Prof. Ben McMorran joined the Physics Department faculty at University of Oregon in Fall 2011. He is a member of the UO Materials Science Institute (MSI) and the Oregon Center for Optical, Molecular, and Quantum Sciences (OMQ). Working under the guidance of Prof. Alex Cronin, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2009, with the thesis entitle "Electron Diffraction and Interferometry Using Nanostructures". Shortly thereafter, he joined the Electron Physics Group in the Center for Nanoscale Science And Technology (CNST) at NIST in Gaithersburg, where he worked on surface science and magnetic electron microscopy. At UO, the McMorran group researches electron physics and magnetism. For example, the lab uses electron microscopes as “optics benches” for experiments in electron matter wave interferometry and methods to coherently “sculpt” free electron wavefunctions, such as vortex states that carry quantized angular momentum. The lab also applies these tools to new forms of electron microscopy. He is a 2013 Department of Energy Early Career Award recipient.