School of Humanities and Sciences
Showing 11-20 of 23 Results
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CHENHANG XU
Postdoctoral Scholar, Physics
BioI am a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University in the Zong/Hwang group. I received my undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), where I specialized in pulsed laser deposition, the synthesis of complex oxide materials and MeV ultrafast electron diffraction (UED).
My research focuses on ultrafast structural dynamics in quantum materials using techniques such as MeV-UED, ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM), time-resolved X-ray diffraction, and pump–probe optical spectroscopy. These time-resolved probes are integrated with advanced and highly tunable sample environments, including in situ strain engineering and electrostatic gating, to actively control competing electronic, structural, and ferroic orders. This capability enables the design, discovery, and quantitative understanding of nonequilibrium phases, transient orders, and metastable states in quantum materials. -
Maya Emily Xu
Bachelor of Science, Honors, Biology with Honors
Masters Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2022
Minor, Education
Stanford Student Employee, BiologyBioI'm an undergraduate ('25) and coterminal masters student majoring in biology (concentrating in ecology, evolution and environment). I previously completed a minor in education, a Notation for Science Communication, and will co-instruct BIO 121/221 (Ornithology) for the third time this spring.
Broadly, I'm interested in three main topics (which all have to do with birds!): 1) how birds can be used as indicator or sentinel species for environmental disturbance; 2) how interactions between humans and birds are shifting thanks to gradients of anthropogenic change; and 3) how these interactions can be shaped to better promote wider ecological health and beneficial services. I'm currently in the middle of a year-long study with Marty Freeland, funded by Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve's ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) (JROO) Mellon Grant, to compare the riparian bird communities at JROO and TomKat Ranch using three different survey methodologies (in-person transects, passive acoustic monitoring, and mob tape deployments). I'm also working closely with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO), where I volunteer as a bird banding trainee, and the Stanford SIGMA lab to quantify heavy metal contamination in the feathers of songbirds caught at the bird banding stations in JROO and the SFBBO's main station in Milpitas.
I previously conducted my senior honors thesis on how heavy metals affect raptors on the North American Pacific coast. My primary study species were the peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) breeding on top of Stanford University’s Hoover Tower, and the golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) breeding at JROO, where I'm a docent and former avian transect leader.
