Zetian Mi

Zetian Mi is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, USA. He received the BS in Physics from Peking University and PhD in Applied Physics from the University of Michigan. He served as a faculty member at McGill University before joining the University of Michigan in 2016.

Mi is a co-founder of NS Nanotech, Inc. and NX Fuels, Inc. Mi’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of low dimensional semiconductors, optoelectronics, clean energy, and quantum photonics. He demonstrated the first room-temperature operational quantum dot laser diodes on silicon in 2005. His recent research has focused on wide bandgap semiconductors and their applications in micro-LEDs, ultraviolet optoelectronics, and artificial photosynthesis. He has developed the technology and understanding of single-crystalline ferroelectric nitrides, which have shown transformative potentials for next-generation optoelectronics, microelectronics, acousto-electronics, and micro/nanoelectron-mechanical systems.

Mi has received the Science and Engineering Award from W. M. Keck Foundation in 2020, the IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2021, the IEEE Nanotechnology Council Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2020, the ISCS Quantum Devices Award in 2024, and the David E. Liddle Research Excellence Award in 2021, the Rexford E. Hall Innovation Excellence Award in 2024, and the Wise-Najafi Prize for Engineering Excellence in the Miniature World (2025) from the University of Michigan. Mi is a Fellow of Optica, IEEE, APS, and SPIE. In 2025, he received the Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award, “For outstanding contributions to the engineering of wide energy gap nanostructures for light emission and energy generation applications.”