Demetrius Sarigiannis, PhD '01

On Friday May 3^rd, Demetrius Saragiannis visited UB to speak with graduate students about his career path, starting with earning his PhD from the University at Buffalo in 2001. Demetrius gave an overview of his career and discussed some of the projects he has worked on. In addition, he provided advice to students about their future, after graduation and answered any questions that the students had. 

Demetrius reflected on his visit:  "I had a fun time presenting some of the research problems I encountered in industry, lessons learned and then interacting with the graduate students. The students I spoke with were genuinely curious and interested in my perspective on navigating career options. There were a lot of good questions that I hadn't thought about from the perspective of a new job seeker in years. I'm glad I was able to answer questions and hope the students benefited from the information I was able to provide." 

Demetrius Sarigiannis completed his PhD in vapor phase synthesis of compound semiconductor thin films and nanoparticles at the University at Buffalo in 2001.

After completing his dissertation on semiconductor thin films and nanoparticles, Demetrius began his career in the semiconductor industry at Micron Technology. At Micron, he worked as a process development engineer developing new thin film dielectric layers and the deposition processes to enable the next generation of DRAM capacitors. 

Demetrius' semiconductor deposition background led him to GE Quartz & Ceramics next. In this new role, he worked on the process development of boron nitride free-standing ceramic products to be sold into the semiconductor manufacturing industry. 

When GE Quartz & Ceramics sold the company to private equity, Demetrius and his family made the decision to return to Buffalo where he and his wife have worked at Praxair, Inc. in Tonawanda. At Praxair, Demetrius started off with work in the Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) group. Later he moved to the Adsorption, Prepurification R&D group. 

Demetrius speaks highly of his time at the University at Buffalo and how well the faculty have grown the graduate program since then. "I remember my time as a graduate student in the UB Department of Chemical Engineering in Furnas hall with fondness. This time of year was especially nice, with classes ending and a more relaxed summer schedule of focusing on research beginning. During my time at UB, I was part of an entering graduate student class of only 8 to 10 students. It was nice to see the familiar building with an update to the decor and see how the faculty have grown the graduate program. "