Xiang Sun

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, NYU Shanghai
Graduate Coordinator of Chemistry, NYU Shanghai
Global Network Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, NYU
Adjunct Professor, State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University 

Email: xiang.sun@nyu.edu
Lab Group: https://wp.nyu.edu/xiangsun

Pudong Campus: Room 1262-1, NYU Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai 200122
Office Phone: (+86) 21-2059 6163

Zhongbei Campus: Room 287, Geography Building, ECNU, 3663 Zhongshan Road North, Putuo Area, Shanghai 200062
Office Phone: (+86) 21-2059 5990

Xiang Sun is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at NYU Shanghai. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a visiting scholar at the University of California, San Diego. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Brown University and a B.S. in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).

Professor Sun is interested in quantum dynamics in condensed-phase systems, such as liquid solutions, surfaces, biological macromolecules, and energy-conversion nanomaterials. A fundamental goal of his research is to obtain a molecular-level understanding of how electronic and vibrational excitation influence the mechanisms, outcomes, and spectroscopic signatures of dynamics in these complex molecular systems. Since electronic and vibrational relaxation usually has a quantum nature, it is highly desirable to have methods that accurately describe the relevant quantum dynamical effects, while still being computationally feasible for large-scale systems like classical methods do. The Sun group is focused on developing semiclassical and mixed quantum-classical methods for understanding dynamics following molecular excitation with the help of statistical mechanics, quantum chemistry, and Feynman’s path integral formalism. Having an insight into the many-body dynamics helps us learn the molecular lessons of ultrafast spectroscopies and gain a deeper understanding of charge and energy transfer dynamics in light-harvesting biomolecules and organic photovoltaic materials.

Areas of Research
Theoretical Chemical Physics, Quantum Dynamics, Statistical Mechanics, Charge and Energy Transfer, Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Energy Materials

Selected Publications