Cristian Cassella
Associate Professor,
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Affiliated Researcher,
Dublin Innovation Institute
Contact
- c.cassella@northeastern.edu
- 360 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Office
- 422 ISEC
- 617.373.7509
Research Focus
Acoustic resonators, nonreciprocal components, zero-power sensors for IoT, nonlinear dynamics, ultrasonic transducers
Education
- PhD, Carnegie Mellon University, 2015
Honors & Awards
- 2025 European Frequency and Time Forum (EFTF) Young Scientist Award
- 2024 Søren Buus Outstanding Research Award
- National Science Foundation CAREER Award
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship
Research Overview
Acoustic resonators, nonreciprocal components, zero-power sensors for IoT, nonlinear dynamics, ultrasonic transducers
Selected Research Projects
- Boosting Radios’ ReSilience to Interference by Harnessing Magnon-Phonon Coupling In the First ElectromechanicaL SpinPhonic Devices (SHIELD)
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Enabling Higher Scale Factors in Gyroscopes Through soFt and LacAlized interface-States in microelectromecHanical resonators (FLASH)
- – Principal Investigator, DARPA
- Low-Power Computing based on Programmable Multidimensional Circuits
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Boosting the Cold Chain Efficiency Through Integrated, Magnetoelectric, Piezoelectric and Ferroelectric Devices in pAssive on-Chip Tags (IMPACT)
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Programmable Electromagnetic Surfaces Based on Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Hafnium Zirconium Oxide Films and Graphene for Terahertz Communications and Sensing
- – Co-Principal Investigator, AFOSR
- Nano-opto-mechanical Piezoelectric Resonant Infrared-sensitive Metamaterials for Quantum-Limited Photodetection
- – Co-Principal Investigator, DARPA
- Advancing Coexistence through a Cross-Layer Design Platform with an Adaptive Frequency-Selective Radio Front-End and Digital Algorithms
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Massive Scale Computing and Optimization through On-chip ParameTric Ising MAchines (OPTIMA)
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Giant Tunability through Piezoelectric Resonant Acoustic Metamaterials for Radio Frequency Adaptive Integrated Electronics
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation CAREER Award
- Ferroelectric Integrated and Reconfigurable ScAlN Technologies
- – Co-Principal Investigator, DARPA
- Fully Integrated Parametric Filters for Extensive Phase- Noise Reduction in Low-Power RF Front-Ends and Resonant Sensing Platforms
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- X. Zhao, O. Kaya, T. Maggioli and C. Cassella, “Multipurpose Acoustic Metamaterial Anchors for Aluminum Scandium Nitride Contour Mode Resonators,” in Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, doi: 10.1109/JMEMS.2024.3399593.
- H.M.E. Hussein, M. Rinaldi, M. Onabajo, C. Cassella, A chip-less and battery-less subharmonic tag for wireless sensing with parametrically enhanced sensitivity and dynamic range. Sci Rep 11, 3782 (2021).
- X. Zhao, L. Colombo, Cristian Cassella, Aluminum Nitride Two-Dimensional-Resonant-Rods, Applied Physics Letters, 116(14), 2020, 143504
- H.M. Hussein, M.A. Ibrahim, G. Michetti, M. Rinaldi, M. Onabajo, C. Cassella, Systematic Synthesis and Design of Ultra-Low Threshold 2:1 Parametric Frequency Dividers, IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2020
- C. Cassella, J. Segovia-Fernandez, High K2⁄t Exceeding 6.4% Through Metal Frames in Aluminum Nitride 2-D Mode Resonators, IEEE transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 66(5), 2019, 958-964
- J.M. Puder, J.S. Pulskamp, R.R. Rudy, C. Cassella, M. Rinaldi, G. Chen, S. Bhave, R.G. Polcawich Rapid Harmonic Analysis of Piezoelectric MEMS Resonators, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonic Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 6(65), 2018, 979-990
- G. Chen, C. Cassella, T. Wu, M. Rinaldi, Single-Chip Multi-Frequency Wideband Filters Based on Aluminum Nitride Cross-Sectional Lamé Mode Resonators with Thick and Apodized Electrodes, IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2018, 775-778
Sep 04, 2025
New Filter Technology Wins IEEE Outstanding Award
ECE Assistant Professor Cristian Cassella and his electrical engineering students, Onurcan Kaya, PhD’25, and Xuanyi Zhao, PhD’24, had their paper “Piezoelectric Microacoustic Metamaterial Filters” selected for the 2024 UFFC Outstanding Paper Award by the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society.
