Team

Tiancong Zhu

Tiancong received his PhD in physics from the Ohio State University in 2019 with Prof. Roland K. Kawakami working on spin transport and magnetism in two-dimensional materials. After that, Tiancong spent 4 years as a post-doctoral researcher at University of California, Berkeley with Prof. Michael F. Crommie working on investigating correlated and topological states with scanning tunneling microscopy. Tiancong received his BSc in Physics from Peking University, China in 2012. 

CV, Google Scholar

Christopher Ulate

Christopher received his BSc from the University of Minnesota. He has experience working with infrared interferometry, AFM, cryogenic systems, and optics. His current interests are in quantum materials and microscopy techniques. He is from a Costa Rican-American family from Minneapolis, MN, and is excited for the tropical weather of Indiana! 

Kyung Jun (Kelvin) Lee

Kyung Jun (Kelvin) received his B.S. in electrical engineering with a minor in physics at Purdue University. He performed undergraduate research with the Zhu lab, and decided to stay with the group to pursue Ph.D. in Physics. He has experience with hall measurements of magnetic materials, transfer of 2D materials, and AFM. His research focuses on STM investigation of strongly correlated system. 

Daniel J. Jung

Daniel completed his B.S. in Physics at ETH Zurich in 2025 and joined Purdue University to pursue his Ph.D. in the Zhu Lab. He oversees the operation and development of the group's two molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems and focuses on the synthesis of novel quantum materials, particularly doped transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). His broader goal is to extend two dimensional materials physics to the wafer scale by advancing growth and manipulation techniques for scalable quantum material platforms.

Trent Boritz

Trent received his B.S. in Physics at Florida State University. He has past experience working on material characterization in superconductors and other quantum materials using PPMS, NMR, and SEM. In Zhu's lab, he is working on the growth and study of 2D Metal Organic Frameworks.

Priya Mishra

Priya Mishra is a sophomore from Westfield, Indiana pursuing a double major in Physics and Mathematics and plans to attend grad school after her undergraduate studies. She is interested in learning more about the world of condensed matter, specifically 2D materials, phase transitions, and twistronics. In the Zhu Lab, she is excited to observe more exotic behaviors of interesting quantum materials and create more STM-compatible devices for future electronic applications.

Manaswini Singh

Manaswini is a sophomore in Applied Physics from Delhi, India, with a passion for computational physics, quantum mechanics, twistronics, and 2D materials. With a CS minor, She aims to harness computational tools for Physics research. Outside the lab, She enjoys swimming and drinking boba tea.

Brandon Michael Busch

Brandon is a freshman from Fort Wayne, Indiana majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He is interested in the future applications  of 2D materials and using mechanical solutions to aid in the exfoliation and transfer of MBE grown films. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing intramural sports, especially basketball at the CoRec.

Audrey Lynne Lindberg

Audrey is a sophomore from West Lafayette, Indiana (though originally from the Northwest) and is interested in atomic engineering, particularly using STM and related techniques to create 2D material defects with useful quantum properties. She aims to integrate these applications with solid-state chemistry through a chemistry major and physics minor.

Cara Suh

Cara is a junior from South Korea majoring in physics and philosophy. Her interests include complex systems and quantum mechanics. Currently working on device fabrication using AFM, she is interested in studying exotic and collective behaviors in 2D materials and gaining hands-on experience in experimental physics.

Evan Nicholas Grudzien

Evan is freshman majoring in physics. He is active in Catholic community, and enjoys going to gym and studying physics. He is currently working on 2D device fabrication, with an interest in learning about strongly correlated phenomena in multilayer graphene-based heterostructures

Christoph Stamm

Christoph is a final-year Bachelor’s student in Physics from Munich, Germany, spending the fall semester at Purdue University as an exchange student from ETH Zurich. Having approached Physics from a mainly mathematical and theoretical perspective, he is eager to gain hands-on experimental experience with 2D materials and scanning probe techniques. In the Zhu Lab, he is excited to learn about MBE, AFM, and sample fabrication. 

Aditya Joshi

Aditya is a Materials Science and Engineering student at Purdue University from Bangalore, India. He is passionate about semiconductor physics, microelectronics, and the fundamental science underlying electronic materials. He is particularly interested in exploring how atomic structure and material properties shape electronic behavior and influence the performance of semiconductor devices.