I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rutgers University–New Brunswick since September 2026. Previously, I was a Harvard Quantum Initiative Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, hosted by Prof. Jarad A. Mason in Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. I also worked closely with Prof. Julia A. Mundy in Department of Physics. In Jan. 2022, I obtained my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, advised by Prof. Gang Chen.
I am interested in understanding, manipulating, and optimizing the conversion, transfer, and storage of energy in stimuli-responsive materials and energy systems, using tools including laser spectroscopy, synthetic chemistry, and ab initio calculations, to address challenges in energy and sustainability research.
Selected publications
Chaitanya A. Gadre#, Xingxu Yan#, Qichen Song, Jie Li, Lei Gu, Toshihiro Aoki, Sheng-Wei Lee, Gang Chen, Ruqian Wu, Xiaoqing Pan*, "Nanoscale imaging of phonon dynamics by electron microscopy", Nature, 2022, 606, 292–297
Qichen Song, Jiawei Zhou, Gang Chen*, "Significant reduction in semiconductor interface resistance via interfacial atomic mixing", Phys. Rev. B, 2022, 105, 195306
Qichen Song*, Gang Chen, "Evaluation of diffuse mismatch model for phonon scattering at disordered interfaces", Phys. Rev. B, 2021, 104, 085310.
Qichen Song, Te-Huan Liu, Jiawei Zhou, Zhiwei Ding, Gang Chen*, "Ab initio study of electron mean free paths and thermoelectric properties of lead telluride", Materials Today Physics, 2017, 2, 69-77.
Qichen Song, Jiawei Zhou, Laureen Meroueh, David Broido, Zhifeng Ren, Gang Chen*, "The effect of shallow vs. deep level doping on the performance of thermoelectric materials", Appl. Phys. Lett., 2016, 109, 263902.