About the PI

Pengcheng Dai

Pengcheng Dai is a Chinese American experimental physicist and academic, the Sam and Helen Worden Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. Dai is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), and Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA) and holds an appointment as a Divisional Associate Editor at Physical Review Letters.

Dai received his baccalaureate degree in physics from Zhengzhou University in China. He then studied at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he obtained his Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter physics. Later, he completed his post-doc at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). After serving in the Center for Neutron Scattering at ORNL as a staff scientist, he resumed his academic career in 2001 and was appointed as an associate professor of physics at the University of Tennessee and ORNL as a Joint Faculty. He obtained his tenure in 2003 and was then promoted to professor in 2006. He became The Joint Institute for Advanced Materials Chair of Excellent at The University of Tennessee in 2008 and remained in that position until 2013 when he moved to Rice University. Having initially joined Rice University as a professor of physics, he now holds an appointment as the Sam and Helen Worden Professor of Physics there.

Dai is most known for his research in the field of unconventional superconductivity and has contributed to comprehending the role of magnetic excitations in unconventional super conductors including copper, iron, and heavy fermion unconventional superconductors. He co-edited the book, Iron-based Superconductors: Materials, Properties and Mechanisms, and is the recipient of Heike Kamerlingh, Onnes Prize. He also made contributions to topological spin excitations in honeycomb/kagome lattice magnets and studied spin dynamics in colossal magnetoresistance manganites.

Teaching experience

• Currently co-organizing Columbia-Rice Frontier Condensed Matter Phyiscs Lectures.

• Taught undergraduate physics major and graduate level 342/555 (Introduction to Solid State Physics, Kittel) class at the Physics Department, the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

• Taught Physics 221/222 at physics undergraduate student level (Premedical students, College Physics) at the Physics Department, the University of Tennessee Knoxville from 2001-2003.

• Taught undergraduate physics lab at University of Missouri.

• Taught undergraduate physics courses at Zhenghzhou University.

Employment

• July 1, 2020-present, Sam and Helen Worden Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University

• August 1, 2013, Professor of Physics, Rice University

• August 1, 2006, Professor of Physics, The University of Tennessee

• August 1, 2006, Joint Faculty, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• August, 2003, Awarded tenure at the University of Tennessee

• April 1st, 2001, Associate Professor of Physics, The University of Tennessee

• Joint Faculty, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• May 1999- March 2001, Staff member II, Solid State Division, ORNL.

• Dec., 1996-May 1999, Staff member I, Solid State Division, ORNL.

• Oct., 1993-Dec, 1996, Postdoctoral Fellow, ORNL.

• Sep., 1993-Oct., 1993 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Missouri.

• Jun., 1988-Aug., 1993 Graduate Research Assistant, University of Missouri.

• Aug., 1987-Jun., 1988 Teaching Assistant, University of Missouri.

• Aug., 1986-Aug., 1988 Fellowship, University of Missouri.

• Aug., 1984-Aug., 1986 Instructor, Zhengzhou University.

Honors

• July 2022, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Prize winner.

• June 2016, Sustained Research Prize winner, Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA).

• September 2008, Chair of Excellence, Joint Institute of Advanced Matierals (JIAM).

• July 2003, cowinner, outstanding young researchers by the Overseas Chinese Physics Association (OCPA).

• October 2001 winner, Professional Development Award at the University of Tennessee.

• March, 1999 winner, Research Accomplishment Award in the 1999 Awards Night Program at ORNL.

• Oct., 1998 winner, US Department of Energy’s Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment Award in the Condensed Matter Physics category.

• 1992-1993 1st place winner, Annual Research and Creative Activities Forum, University of Missouri.

• Superior Graduate Achievement Award, Graduate School, University of Missouri.

• Ernest. W. Landen Fellow, Department of Physics, University of Missouri.

Internal and external service

• Refereeing for journals Nature, Science, Physical Review Letters, and Physical Review B.

• Reviewing research grant proposals for the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.

• Active member, neutron scattering user group in charge of designing the chopper spectrometer at the spallation neutron source.

• International adviser, laboratory of high-transition temperature superconductors, institute of physics, Chinese academy of sciences, Beijing, China.

• Principle organizer of workshop "Physics in strongly correlated electron systems" held in Knoxville, Tennessee, April 16-17th, 2004.

• Advisory committee member, Center for superconductivity at the institute of physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

• Oversea Chinese Physics Association's (OCPA) divisional coordinator. See: http://www.npl.uiuc.edu/jcpeng/ocpa/exec05-06.html

• Organizer for condensed matter physics program, OCPA "The 5th joint meeting of Chinese physicists worldwide" to be held in June, Taiwan, 2006. See: http://www.phys.sinica.edu.tw/~ocpa06/

• Invited talks

• Invited speaker to the opening ceremony of the International Team on Superconductivity and Novel Electron Materials (ITSCNEM), June 23, 2006. Institute of Physics, Beijing. "20 years of neutron scattering studies of high-Tc copper oxides: Search for universal features in different classes of materials."

