people

Members of the Bi Group at Penn State.

The Bi Group at the 2025 Penn State Physics department holiday gathering
The Bi Group at the Penn State Department of Physics holiday gathering, December 2025. Left to right: Anubhav, Amogh, Adrian, Sarvesh, and Zhen.

prof_pic.jpg

Principal Investigator

338 Davey Laboratory

zjb5184@psu.edu

Zhen Bi

Assistant Professor of Physics, Penn State

I am a theoretical condensed matter physicist. My research uses quantum field theory and topology to understand quantum many-body systems — phases of matter, phase transitions, and emergent phenomena in strongly correlated and topological systems.

Background

  • Ph.D., Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara (2012–2017) — advisor: Cenke Xu
  • Pappalardo Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2017–2020) — mentors: T. Senthil, Liang Fu
  • B.Sc., Physics, Peking University (2008–2012)

Selected Awards

  • NSF CAREER Award (2024)
  • C.-N. Yang Visiting Fellow, Chinese University of Hong Kong (2022)
  • Pappalardo Fellowship, MIT (2017–2020)
  • Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, UCSB (2017)
  • Gold Medal, 39th International Physics Olympiad (2008)

Google Scholar


Postdoctoral Researchers

  • Linhao Li   Postdoctoral Researcher (since Oct 2025)
  • Jacopo Gliozzi   Incoming Postdoctoral Researcher, Aug 2026 · CTEQ Fellow

Graduate Students

  • Amogh Anakru   dipolar symmetry, non-Fermi liquids, composite-fermion metals · Boulder School 2025, KITP Graduate Fellow 2026
  • Sarvesh Srinivasan   crystalline & modulated-symmetry topological phases · Princeton Summer School
  • Adrian Fedorko   moiré kagome superlattices in twisted TMDs
  • Anubhav Anilkumar   fractional Chern insulators in moiré systems
  • Jinfei Zhou

Alumni & placements

  • Jian-Hao Zhang   former Postdoctoral Researcher (2022–2024) · CTQM Prize Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Colorado Boulder; incoming faculty, Westlake University
  • Claire Schubert   former Undergraduate Researcher · continuing to the Ph.D. program at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center
  • Paul John Balderston   former Undergraduate Researcher · now Theoretical Physics MSc student, University of Amsterdam & Visiting Academic, NYU CCPP