Joining Penn September 2025.
B.S., Xiamen University, 1985
M.S., Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1988
Ph. D., University of Pennsylvania, 1993, Advisor: R. M. Hochstrasser
Postdoctoral fellow, University of California at Berkeley, 1994-1996. Advisor: Charles B. Harris
Developing efficient and low-cost technologies for energy conversion and storage is one of the most important scientific challenges today. The Lian group’s research program is focused on advancing the fundamental understanding of interfacial structure and dynamics that governs charge transport and energy conversion in these devices. These fundamental advances are essential to the rational improvement of existing approaches and the development of novel energy conversion concepts.
The Lian group develops and applies state-of-the-art ultrafast and nonlinear spectroscopy techniques for the study of these interfacial dynamics in situ under photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical and electrocatalytic conditions (see the Technique page for details).
See here for detailed information on these projects.