• Invited speaker 4th Beijing Forum for superconductivity, June 19-22, 2006. First city, Beijing. "Resonance in electron-doped high-Tc superconductor PrLaCeCuO".

• Invited condensed matter seminar in Physics Department, Johns Hopkins University, April 19th, 2006.

• Invited condensed matter seminar in Physics Department, Purdue University, March 24th, 2006.

• Invited seminar at Central Research Institute of Power Industry, Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 27th, 2005.

• Invited speaker at the international conference on superconductivity and materials, Tsukuba, Japan, Oct. 24-26, 2005.

• Invited speaker at second conference on user program for Chinese spallation neutron source, July 27th, 2005;

• Invited speaker at Kavli institute for theoretical physics, UCSB, July 20th, 2005;

• Invited speaker at conference on crystal growth, Big Sky, Montana, July 11th, 2005;

• Invited speaker at the Beijing forum on high-Tc superconductivity, June 6th, Beijing, China, 2005;

• Invited speaker at "the 4th Asia-Pacific Physics workshop-frontier in condensed matter physics", Beijing, China, May 27, 2005;

• Invited speaker at workshop on instrumentation with high magnetic fields, Tallahassee, May, 2005;

• Invited speaker at Study of Matter at Extreme Conditions, April 17, 2005;

• Condensed matter seminar, Princeton University, Oct. 11, 2004;

• Invited speaker at 3rd Workshop on Orbital Physics and Novel Phenomena in Transition Metal Oxides, Oct. 6-7, Berlin, Germany (2004);

• Invited speaker at the Beijing forum on high-Tc superconductivity, JinGang Mountain, China, July 3rd-8th, 2004;

• Invited speaker at "Joint meeting of Chinese physicists world-wide: international conference on physics education and frontier research", June 28-July 1, 2004;

• Invited speaker at "The 2nd Asia-Pacific physics workshop-frontier in condensed matter physics", Hong Kong, June 21-24, 2004;

• Invited speaker at the international workshop on "Self organized strongly correlated electron systems", Santorini, Greece, August 2003;

• Invited speaker at APS march meeting, Montreal, March 2004;

• Invited speaker at the international workshop on Theory, Modeling, and Neutron Scattering, August 2003;

• Invited speaker at American Crystallographic society Annual meeting in Cincinnatic, OH, July 2003;

• Invited speaker at APS March meeting, March 2003;

• Invited talks at the international workshop on high-Tc superconductivity, Beijing, China, December 2002;

• Invited speaker at CMR manganites and related transition metal oxides, Telluride, Colorado, USA July 14-20, 2002;

• Invited speaker at the first American Conference for Neutron Scattering, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA June 24-28, 2002;

• Invited speaker at Beijing Forum for high-Tc superconductivity, Beijing, China June 10-14, 2002;

• Invited speaker at ORAU forum for neutron scattering, March 2002;

• Invited speaker at PPHMF-IV Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA October 19-25, 2001;

• Invited speaker at the 2nd International Workshop on Novel Quantum Phenomena in Transition Metal Oxides, Senda, Japan, August, 2001;

• Invited speaker at International workshop on high-Tc superconductivity in Lijiang, China, June, 2001;

• Condensed matter seminar at University of California-Los Angles, March, 2001;

• Invited symposium speaker at APS March meeting, Seattle, March, 2001;

• Colloquium and seminar at University of Notre Dame;

• Condensed matter physics seminar at Stanford University, Feb. 08, 2001;

• Colloquium and seminar at Boston College, December, 2000;

• Colloquium and condensed matter seminar at University of Missouri-Columbia, December, 2000;

• Colloquium and condensed matter seminar at University of California at San Diego, October, 2000;

• Invited seminar at Los Alamos National Laboratory, September, 2000; Colloquium at University of Tennessee, October, 2000;

• Workshop on "Modern trends of condensed matter physics", Beijing, China, July, 2000;

• IIAS-JRCAT Joint workshop on "Phase Control in Correlated Electron Systems", Tsukuba, Japan, May, 2000;

• "Stripe Physics" workshop, Honolulu (January, 2000), University of Bristol, Bristol, England (February, 2000);

• Invited seminar at University of Tennessee (Nov. 1999);

• Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science (July, 1999);

• Frontier-Science Research Conference on colossal magneto-resistance oxides (June, 1999);

• National high magnetic field laboratory and Florida State University (1999);

• Los Alamos National Laboratory (1999);

• Rutgers University (1999);

• March meeting of American Physical Society (1998);

• International conference on neutron scattering, Toronto, Canada (1997);

• Fall meeting of materials society, Boston, MA (1996);

• Satellite Meeting to the XVIIth International Congress of Crystallography (1996);

• University of California at San Diego;

• Argonne National Laboratory;

• Oak Ridge National Laboratory;

• Invited talks at University of Missouri.