Kun Wang, assistant professor in the Department of Physics in the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award—an honor that supports rising faculty leaders who integrate innovative research with impactful education. The five-year grant, which runs from 2026 to 2031 and provides approximately $700,000 in funding, will support Wang’s long-term research vision in molecular quantum systems.
“We are so grateful for this recognition,” Wang said. “It allows us to think more deeply about how the research should be designed and carried out. At the same time, it gives us the opportunity to take a long-term view of education over the next five years—not only in STEM, but also in the context of quantum science and artificial intelligence, and how our work can connect with these rapidly growing fields.”
“Professor Wang’s NSF CAREER Award is a tremendous and well-deserved recognition of his creativity, dedication, and growing impact as a scholar,” said Massimiliano Galeazzi, chair of the Department of Physics. “This prestigious award highlights not only the excellence of his research program, but also his strong commitment to integrating cutting-edge research with education and student mentoring. We are extremely proud of professor Wang’s achievement and excited to see how his work will continue to elevate our department and the field.”
Rethinking the future of electronics and computing
At the core of Wang’s work is a deceptively simple question: What happens when electronic devices can no longer shrink?
For decades, advances in computing power have relied on making transistors (the building blocks of electronic devices) smaller and more efficient. But as these components approach their physical limits, researchers are searching for new ways to move and control electrons.
Wang’s research explores a promising alternative: using molecules, the smallest stable structures in nature, as electronic components.
“We’re trying to understand how electrons flow across a single molecule and how we can design molecules to behave like traditional electronic devices or offer something not possible before,” he explained.
His project focuses on a long-standing challenge in the field of molecular electronics: as molecules get longer, they typically become less conductive, making them impractical for real-world applications. To address this, Wang and his collaborators are studying a newly observed quantum phenomenon known as “spin topological states.”
These states create additional quantum pathways for electrons to travel, allowing them to move efficiently across much longer molecular structures. The result could be what Wang describes as “molecular highways” for electrons: systems that enable fast, efficient transport at a scale far smaller than today’s technology allows.
Wang’s project builds on earlier findings from his lab, including a 2025 study that demonstrated unusually high electrical conductance in an ultra-long molecular system. What began as an unexpected experimental result, that initially seemed “too good to be true”, has evolved into a broader research direction with significant implications.
If successful, this work could influence a wide range of technologies. In the shorter term, integrating molecular components into existing devices could lead to faster computing with significantly lower energy consumption. In the longer term, the research may contribute to advances in quantum computing by enabling stable quantum states that operate at room temperature, which is a current challenge in the field.
Over the next five years, Wang’s team will pursue both experimental and theoretical approaches to better understand how these exotic quantum states emerge and how they can be controlled at the molecular scale. The ultimate goal is to develop clear design principles for building molecular systems that enable efficient, long-range electron transport.
A collaborative and educational mission
A defining feature of the NSF CAREER Award is its emphasis on education, and Wang’s project includes a strong outreach component aimed at expanding access to STEM learning.
Through a partnership with the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami, Wang and his team plan to develop hands-on lab experiences for K–12 students. These sessions, which will be incorporated into school field trips, are expected to reach more than 200 students annually.
The project will also provide research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and high school students, offering training in experimental techniques, theoretical modeling, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
By bridging fundamental quantum physics with real-world applications, and pairing research with education, Wang’s work reflects the broader mission of the University’s scientific community. And with support from one of the nation’s most competitive research awards, that vision is now poised to expand.
