Kun Zhao

* Engineer for epitaxy process of 18A/14A technology. * Integration defects root cause analysis and process improvement.

• Scientific lead in purification of solar-grade silicon and electronic-grade Silane from non-metal tracers during Fluidized Bed Process and industrial distillation process. • Hexachlorodisilane separation from silane plant. • Improve and develop new technologies for production and quality control.

Disclosing the energetics and growth modes of metal atoms and nanoparticles on graphene and oxide supports during physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using advanced techniques. * Problem-solver and strategic planner in troubleshooting advanced equipment, experimental design and data analysis as evidenced by accelerating the project completion by 2 times and significant improved theoretical models in describing nanomaterials growth compared to the last 20 years development in this filed. * Mentorship expertise in Ph.D and mater students in research projects and their thesis. * Strong oral and written communications as shown in oral and poster presenting in 13 international conferences and 10 first-author publications.

World wide network for cross-functional collaborations as evidenced by using my knowledge to characterize battery materials.

* Program management expertise in running multiple projects with teams internal and external and coordinating shared facilities, leading to productive outcomes of 13 published scientific articles and 12 presentations at international conferences. * Superior product and market knowledge as evidenced by the scale-up production of the catalytic materials investigated in my research by a clean-energy start-up. * Interpersonal skills as evidenced by organizing volunteer group to assist the 15th International Symposium on Metal-Hydrogen Systems, training graduate students and young scientists in shared facilities, and volunteering in recording and presenting at school open day.

* Learned how to grow single layer boron nitride on TiO2 single crystal. * Learned how to make small mass-selected nanoclusters of precious metal. * Performed Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) images for the prepared materials before and after heterogeneous catalysis. * Simulated the supported metal nanocluster using Density Functional Theory (DFT) computation. * Attended a Gordon conference in Girona, Spain.

Disclosing mechanisms of electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on copper single crystalline facets using theoretical calculations.

Study computational quantum mechanical modelling of gas/solid interface based on Density functional theory (DFT)

Thesis: Mechanisms of the Heterogeneously Catalyzed Reaction of CO2 Hydrogenation on Transition Metal Surfaces * Build up a laboratory instrumental system for spectroscopic investigation of heterogeneous catalysis in operando. * Developed an analytic method for deconvoluting spectroscopic data sets. * Acquired multiple skills in instruments, such as IR and Raman spectrometers, and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Quadrupole Mass spectrometers (QMS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), etc. * Discovered the micro mechanism of CO2 hydrogenation on catalyst surfaces, and found out the effect of metal oxide when its metal serves as catalytical center in the CO2 hydrogenation reaction. * Published 12 peer-reviewed articles in high impact factor journals. * As a teaching assistant for three semesters in both undergraduate and master courses in chemistry. * Supervised two master students in a interdisciplinary project in chemistry and chemical engineering.

Thesis: Surface Structure-Dependent Photocatalysis of BiOCl Single Crystalline Surfaces. * Won one national 1st prize as excellent master student, three 1st prizes in Chemistry Department for the research work, and provincial 1st prize for the master thesis. * Post presentations in two photocatalysis conferences (scale 300-600 people) in Wuhan and Ha'erbin and one international conference (scale ~1000 people) in Qingdao, China.