Faculty Spotlight
Sean Shaheen: Professor, Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
Education and experience
Shaheen earned his bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and his PhD from the University of Arizona—both in physics. He currently serves as a professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering with a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He is a fellow in the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute and previously served as the interim director of the Multi-Functional Materials Interdisciplinary Research Theme. Shaheen is also the director of the university's Authentic Research Experiences for Teachers (ARETe) Program, which matches faculty from Colorado two-year colleges with research laboratories in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU Boulder for in-depth, collaborative research experiences.
Research interests
The Shaheen Group aims to find insightful solutions to complex and compelling scientific questions and to engineer better materials, devices, and systems for future technologies that can benefit humankind. Members of the group carry out work in advancing solar energy harvesting, developing new optoelectronic materials and devices, and studying complex processes in biological systems. They are particularly interested in quantum materials with unique charge transport and photonic properties for applications in photovoltaics, memory devices, and neuromorphic circuits. Shaheen is currently with Markus Raschke in the Department of Physics and JILA through a seed grant from the CUbit Quantum Initiative. It is titled: “Room Temperature Coherence and Condensation in Exciton-Polariton States: Toward Practical Quantum Phenomena in Cavity-Coupled Perovskite Materials.”
Thought leadership
Shaheen become the new editor-in-chief of the Journal of Photonics for Energy (JPE) in July, 2020. He succeeds the journal's founding editor-in-chief, Zakya Kafafi, who had served since 2011. He said JPE has become a valuable platform for the dissemination of knowledge generated in laboratories around the world working on new photovoltaic and related energy-harvesting devices and that he looks forward to leading its future efforts in publishing emerging science and technology concepts.
Quotable and notable
“Multi-functional materials represent a new paradigm for engineering future materials systems that seamlessly integrate sensing, cognition, and actuation. Akin to biological materials and living systems, they utilize their various capabilities on-demand for high performance and robustness in the face of changing performance needs and environmental stresses,” said Shaheen.
Sean Shaheen