Email: shengxi.huang@rice.edu

Department Webpage

Shengxi is an associate professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Before joining Rice, she was an assistant professor in the Electrical Engineering Department, Biomedical Engineering Department, and Materials Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University. She earned her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT in June 2017, under the supervision of Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus and Prof. Jing Kong. Following that, she did a short postdoc at Stanford University with Prof. Tony Heinz and Prof. Jonathan Fan. She obtained her MS degree in EECS at MIT in 2013, and her bachelor’s degree with the highest honors in Micro- and Nano-Electronics at Tsinghua University, China, in 2011. Shengxi is the recipient of multiple awards, including NSF CAREER Award, AFOSR Young Investigator Award, Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D Award (6 awardees worldwide), Kavli Fellowship for Nanoscience, Jin Au Kong Award for Best PhD Thesis at MIT, and Ginzton Fellowship at Stanford University. Shengxi’s research interests involve optical spectroscopy of low-dimensional materials, Weyl semimetals, as well as the applications of these quantum materials in optoelectronics and sensing.

Email: zw76@rice.edu

Ziyang Wang is a Ph.D. student majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. He was a Schreyer Honors Scholar majoring in computer science and mathematics from The Pennsylvania State University, a graduate researcher interested in machine learning, and co-founder of United Product Vision Club and iDeal technology LLC. Currently, he is working on analyzing and evaluating Raman Spectroscopy of Alzheimer’s disease with machine learning methods.

Email: Wenjing.Wu@rice.edu

Wenjing is a Ph.D. student starting in 2021 Fall. Before joining the SCOPE lab, she worked as a research staff at Columbia University after obtaining her Master’s degree majoring in Material Science and Engineering. Wenjing’s research interests focus on the optical properties of two-dimensional Van der Waals materials.

Email: jr123@rice.edu 

Jeewan received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 2010. After four years in the industry, he moved to the US to study at Louisiana State University under Prof. Louis Haber, and earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2019. His research mainly focused on ultrafast and real-time dynamics of nanomaterials studied by advanced spectroscopic techniques. Following that he did a postdoc at the University of California, Santa Barbara with Prof. Bolin Liao. Jeewan joined the SCOPELab in 2021 as a postdoctoral scholar and his current research interest includes biosensing applications employing plasmonic nanomaterials and 2-D materials. Outside of the lab, Jeewan enjoys playing basketball, running, and hiking.

Email: jsm17@rice.edu

Jaanita Mehrani received her bachelor’s degrees in physics and electrical engineering at Rice University and stayed at Rice as a Ph.D. student in Applied Physics. She joined the SCOPE lab in the fall of 2022 and is interested in high frequency gravitational wave detection and detector physics in general. In her free time, Jaanita likes reading and doing art.  

Email: Xielin.Wang@rice.edu

Xielin is a Ph.D. student in Applied Physics Program starting from 2021 Fall. She obtained the bachelor’s degree in physics from University of Science and Technology of China. Before joining the SCOPE lab, she worked in Nanophotonic Materials Laboratory with Prof. Naik, focusing on 2D material metasurface and hyperbolic materials for thermal radiation applications. Her research interests focus on optical/electronic properties of quantum materials.

Email: arb26@rice.edu

Autumn Bruncz is a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Rice University. She received her bachelor’s degree in Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Before joining the SCOPE lab, Autumn earned her master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering researching ultrafast electron dynamics of gold nanoparticles and was awarded the National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship. Currently, she is researching methods for single photon emission. 

Email: snb11@rice.edu

Sadie Brasel is a PhD student in Electrical Engineering at Rice University. She received her bachelor’s at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Before joining the SCOPE lab, Sadie completed her Master’s with Prof. Link, studying plasmon linewidth of single gold nanorods. Currently, Sadie is researching materials for single photon emission.

Email: ajj5678@psu.edu

Email: yl308@rice.edu

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, You Li joined the SCOPE lab in the summer of 2023 as a Ph.D. student in Applied Physics. His research focuses on the optical and plasmonic properties of topological quantum materials.

Email: kunyan.zhang@rice.edu 

Kunyan obtained Ph.D. degree majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Materials Physics at Nanjing University, China, in June 2018. Her research interests involve low-dimensional materials and phonon transport. Besides digging in to research, she loves to cook and make small handcrafts.

Email: mqr5905@psu.edu

Saifur is currently a Ph.D. student majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to joining at SCOPE lab in Fall 2020, he enrolled as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oklahoma State University. He completed a B.Sc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh, in 2017. His research interests focus on biosensing applications employing 2-D materials and experimental studies of Weyl Semimetals. Aside from research, he loves playing cricket.

