Stanford Tech Club: Fireside with Dr. Zhi-Xun Shen, Advisor at Periodic Labs
How is AI reshaping the future of scientific discovery? What does it look like when one of the world’s top physicists helps build that future?
Join us for an intimate fireside chat with Dr. Zhi-Xun Shen, advisor to Periodic Labs, the recently launched $300M-funded company building AI scientists to automate materials discovery.
Periodic Labs is one of the most ambitious new companies at the intersection of AI, science, and advanced materials. In this conversation, we will explore the frontier behind that vision through the lens of Dr. Shen’s decades of work on superconductors, quantum materials, and experimental physics.
Dr. Shen is the Paul Pigott Professor of Physical Sciences at Stanford, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and former Chief Scientist of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Over a career spanning more than 600 publications and 55,000 citations, he has made foundational contributions to the study of high-temperature superconductors using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). His work has been recognized with the Oliver E. Buckley Prize, the E.O. Lawrence Award, and the Kamerlingh Onnes Prize. He also co-founded PrimeNano, commercializing microscopy technology from his lab, and now advises Periodic Labs as it seeks to transform how new materials are discovered.
We will cover:
why Periodic Labs believes AI can radically accelerate materials discovery
what remains unsolved in superconductors and quantum materials
where AI can genuinely outperform traditional scientific workflows, and where deep domain expertise still matters most
how frontier science turns into companies, from PrimeNano to Periodic Labs
what breakthroughs in materials science could unlock for energy, computing, and the physical world
Location: E102
Time: Tuesday, April 21, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Speaker: Dr. Zhi-Xun Shen, Advisor, Periodic Labs
Moderator: Catherine Li