Sage Bauers is a staff scientist in the Surface and Interface Science group at NREL. He joined NREL as a postdoctoral researcher in 2017, working on the experimental discovery, design, and integration of energy materials. His research spans both basic and applied topics, for example discovering new compounds using materials design approaches and then working to integrate these new materials into prototype devices. His high-level scientific interests and goals are centered around using nonequilibrium thin-film synthesis approaches both to answer fundamental questions about solid-state chemical processes and to stabilize new compounds that have not—or cannot—be prepared otherwise. Prior to joining NREL, Bauers worked in the semiconductor industry both designing devices and developing manufacturing processes, and his technological interests are still focused on the design and integration of materials for applications in low-energy microelectronics. 

Experimental materials discovery and design

Metastable and kinetically stabilized materials

Materials for low-energy computing (e.g., quantum, neuromorphic, spintronic)

Layered materials and chalcogenides

Magnetic materials

Solid-state reaction processes

High-throughput experimental methods