Dr. Shenqiang Ren is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a RENEW Institute Faculty with research interests in materials-by-design, self-assembly, and novel structural, electronic, magnetic and excitonic properties for emerging energy-critical applications.

Dr. Ren also holds a minority appointment in the Chemistry Department in the College of Arts and Sciences.

His research – aligned with the RENEW Next-Generation Materials & Technologies for Energy, Environment, & Water Sustainability focus areas – control the structure of an extended material system up to the atomic/molecular level and to establish their structure/processing/property relationship.

His current project examines earth-abundant nanomaterials for green energy applications (high energy product magnets, environmental beneficial nanocatalysts, etc), molecular charge-transfer solids/salts for emerging nanodevices (organic ferronics, conductors, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, ferroelectrics, magnets, superconductors, etc). His group has been focusing on a wide variety of functional materials with an emphasis on their novel structural and physical properties for energy-critical applications.

Dr. Ren earned his PhD degree in Materials Science at the University of Maryland College Park, and then served as a postdoc fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received 2015 National Science Foundation – CAREER Award, 2014 Army Research Office – Young Investigator Award, 2014 RSC Emerging Investigator – Journal of Material Chemistry, 2013 NSF EPSCOR First Award, 2013 Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship, 2012 KU New Faculty General Research Fund, 2009 China’s National Award for Outstanding Graduate Students Abroad, 2009 Dean’s Doctoral Research Award (First Prize) and Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award at University of Maryland, College Park. He is North American editor of J. Exp. Nanoscience, and editorial panel member of Scientific Report.

• PhD, Materials Science, University of Maryland, College Park, 2009
• BS, Materials Chemistry, Nanjing University of Aero. & Astro, 2004