Zhang, Shenli

Bio

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

Email

Preferred: shenli.zhang@sjsu.edu

Telephone

Preferred: (408) 924-3243

Office Hours

Monday & Wednesday 10:30-11:30; ENG 385 J

Research Website

Multi-scale Modeling Lab

Office

ENG 385J
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0085

Education

  • Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Davis, 2018
  • M.S., Optical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2014
  • General Engineering Diploma, 4+4 Dual Degree Program, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 2014
  • B.S., Applied Physics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2011

Bio

Positions and Employment

  1. July 2025 - present: Assistant Professor, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
  2. Dec. 2023 - July 2025: Postdoctoral Researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA
  3. Oct. 2018 - Nov. 2023: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Chicago, IL

Honors and Awards

  • 2024: Q-MEEN-C von Neumann Distinguished Collaborative Research Award, Q-MEEN-C EFRC
  • 2021: Q-MEEN-C Distinguished von Neumann Postdoctoral Fellows, Q-MEEN-C EFRC 
  • 2018: Graduate Excellence in Materials Science Sapphire Award, 120th Annual Meeting of the America Ceramic Society
  • 2016: Graduate Student Poster Reserve Prize, UC Davis 2016 CHE MSE Research Symposium

Research Interests

  • Oxides for novel electronics such as neuromorphic devices (memristors, aritficial neurons and synapses), and qubits for quantum computing
  • Oxides for renewable energy: hydrogen production, solar water splitting
  • Computational materials research: First-principles calculations, atomistic modeling and machine-learning aided computation materials design

Publications

For a complete list of publications, please visit my Google Scholar

2026

  1. S. Zhang, A. E. Rowberg, S. Kang and J. B. Varley, "First-principles evaluation of proton hopping in tetrahedral oxide motifs", submitted (2026).
  2. A. Ghaffar, S. Zhang, L.F. Wan, K. Saritas, F. A. Reboredo and J. T. Krogel, "Many-body benchmark of electronic charge and spin densities for Li1−xNiO2", submitted (2026).
  3. S. Yuan, S. E. Weitzner, W. Jeong, S. Zhang, B. Wang, L. Feng, J. L. Kaufman, K. Kim, Y. Qi and L.F. Wan, "Modeling single-crystal battery materials: from fundamental understanding to performance evaluation", https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.5c00360 (2026).

2025

  1. S. Zhang, W. Sun, E.G. Lomeli, W. Jeong, S.E. Weitzner, L.F. Wan, “Benchmarking density functional theory methods for efficient calculations of a strongly correlated LiNiO system”, ACS Appl. Energy Mater., 8, 13, 9110-9120 (2025).
  2. S.E. Weitzner, B. Wang, N. Rampal, W. Jeong, S. Yuan, S. Zhang, G. Bucci, N. Adelstein, S. Yan, A.C. Marschilok, L.F. Wan, “Cross-scale modeling and experimental integration for advancing cathode electrolyte interphase studies in high energy density lithium-ion batteries”, Energy Storage Mater. 80, 104368 (2025).
  3. S. Zhang, A.E. Rowberg, T. Ogitsu, T.A. Pham, J.B. Varley, “Electron-phonon renormalization in the proton-conducting electrolyte BaZrO3 and its implications for high-temperature electrolysis”, PRX Energy 4, 013013 (2025). (Newsline article: "A hot topic: how energy fuels energy loss in fuel cells")

Presentations

Invited talks:

  1. "Bridging Scales in Oxides: From Quantum Mechanics to Macroscopic Device for Sustainable and Novel Electronics", 2025 LLNL QSG 25th anniversary, Livermore, CA.
  2. "Harnessing Oxides for Emerging Computing Paradigms with First-Principles Calculations", 2025 group meeting talk at Prof. Dane Morgan's group at UW-Madison, zoom.
  3. "Harnessing Oxides for Emerging Computing Paradigms with First-Principles Calculations", 2025 Department of Physics seminar, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA.
  4. “First-principles calculations of the structural and electronic properties of cobaltites for neuromorphic applications”, 2024 APS Meeting, Minneapolis, USA.
  5. “Harvesting oxygen vacancies in cobaltites for low-power neuromorphic devices”, team science talk (one of nine teams selected from all major DOE centers: EFRC, Hub, CMS and CCS), 2021 EFRC-CMS-CCS Virtual Principal Investigators’ Meeting.   

Conference talks (As presenter):

  1. “Band gap renormalization effects in the BaZrO3 electrolyte”, 2024 APS March Meeting, Anaheim, USA.
  2. “Electronic properties of the interface between perovskite and brownmillerite phases in La1-xSrxCoO3-δ”, 2023 APS March Meeting, Las Vegas, USA.
  3. “Harvesting oxygen vacancies in cobaltites for low-power neuromorphic devices”, 2022 MRS Spring Virtual Meeting.
  4. “Determining the oxygen stoichiometry of cobaltite thin films”, 2022 APS Virtual Meeting.
  5. “Understanding the metal-to-insulator transition in La1-xSrxCoO3−δ and its applications for neuromorphic computing”, 2021 APS Virtual Meeting.
  6. “Atomistic modeling of La3+ doping segregation effect in nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia”, 2018 MS&T Meeting, Columbus, USA.
  7. “Eliminating helium accumulation in spent nuclear fuel by facile alumina coating”, 2017 MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, USA.
  8. “Computational study on the thermal degradation mechanism and gas adsorption properties of mesoporous silica MCM-41 after high temperature treatment”, 2016 AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco, USA. 

Links

Google Scholar

Research Group Website