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Willie John Padilla

Dr. Paul Wang Distinguished Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Dr. Paul Wang Distinguished Professor · 2024 - Present Electrical and Computer Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering
Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering · 2015 - Present Electrical and Computer Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering

In the News


Published March 19, 2024
Duke Announces 32 New Distinguished Professorships

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Recent Publications


Tunable Infrared Emissivity Using Laser-Sintered Liquid Metal Nanoparticle Films

Journal Article Advanced Functional Materials · April 10, 2025 This paper describes laser exposure to tune the infrared (IR) emissivity of a film of eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) particles. EGaIn – a liquid metal at room temperature – forms a native oxide that keeps particles of the metal from spontaneously percolat ... Full text Cite

Physics-informed learning in artificial electromagnetic materials

Journal Article Applied Physics Reviews · March 1, 2025 The advent of artificial intelligence—deep neural networks (DNNs) in particular—has transformed traditional research methods across many disciplines. DNNs are data driven systems that use large quantities of data to learn patterns that are fundamental to a ... Full text Cite

Learning Electromagnetic Metamaterial Physics With ChatGPT

Journal Article IEEE Access · January 1, 2025 Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, LlaMa, and Claude are trained on massive quantities of text parsed from the internet and have shown a remarkable ability to respond to complex prompts in a manner often indistinguishable from humans. Fo ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Mapping Strain in Composite Materials using Terahertz Metamaterials

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2024 - 2026

Spectral-Binning Focal Plane Array for Infrared Spectroscopy

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Srico, Inc. · 2025 - 2025

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of California, San Diego · 2004 Ph.D.

External Links


Padilla Lab Website