene by Sequential Oxidation

  ACS Nano · 2025-07-07 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  We demonstrate the formation of epitaxial, ultrathin hafnia (HfO2) on graphene. Monoclinic hafnia (m-HfO2) forms as the end of a series of sequential oxidation reactions. Starting from Hf metal grown epitaxially on graphene, oxidation leads first to an amorphous suboxide (a-HfOx), then to a crystalline, hexagonal suboxide (h-HfOx) in epitaxial relationship with the substrate, and finally to m-HfO2 that is also epitaxial. We use scanning transmission electron microscopy to characterize the epitaxial relationships and to investigate the structure of h-HfOx. We propose a series of displacive transformations that relate the different crystalline phases and are consistent with the observed epitaxial relationships with the graphene substrate. ReaxFF-based reactive molecular dynamics simulations confirm our model of the oxide phase sequencing, and illustrate the role of graphene in promoting oxide crystallization. Our results suggest a way to achieve heteroepitaxial integration of high-performance, crystalline dielectrics with two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors with an atomically sharp interface, and are also relevant to hafnia phase engineering.

  PublisherDOI

• Large Magnetoresistance in an Electrically Tunable van der Waals Antiferromagnet

  Physical Review Letters · 2025-09-22 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  The interplay between magnetic order and electronic band structure in antiferromagnets has garnered increasing interest due to its potential for spintronic applications. While magnetic transitions have been shown to induce substantial band structure modifications in optical measurements, their influence on electronic transport remains poorly understood. In this work, we investigate the transport properties of CrSBr, a van der Waals antiferromagnetic semiconductor, over a wide range of carrier densities modulated by gate voltage. We observe a drastic contrast in magnetoresistance behavior between the low- and high-carrier density regimes. Through a combination of experiment and modeling, we identify magnetically driven carrier concentration modulation and mobility modulation as the dominant mechanisms governing magnetoresistance in the respective regimes. These findings advance the understanding of magnetoelectric transport in antiferromagnets and suggest promising routes for energy-efficient spintronic technologies in memory, logic, and sensing applications.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• High Throughput Specimen for in-situ Transmission Electron Microscopy

  Microscopy and Microanalysis · 2025-07-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Heterogeneous van der Waals integration of single-crystalline photonic nanomembranes

  Research Square · 2025-12-18

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• M. C. Reuter

  Harvard University

  84 shared

• Joachim Dahl Thomsen

  Physical Sciences (United States)

  60 shared

• Kate Reidy

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  58 shared

• Stephan Hofmann

  38 shared

• C. J. Echer

  37 shared

• Mark Sanders

  Wageningen University & Research

  36 shared

• John H. Wheatley

  Cornell University

  36 shared

• Caroline Schooley

  Thermo Fisher Scientific (United States)

  36 shared

Education

• Ph. D., Materials Science and Metallurgy

  University of Cambridge

  1989

• B. A. , Natural Sciences

  University of Cambridge

  1985

Awards & honors

• Gerhard Ertl Lecture Award (2019)
• Hatsujiro Hashimoto Medal, International Federation of Socie…
• Burton Medal, Microscopy Society of America (2003)
• Outstanding Young Investigator Award, Materials Research Soc…
• Charles Vernon Boys Medal and Prize, Institute of Physics (1…