Email: jxy208@psu.edu

Jinkai Yang is a Ph.D. student jointly in Prof. Shengxi Huang’s group and Prof. Zhiwen Liu’s group. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree at The Pennsylvania State University. His research involves molecule sensing combining 2D materials and near-field techniques

Email: qxq14@psu.edu

Qingkai Qian joined SCOPE Lab in Spring 2019. He earned his PhD degree in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in August 2018. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tsinghua University in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Qingkai’s research interests focus on the optoelectronics and quantum light emissions based on 2D materials. 

Email: ajs721@psu.edu 

Alex Silver joined the group in Fall 2018, and is currently working towards a Master’s degree. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering from Northwestern University awarded in June 2017. His research interests include nanomaterials for energy applications and low-dimensional material interfaces. Outside of research he enjoys playing music on the viola.

Email: irb5066@psu.edu

Isabelle is an undergraduate student in the Schreyer Honors College majoring in Computer Science. She joined the SCOPE Lab in September 2020. Outside of research, Isabelle is a THON Technology Captain and enjoys running, reading, and hiking.

Email: shubhang@psu.edu

Shubhang was an undergraduate student at Penn State, majoring in Computer Science. He joined the SCOPE lab in January 2020. His interests include machine learning, cryptography, and robotics.  He is the treasurer of the Penn State ACM and Nittany Data Labs. He is also working as a corporate project developer with NDL and as a product manager with DevPSU startup. He enjoys playing tennis and badminton.

Email: qfd5027@psu.edu

Qinwen Deng visited SCOPE lab in Summer 2019. He is an undergraduate instructed by Prof. Feng Miao in the School of Physics at Nanjing University. His research interests involve transport properties in 2D materials and potential optoelectronics devices based on them.

Email: bzx17@psu.edu

Benkuan Xiong is an undergraduate student in Tsinghua University, China, here visiting SCOPE lab in the Summer of 2018. At Tsinghua he is under the supervision of Professor TianLing Ren, and his research is mainly focused on the preparation and characterization of ferroelectric materials. 

Email: lxj230@psu.edu 

Lanxin Jia visited SCOPE Lab in Summer 2018. He is an undergraduate student under the supervision of Prof. Feng Miao in the School of Physics, Nanjing University. Lanxin’s research interests involve 2D materials and new types of semiconductor devices.

Email: dxh824@psu.edu

Dongqiang Han is currently a visiting scholar at Penn State and joined the group in January 2019. He received his Ph.D. degree of condensed matter physics from Nanjing University in 2016. His research interests mainly include functional nanostructures and the design of high-performance sensors.

Email: ymz5322@psu.edu 

Yu Zhou was a visiting scholar at Penn State and joined the group in April 2019. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in physics at Nanjing University, China, in June 2011, and received his Ph.D. degree of condensed matter physics in 2015. His research interests include surface plasmon polaritons and other plasmon related physical effects. 

Email: bzb360@psu.edu

Brittany Belanger was an undergraduate student at Penn State majoring in biomedical engineering. My research interest lies in 2D materials and their biosensing applications. Outside of research I enjoy CrossFit as well as volunteering with various service organizations.

Email: lfo5052@psu.edu

Lauren Odom is currently a rising sophomore at North Carolina Central University. For summer 2019, she is participating in the Physics REU program, where she will be working in the SCOPE Lab. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in biomedical science. Her research interests involve health science and medicine. Besides research, Lauren enjoys debating political issues and reading novels.

Email: sjz5163@psu.edu

Song joined the department of biomedical engineering at the Pennsylvania State University in Fall 2016. She is a rising junior in the engineering department. She has a great interest in the field of biology and math. Her research interest involves the material aspect of biomedical engineering.

Email: pmd5306@psu.edu

Peiliang was an undergraduate student at Penn State, major in computer engineering and electrical engineering. He joined the SCOPE Lab in January 2018. His research interest is wearable biosensors using 2D materials and optical spectroscopy. Besides, he has a great interest in robotics and technology. Outside of research, he loves to participate in the robots competitions and study about new technology.

Email: mab1318@psu.edu

Max was a PhD student in the Materials Science department, arraived at Penn State in the fall of 2018 after completing a bachelor’s degree in Physics at Carleton College in Minnesota. His research involves characterization of transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. Outside the lab, Max enjoys reading and watching sports, especially baseball.

Email: lud311@psu.edu

Li Ding joined SCOPE Lab in Spring 2018. He earned his PhD degree in the Department of Optics and Optical Engineering at University of Science and Technology of China in December 2016, under the supervision of Prof. Liang Wang and Prof. Yongping Li. He obtained his bachelor’s degree at University of Science and Technology of China in July 2011. Li’s research interests involve surface plasmon polaritons, 2D materials and multifunctional optoelectronic device.