Rate My Professor Peihong Zhang

Professor Zhang's research specializes in condensed matter theory, utilizing first-principles approaches to elucidate and forecast electronic, structural, and magnetic properties of materials. Key interests include ab initio calculations for materials design, properties and applications of nanostructured materials, and innovative theoretical and computational methodologies supported by high-performance computing. Projects in his research group cover large-scale GW quasiparticle calculations, 2D materials, diamond NV-center physics, phase transition materials such as VO₂, screened Coulomb interactions in solids, multicenter-bonded boron hydrides for hydrogen storage, and Cu-based multinary compounds for photovoltaics. Among his honors are the NSF CAREER Award (2010), American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award (2009), Xerox Award for outstanding Ph.D. thesis in materials (2001), Braddocks Fellowships from the Penn State Physics Department (1998, 2000), and Departmental Awards from Corning Incorporated for Applied Fiber Research (2001) and Integrated Optical Physics (2002). He holds editorial board positions for Matter and Radiation at Extremes, Physical Review B, and Materials. Selected publications feature "Computational Design of Direct Bandgap Semiconductors that Lattice Match Silicon" (Nature, 2001), "Quasiparticle Band Gap of ZnO: High Accuracy from Conventional GW Approach" (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2010), "Dynamic Jahn-Teller Effect in the NV-Center in Diamond" (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2011), "Phonon Assisted Cross-over from Nonmagnetic Peierls Insulator to Magnetic Stoner Metal" (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2014), "Giant Narrow-band Optical Absorption and Distinctive Excitonic Structures of Monolayer C₃N and C₃B" (Phys. Rev. Appl., 2022).