The Speakers

Prof. Arena received his Ph.D. in experimental surface physics from Rutgers University, New Jersey. After postdoc work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, and the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C., he was employed as a physicist and beam line scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, specializing in x-ray spectroscopy of magnetic materials. He is a Fulbright Scholar and is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at the University of South Florida. His research interests are in nanomagnetism and spin dynamics. 

Nicholas Dale is a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. While completing his B. Sc. at University of California Los Angeles in 2015, he explored the potential of laser-driven particle accelerators for cancer therapies. During his Ph. D. at University of California Berkeley in 2023, he pioneered ARPES studies of 2D heterostructure devices, focusing on the interplay of many-body and moiré interactions in graphene. 

His current research aims to expand access to the electronic structure of quantum materials. He combines electronic structure theory with experimental real-space probes such as spin-polarized low energy electron microscopy (SPLEEM) and reciprocal space probes such as spin-ARPES and spin-ARRES to examine novel forms of magnetism.

Bianca Schacherl received her BSc in Chemistry from University of Konstanz, Germany before starting her MSc and Ph. D. at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany on “Advancing actinide high-energy resolution X-ray absorption/emission spectroscopic tools” which was awarded the KIT Doctoral Award for Outstanding Doctoral Researchers. She explored several directions of radiochemistry during research stays and fellowships in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, and Los Alamos National Lab (LANL), USA. She joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), USA in 2023 for a joint Post-Doc with the Minasian and Abergel groups. Since 2025 she is a junior group leader at KIT working on the development of X-ray spectroscopies and radiochemical applications. Her research interests are radiochemistry and spectroscopy, especially X-ray spectroscopies and their application on magnetic, radiochemical as well as biological systems.

Shan Wu is currently an Assistant Professor of Physics and Engineering Physics at Santa Clara University. She earned her Ph.D. in Physics from Johns Hopkins University, followed by postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research focuses on strongly correlated quantum materials, with a growing interest in magnetic transition metal dichalcogenides. As an experimental condensed matter physicist, she employs a range of complementary techniques, such as resonant X-ray scattering, neutron diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, to explore how spins and electrons organize and interact in quantum materials.

Jie Yao is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and chair of the AS&T Graduate Group. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2010 and conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University before joining the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley as an assistant professor in 2013.

Prof. Yao’s research interests are mainly focused on optical materials and nanophotonics, including metamaterials, plasmonics and photonic crystals. He is also developing novel 2D materials with ferroic responses for electronic and spintronic applications.

Dr. Yao received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and Early Career award from SPIE, the International Society of Optics and Photonics. He is also a Heising-Simons Faculty Fellow and a recipient of the Hellman Fellowship from the Hellman Foundation.