Current Members
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Paul Alivisatos
President of the University of Chicago
John D. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Chemistry
Affiliations: Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the College
Email: president@uchicago.edu
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B.A. in Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 1981
Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 1986
Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1988-1993
Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1993-1995
Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1995-1998
Chancellor’s Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1995-1998
Associate Laboratory Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 2005-2007
Deputy Lab Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 2008
Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 2009-2015
President, University of Chicago, 2021-Present
STAFF AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS
Dr. Kamran Forghani
Lab/Research Manager, Senior Scientist (2022–)
Email: kforghani@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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Dr. Chang Liu
Postdoctoral Researcher (2023–)
Email: liuchang@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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B.S. Nanjing University
Ph. D. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Research Area: Liquid-Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy
Dr. Shengsong Yang
Postdoctoral Researcher (2024–)
Email: yeson@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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B.S. Peking University
Ph. D. University of Pennsylvania
Research Area: Self-Assambly of Nanocrystals & Liquid Cell TEM
Dr. Sungsu Kang
Postdoctoral Researcher (2024–)
Email: sungsukang@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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B.S. Seoul National University
Ph.D. Seoul National University
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Research Area: Liquid Cell TEM
Dr. Amanda Brewer
Postdoctoral Researcher (2025–)
Email: asbrewer@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of California Berkeley
B.S. in Biochemistry, University of California Santa Cruz
Research Area: Nanocrystal Ligands and Thermodynamics
Dr. Yi Cui
Postdoctoral Researcher (2026–)
Email: cuiy@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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Schmidt AI in Science Fellow
Ph.D. in Materials Science, Stanford University
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China
Research Area: Quantum Information Science, Electron Microscopy
Dr. Joe Veglak
Postdoctoral Researcher (2026–)
Email: jveglak@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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Ph.D. in Chemistry, Penn State University
BS, Chemical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Research Area:
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Yuxuan Zhang
Ph.D. Candidate at UChicago PME (2022-)
Email: yuxuanz1@uchicago.edu
Google Scholar (Publications are provided)
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M.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Montreal
Research Area: Quantum information science and technology
Dylan Bian
Ph.D. Candidate at UChicago Chemistry (2022-)
Email: dbian@uchicago.edu
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Honour B.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSB College of Creative Studies
Minor in East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies (Japanese)
Research Area: Nanomaterial Synthesis and Optical studies
Binyu (Barry) Wu
Ph.D. Candidate at UChicago PME (2023-)
Email: binyuwu@uchicago.edu
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B.S. in Chemistry, Shenzhen University
Minor in Physics
Research Area: Nanocrystal Synthesis and Structural Architecture
Chenqi Fan
Ph.D. Candidate at UChicago Chemistry (2023-)
Email: chenqifan@uchicago.edu
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High Honor B.S. in Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
Research Area: Nanocrystal Ligands
Ida Vaghefi
Ph.D. student at UChicago PME (2023-)
Email: ivaghefi@uchicago.edu
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High honor B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Minor in French
Research Area: Nanomaterial Synthesis and Optical studies
Qian Lin
Ph.D. student at UChicago PME (2024-)
Email: qlin@uchicago.edu
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First Class Bachelor of Arts in Physics, University of Oxford
Research Area: Quantum information science and technology
Michelle Bishka
Ph.D. student at UChicago Chemistry (2025-)
Email: michelleb1@uchicago.edu
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Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Research Area:
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
William Zheng
Undergraduate Student at UChicago PME
Email: yichen0830@uchicago.edu
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Major in Molecular Engineering, Chemical Track
Ivan Shapkarov
Undergraduate Student at UChicago PME
Email: ishapkarov@uchicago.edu
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Major in Molecular Engineering, Quantum Track
Julien Perce
Undergraduate Student at UChicago Physical Sciences Division
Email: jperce@uchicago.edu
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Major in Pure Mathematics
Davit Moreno
Undergraduate Student at UChicago PME
Email: mdavit@uchicago.edu
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Major in Molecular Engineering, Quantum Track
Isaac Spiller
Undergraduate Student at UChicago Physical Sciences Division
Email:
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Major in
Jamie Sims
Undergraduate Student at UChicago Physical Sciences Division
Email:
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Major in