Dr. Sapir Bitton
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Jesús A. del Alamo Lab website
Sapir Bitton’s PhD in Electrical Engineering at Technion–Israel Institute of Technology began when she became the first student in her lab to engineer a Perovskite cell that absorbs and converts solar energy into usable electricity. When the COVID pandemic made her lab inaccessible, she focused on modelling the solar cell instead, developing a simulation that included electrochemistry and reactions, an unusual approach in the field. By doing so, she proved that iodine ions were generated, mobile and detrimental to the devices. She later adapted her simulation to organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs).
In addition to her Zuckerman fellowship, Dr. Bitton was awarded a Fulbright-ISEF Postdoctoral Scholarship to pursue a project in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Concerned that not enough attention has been given to advancing the hardware that underlies neural network algorithms in deep learning applications, Dr. Bitton is using her simulation and programming skills to develop Electrochemical Random-Access Memory (ECRAMs) devices, where calculations are performed directly within the memory component instead of transferring data from memory to the processor and back. Dr. Bitton hopes her work will alleviate the computational burden, reduce processing time, and lead to energy savings, which aligns with her deep commitment to environmental sustainability.
Recognized as an “Excellent Instructor” at the Technion, Dr. Bitton is devoted to bringing scientific content to elementary, middle, high school and disadvantaged students. She hopes to inspire young girls and women by serving as an example of someone who is helping breakdown gender barriers in the sciences.