Dr. Dave Estrada is a Professor in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Advanced Manufacturing Deputy Director for Academic Research at the Idaho National Laboratory. As the lead investigator for the Advanced Nanomanufacturing and Materials Lab, Dr. Estrada leads a team of faculty, staff, and students to use “top-down” and “bottom-up” techniques to synthesize nanoscale building blocks for the co-design of materials, devices, and systems with applications at the nexus of healthcare, energy, and water.

Educational Background

Dave Estrada served in the United States Navy as an Electronics Warfare Technician/ Cryptologic Technician – Technical from 1998 to 2004. David achieved the rank of Petty Officer First Class in 2003 before receiving an honorable discharge and returning to Idaho to pursue his undergraduate education at Boise State University (BSU) where he was a Ronald E. McNair scholar. 

After completing his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from BSU in May of 2007, Dr. Estrada began graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) under the direction of Professor Eric Pop. David received his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from UIUC in 2009, and his Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering at UIUC in 2013. David is the recipient of the NSF and NDSEG Graduate Fellowships. David then joined Prof. Rashid Bashir’s Laboratory of Integrated Bio Medical Micro/ Nanotechnology Applications as a Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher before moving to the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering at Boise State University.