UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Zhen Bi, assistant professor of physics, has been honored with a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The CAREER award is NSF’s most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty members who can serve as academic role models in research and education and lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.
The CAREER award will provide five years of funding to support Bi’s research to improve the theoretical understanding of unique electronic organizations in metallic materials with strong electron-electron interactions. He also studies how the properties of electrons can dramatically change as external conditions are adjusted, a phenomenon known as quantum phase transition.
“With this project, we plan to delve into the uncharted phenomena that can occur in the transition between electronic states, craft innovative theoretical tools to understand their properties, and design experimental setups to test these novel physics concepts,” said Bi. “This could lead to a general understanding of the diverse behavior of electrons in materials and potentially lay the groundwork for the material platforms for next-generation quantum devices.”
Additionally, Bi and his research group will create an outreach initiative called “Quantum Echoes: Uncovering Diverse Narratives in Physics,” which will collect oral histories and amplify diverse voices in the physics community. Students will conduct interviews with underrepresented minority students and faculty members, with the goal of encouraging, inspiring, and providing mentorship to young scientists, especially underrepresented students, and to humanize the realm of scientific discovery.
"We are very fortunate to have Zhen Bi as faculty in our department,” said Mauricio Terrones, George A. and Margaret M. Downsbrough Head of the Department of Physics at Penn State. “His research spans topological phases of matter, exotic quantum phase transitions, 2D moiré quantum materials, and issues related to quantum computation, which are some of the most vibrant research areas at the forefront of the field of condensed matter physics. This award confirms his research excellence and leadership."
In 2017, Bi was awarded a Pappalardo Fellowship — a postdoctoral program that identifies, recruits, and supports the most talented and promising young physicists at an early stage of their career — from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State, Bi was Pappalardo Fellow at MIT from 2017 to 2020. He earned a doctoral degree in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2017 and a bachelor’s degree in physics at Peking University in 2012.