EMPLOYMENT

• Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Michigan 2022 - present

• QRI Fellow, Michigan Quantum Research Institute, University of Michigan 2024 - present

• Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Michigan 2017 - 2022

• Prize Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics, California Institute of Technology 2013 - 2016

EDUCATION

• Ph.D in Physics, Columbia University 10/2013

• M.Phil in Physics, Columbia University 07/2011

• M.S. in Physics, Columbia University 07/2010

• B.S. in Physics, University of Science and Technology of China 06/2008

AWARDS & HONORS

• APS Fellowship, Division of Condensed Matter Physics, American Physical Society, USA 2025

• APS Outstanding Referee, American Physical Society, USA 2025

• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), USA 2025

• Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Award, University of Michigan 2025

• LSA LEAD Fellow, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan 2024

• Mildred Dresselhaus Guest Professorship, the Cluster of Excellence, Hamburg, Germany 2023

• Henry Russel Award, University of Michigan 2023

• Macronix Prize, International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers (OCPA) 2022

• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Sloan Foundation 2021

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Inveestigator Award, USA 2020

• Bryan R. Coles Prize, International Conference on Strongly Correlated Electron System (SCES) 2019

• NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, USA 2018

• Kavli Fellowship, National Academy of Sciences, USA 2017

• Richard Chase Tolman Fellowship, California Institute of Technology 2013 - 2016

• Charles Townes Fellowship, Columbia University 2013

• Faculty Fellowship, Columbia University 2008 - 2013

• National Scholarship for Undergraduates, China 2008

• Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Award, University of Science and Technology of China 2008

• Excellence in Undergraduate Research, University of Science and Technology of China 2007

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY ROLES

• Program chair, Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) 2027

• PI meeting co-chair, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, Department of Energy 2025

• Member-at-Large, Division of Laser Science, American Physical Society 2023 - present

• Editorial board member, Physical Review X, American Physical Society 2023 - present

• Associate editor, Progress in Quantum Electronics, Elsevier 2023 - present

• Guest editor, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 2024

• Editor, Solid State Communications, Elsevier 2021 - 2023

• FS4 subcommittee chair, Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) 2020 - 2022

PUBLICATIONS (Plese see L. Zhao google scholar)

TEACHING

• Physics 391 Introduction to Modern Physics Lab 2017W, 2018W, 2019W, 2021W, 2025F

• Physics 405 Intermediate Electromagnetism 2020W, 2023F

• Physics 453 Quantum Mechanics I 2018F, 2019F, 2022F, 2024F

• Physics 460 Quantum Mechanics II 2024W, 2025W