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Xu Zhang

Xu Zhang

Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Address 5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

Dr. Xu Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He joined CMU in 2019 as a tenure-track assistant professor. Before joining CMU, he worked as an Argonne Scholar at Argonne National Laboratory (2018–2019) and as a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories (2017–2018). He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and his B.S. in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China.

His research interests include advanced electronic and photonic devices based on emerging nanomaterials. Current research directions span extreme transistor scaling in the “silicon-impossible” territory, high frequency electronics, neuromorphic computing for AI hardware and tunable photonic devices, with applications across computing, energy, communications and sensing. His work has been recognized with numerous awards including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2023), MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (Global list, 2022), MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (China list, 2019), Enrico Fermi Fellowship (2018), MIT Global Fellowship (2014), and MIT Presidential Fellowship (2010).

Education

Ph.D., 2017
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.S., 2012
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S., 2010
Physics
University of Science and Technology of China

Research

Dr. Zhang’s lab focuses on building advanced electronic and photonic devices based on emerging materials, especially atomically thin 2D materials, and emerging device technologies. These new device and material platforms have broad applications in computing, energy, communications and sensing.


 

Keywords

  • Extreme Scaling of Electronics in the “Silicon-Impossible” Territory
  • Metasurfaces and Tunable Photonic Devices
  • High Frequency Electronics
  • Neuromorphic Computing for AI Hardware
  • Ubiquitous Energy Harvesting
  • Sensing

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Programmable Pixels Advance Infrared Light Applications

Full control over mid-infrared wavelengths enables advancements in applications ranging from chip security to personalized health monitoring.
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Atom-Thick Semiconductors Make Photodetection More Efficient

Researchers use tellurium to fabricate 2d semiconductors, a step toward a future where atom-thick electronics redefine speed, efficiency, and versatility.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Zhang Receives NSF CAREER Award

This prestigious five-year funding opportunity will allow Zhang to continue his work on a specific class of kirigami-actuated adapted metasurfaces whose dynamic tunability makes them ideal for use in biomedical imaging, drone-based sensing and imaging, and wearable augmented reality glasses.
Thursday, July 07, 2022

Joshi, Zhang named to MIT Technology Review's "Innovators Under 35" list

ECE assistant professors Gauri Joshi and Xu Zhang have been named to the MIT Technology Review's 2022 class of "Innovators Under 35" listECE assistant professors Gauri Joshi and Xu Zhang have been named to the MIT Technology Review's 2022 class of "Innovators Under 35" list
Monday, August 26, 2019

New faculty members join the ECE community

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ushers in the 2019-2020 academic year with four new faculty members, strengthening the innovative research fields of microsystems, nanotechnology, and cybersecurity.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Rectennas: converting radio waves into electricity

We are constantly surrounded by energy in the form of electromagnetic waves. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take advantage of it? In a recently published paper in the journal Nature, a future Carnegie Mellon University faculty member, Dr. Xu Zhang, and co-authors describe a novel device that can charge electronics using the energy from radio frequency waves, including Wi-Fi signals.