Quantum materials research pioneers Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak join MPSD as directors
Professors Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak, world leaders in the characterization and control of two-dimensional quantum materials, have become directors of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, Germany.

The renowned scientists have established two new joint departments at the Institute. They complement the existing departments of Theory, (director: Angel Rubio), Condensed Matter Dynamics (director: Andrea Cavalleri) and Microstructured Quantum Matter (director: Philip Moll), significantly expanding the scope of the MPSD’s research.
“We are thrilled to announce that our Institute hosts Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak as new directors,” says managing director Angel Rubio. “They are a top-notch couple of scientists, renowned for their groundbreaking work in non-equilibrium phenomena in two-dimensional heterostructures and quantum materials.
“Their expertise and innovative research open new and exciting avenues, further enhancing our Institute’s international reputation and its pivotal role in shaping this cutting-edge field. We look forward to their invaluable contributions, which will undoubtedly elevate our research and academic standing to new heights.”
Jie Shan is Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics and Kin Fai Mak Professor of Physics at Cornell University. Their research focuses on the optical and electronic properties of nanoscale materials, particularly atomically thin two-dimensional crystals such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, as well as their heterostructures, where several layers of such materials are placed on top of one another.
The research group led by the married couple develops experimental techniques to probe, image and control the internal degrees of freedom of electrons and their new phases in these nanoscale systems. Working with a wide range of materials, including semiconductors, metals and superconductors, the group explores their optical and electronic properties.
Jie Shan received her diploma in Mathematics and Physics from Moscow State University, Russia, in 1996 and her Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University in 2001. From 2002 to 2014, she was an Assistant and Associate Professor in Physics at Case Western Reserve University and, from 2014 to 2017, an Associate and Full Professor at the Pennsylvania State University. She joined the Cornell University School of Applied and Engineering Physics as a Full Professor in 2018.
In 2013, Shan was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. She also received a Marie Tharp Fellowship from the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. In Germany, she was honored with a Max Planck Sabbatical Award and the Mildred Dresselhaus Prize in 2021.
Kin Fai Mak gained his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2005 and his Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University in 2010. He remained as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia until 2012, when he joined the Kevli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science. In 2014, Kin Fai Mak became Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University, then returned to Cornell 2018 as Assistant Professor. There, he became Associate Professor in 2019 and Full Professor in 2022.
His honors include Fellowships of the Packard Foundation (2016) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2017), the OCPA Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2016), the Presidential Early Careers Awards for Scientists and Engineers (2019) and the American Physical Society Fellowship (2021). In 2022 he was awarded a $1.25 million grant by the Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative.
The MPSD investigates the structure and properties of matter down to its atomic and electronic motions and characteristics. Its researchers utilise ultrafast laser sources, powerful magnetic fields and advanced theoretical tools to explore the elementary make-up of solid materials on extremely short time scales, down to femto- and attoseconds (millionths and billionths of a billionth second).
A recently opened expansion building will facilitate the MPSD’s future growth and provides space for the new departments. The MPSD is located in the Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld which features a world-class research infrastructure and a unique range of light and radiation sources, including the German Electron Synchrotron DESY and the European XFEL.
The MPSD is one of currently 84 institutes in the Max Planck Society. They carry out fundamental research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences and the humanities.