KentZheng

Texas Engineer Kent Zheng
Assistant Professor

Research Areas
Research Interests

Understanding and controlling electrochemical synthesis of crystalline materials for energy sustainability

About

Kent Zheng joined Texas ChE in the spring of 2024 as an assistant professor, having been a postdoctoral associate at the Department of Physics, MIT. Beyond advancing his prior research on next-generation energy storage, Kent works on scalable synthesis of mesoscale ordered materials that host exotic electrochemical, mechanical, and electronic properties (advisor: Prof. Joseph Checkelsky). He obtained his Ph.D. in 2020 under the supervision of Professor Lynden Archer at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University. His Ph.D. thesis focused on the design of reversible metallic anodes in batteries, including Li, Zn, Al, etc., by controlling crystal growth at dynamic interfaces.

Kent earned his bachelor’s degrees in materials science and in history, respectively, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2017. He worked in Frontier Research Center for Materials Structures (FRCMS) from 2014-2017, where his research centered on atomic-scale characterization of phase transformations in light-weight alloys, e.g., Mg and Al, using advanced transmission electron microscopy. He has co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed research papers in his academic career. He is a recipient of the Early Career Award (2021) from the Electrodeposition Division of the Electrochemical Society and has been an associate editor for ECS Advances since 2024.

Educational Qualifications

Postdoc, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2021-2023)
Ph.D., Materials Science Engineering, Cornell University (2020)
B.S., Materials Science Engineering and History, Shanghai Jiao Tong University(2017)

Select Awards & Honors

  • Emerging Investigator in Materials Science – ACS Materials Letters (2026)
  • Schechter-Wissler-Stice Teaching Excellence Award in Chemical Engineering (2025)
  • Nelson “Buck” Robinson Science and Technology Award for Renewable Energy – MRS (2025)
  • PRF Doctoral New Investigator – ACS (2025)
  • Influential Researcher in Energy Storage – IEC Research (2025)
  • ISE and Electrochimica Acta Travel Award for Young Electrochemists (2025)
  • 30 Under 30 in Science – Forbes (2025)
  • Neware Research Excellence Award (2021)
  • Early Career Investigator Award – ECS Electrodeposition Division (2021)
  • Top Prize in National Competition of Science Innovations Challenge Cup (2017)
  • Person of the Year Award – SJTU (2016)

Select Publications

google scholar

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