Jian Shi, Ph.D.

Jian Shi currently holds the position of associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, as well as the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His current research is focused on gaining a basic understanding of how novel materials’ electrical transport behaviors, spin dynamics and optoelectronic properties are influenced by photons, carrier momentum, symmetry, and phonons. Shi served as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University from 2013 to 2014. During his time at Harvard, he investigated the role of electron doping in strongly correlated materials and its application in brain-inspired computing. Shi earned his Ph.D. in materials science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2012. A significant part of his Ph.D. dissertation focused on understanding the effect of piezoelectric polarization on the optoelectronic transport properties of semiconductor heterostructures. He is a recipient of the AFSOR Young Investigator Program award (2018) and the IEEE Ferroelectrics Young Investigator Award (2023). Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has also acknowledged his academic contributions with the School of Engineering Research Excellence Award (2018) and the James M. Tien ’66 Early Career Award (2020). Additionally, Shi serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Applied Physics.

Research Blurb

Jian Shi’s current research foci are polar, spintronic and chiral materials for computing and energy. Shi develops experimental approaches and solutions in searching for new electronic materials and device structures for energy-efficient, high-performance spin and neuromorphic computing. Throughout the Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship, Shi will work on the design, fabrication and testing of superconducting transmon qubit devices and circuits. Shi will investigate the fundamental mechanisms associated with materials issues underlying the relaxation and dephasing phenomena observed in superconducting transmon qubits. Over the course of the fellowship year, Shi’s overarching goal is to understand and engineer the density and spectra of two-level systems, ultimately achieving the development of qubits with significantly enhanced coherence time.