Title: “Opportunities in Whispering-Gallery Microresonators: Fundamentals and Applications”

Dr. Gu received the Bachelor’s degree from University of British Columbia, Canada in 2008, and the Ph.D. degree from University of California, San Diego in 2014, both in Electrical Engineering. Prior to joining NC State, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas from 2016 to 2021. Her research activities include the experimental realization of quantum-inspired nanophotonic semiconductor light sources using emerging materials or novel cavity configurations, active and topological hyperbolic metamaterials, and perovskite optoelectronics. She is the author of book “Semiconductor Nanolasers” by Cambridge University Press, published in 2017.

Dr. Gu’s experimental research in nanophotonics lies at the intersection of electrical engineering, physics and materials sciences. She holds a joint appointment of ECE and Physics, and is a member of the Chancellor's Faculty Excellence Cluster in Carbon Electronics.

Title: “Quantum Materials: A View from the Lattice”

Connecting theoretical models for exotic quantum states to real materials is a key goal in quantum materials science. The structure of the crystalline lattice plays a foundational role in this pursuit in the subfield of quantum material synthesis. We here revisit this long-standing perspective in the context low dimensional emergent electronic phases of matter, including the realization of model two-dimensional topological and correlated electronic phenomena. Along the way, we discuss how to define a quantum material, and how this definition has evolved in recent years. Finally, we comment on the perspective for realizing further two-dimensional model systems in complex material structures and connections to new paradigms for programmable quantum matter.