Shanhui Fan is the Joseph and Hon Mai Goodman Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. He is a Professor of Electrical Engineering, a Professor of Applied Physics (by courtesy), and a Senior Fellow in the Precourt Institute for Energy. He is also a faculty member of the Edward L. Ginzton Laboratory, for which he was the Director from 2014 to 2021.
His research interests are in fundamental studies of nanophotonic structures, especially photonic crystals and meta-materials, and applications of these structures in energy and information technology applications. He has published over 600 refereed journal articles, given more than 300 plenary/keynote/invited talks, and holds over 70 granted U. S. patents.
For his research accomplishments he has received a number of awards, including the R. W. Wood Prize, the Simons Investigator in Physics, and the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and a Fellow of IEEE, APS, Optica, and SPIE.
Professor Fan did his undergraduate study in physics from 1988 to 1992 at the University of Science and Technology of China, and received his Ph.D. in 1997 in theoretical condensed matter physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).