Jun 03, 2025
New Wireless Sensing Technology Based on Ising Dynamics
ECE Assistant Research Professor Luca Colombo, Professor Matteo Rinaldi, and Associate Professor Cristian Cassella published research on “Programmable Threshold Sensing in Wireless Devices Using Ising Dynamics” in Nature Electronics. They embedded intelligence capabilities in a wireless sensor tag that has the potential to revolutionize the Internet of Things and AI by improving accuracy and reducing energy use.
May 01, 2025
Cassella Receives EFTF Young Scientist Award
ECE Associate Professor Cristian Cassella is the recipient of the European Frequency and Time Forum (EFTF) Young Scientist Award “for his seminal research on metamaterials in RF microacoustics as well as for his pioneering contributions on long-range remote sensors and lower-noise frequency generators through parametric nonlinearities.”
Apr 18, 2025
New Class of CMOS Chips To Address Quantum Computing Bottlenecks
ECE Associate Professor Cristian Cassella and Professor Marvin Onabajo are developing CMOS-based chips that are smaller and more energy efficient than current technology used to address quantum computing bottlenecks. High school students in Northeastern’s Young Scholars program will participate in this project.
Apr 03, 2025
Making Wireless Signals More Resistant to Interference
ECE Associate Professor Cristian Cassella and Assistant Professor Xufeng Zhang were awarded a $500,000 NSF grant for “Boosting Radios’ ReSilience to Interference by Harnessing Magnon-Phonon Coupling In the First ElectromechanicaL SpinPhonic Devices (SHIELD).” They are enhancing a wireless transceiver’s resilience against electromagnetic interference in the 5G and 6G realms in order to transmit data at extremely high rates.
Mar 18, 2025
Patent for Improved RF Filtering Technology
ECE Associate Professor Cristian Cassella was awarded a patent for “Two dimensional rod resonator for RF filtering.”
Feb 18, 2025
$2M DARPA Award for MEMS Inertial Sensor To Revolutionize Navigation Systems
ECE Associate Professor Cristian Cassella (PI), Professor Matteo Rinaldi, Professor David Horsley, and Assistant Professor Benyamin Davaji were awarded a $2 million DARPA grant for “Enabling Higher Scale Factors in Gyroscopes Through soFt and LacAlized interface-States in microelectromecHanical resonators (FLASH).”
Jan 03, 2025
Low-Power Computing for Complex Problems
ECE Associate Professor Cristian Cassella and Professor Marvin Onabajo were awarded a $600,000 NSF grant for “Low-Power Computing Based on Programmable Multidimensional Circuits.”
Nov 25, 2024
Quantum Advancements in Light-Matter Interaction
ECE Assistant Professor Marco Colangelo and Associate Professor Cristian Cassella received a $178,896 DARPA grant for their groundbreaking research project, “SuperEMech: Superconducting Electro-Mechanical Platform for Light-Matter Interactions.”
Nov 07, 2024
Advancing Sensing Technology With Microdevices
ECE Assistant Professors Marco Colangelo, Benyamin Davaji, and Associate Professor Cristian Cassella had their research on “Localized Topological States Beyond Fano Resonances via Counter-propagating Wave Mode Conversion in Piezoelectric Microelectromechanical Devices” published in Nature Communications.