Dr. Junqiao Wu —Professor and Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley 

“What one material can do” 

Abstract: Vanadium dioxide undergoes a metal-insulator phase transition at 67 degree C. The two phases differ drastically in electrical and optical/dielectric properties. Using this one material and its doped phases, we have uncovered new physics in correlated electron behavior, and developed new applications ranging from regulation of thermal radiation to simulation of neural plasticity. In this talk, I will give an overview of our recent work on these topics. References [1] Retarded ion diffusion by super-susceptibility (Nature Commun, 15, 5814 (2024)) [2] VO2 MIT obeys classical nucleation theory (Phys. Rev. Lett., 129, 245701 (2022)) [3] Anomalously low electronic thermal conductivity (Science, 355, 371 (2017); Phys Rev. B 102, 041120 (2020)) [4] Temperature adaptive radiative coating (Science, 374, 1504(2021); Joule, 7, 2552 (2023)) [5] Emissivity engineering and application (Adv. Mater., 1907071 (2020); Science Advances, 6, eabd8688 (2020)) [6] Memsensing at sub-Debye length scale (Nat. Mater. (2025) doi: s41563-025-02312-9). 

Biography: Professor Junqiao Wu received his B.S. from Fudan University and his M.S. from Peking University in China. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, where he conducted research on semiconductors. He then completed postdoctoral work at Harvard University, focusing on oxide materials. In 2006, he joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at UC Berkeley as a faculty member. The Wu Group investigates the physics and applications of functional materials and semiconductors. Prof. Wu has published over 300 widely cited papers, contributing to fundamental materials science in areas such as defect physics, band engineering, and the thermophysical behavior of electronic materials, as well as driving industrial advances in energy-efficient lighting and thermal management. He is currently Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley, and holds a joint appointment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). He also serves as Chair of the Division of Materials Physics of the American Physical Society. His honors include the 29th Ross N. Tucker Memorial Award, the U.S. NSF CAREER Award, the U.S. DOE Early Career Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House, the Bakar Prize, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Peking University. He has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and is a recipient of the FMD John Bardeen Award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS).