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.

During his 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.