Diana Qiu Wins PECASE Award

Diana Qiu, assistant professor of materials science, has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).  Considered the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers, President Joseph Biden awarded the PECASE to nearly 400 scientists and engineers. 

Qiu’s research focuses on excitons, a combination of an electron and a hole, which is a positively charged empty state caused by the absence of an electron. This electron-hole combination, with its opposite charges, carries energy. Qiu’s lab, a part of the Energy Science Institute on Yale’s West Campus, seeks to better understand these quasiparticles, which could lead to a better understanding of light absorption, and the advancement of solar energy. 

“We're interested in understanding how excitons transport energy in materials,” she said. “And we've developed new simulation techniques that let us track the motion of the exciton in the material.”

With these very accurate simulations, Qiu’s research team can reproduce results from experiments. 

“Then we can start breaking down what's seen in an experiment in terms of whether this specific feature is coming from excitons, for instance, or from the topology of the material.”

Her lab is also using developing machine learning techniques as a way to speed up calculations regarding excitons and how certain materials interact with light.

Her research group also explores the properties of other materials relevant to fields such as optoelectronics, quantum information, and energy research. They also develop quantum physics methods that use high-performance computing to make accurate predictions about real materials, and potentially lead to the discovery and design of novel, highly-tunable, and transient materials.

Established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the PECASE recognizes scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers. The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhances connections between research and impacts on society, and highlights the importance of science and technology for our nation’s future.