Nian X. Sun
COE Distinguished Professor,
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Affiliated Faculty,
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Center Member,
Cross-College Magnetics Center
Contact
- n.sun@northeastern.edu
- 417 Dana Research Center
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Social Media
Office
- 617.373.3351
Research Focus
Magnetoelectric materials and devices for wireless power and biomedical sensing
About
Nian Sun is a College of Engineering Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at Northeastern University, where he also directs the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Integrated Ferroics. He is the founder and Chief Technology Advisor of Winchester Technologies, LLC. In 2025, he served as Head of the Corporate Research Center, Midea Group, overseeing the R&D of ~600 scientists. Dr. Sun earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University. Before joining Northeastern University, he worked as a Scientist at IBM and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
His achievements have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the W.M. Keck Foundation Award, Humboldt Research Award, Søren Buus Outstanding Research Award, Outstanding Translational Research Award, NSF CAREER Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, etc. His research focuses on novel magnetic, ferroelectric, and magnetoelectric materials, devices, and microsystems, as well as advanced gas sensors and sensing systems.
He has authored/coauthored over 400 peer-reviewed publications and holds 21 issued US patents. One of his papers was selected as one of the “Ten Most Outstanding Full Papers of the Decade (2001–2010)” by Advanced Functional Materials. Dr. Sun has delivered over 200 plenary, keynote, and invited presentations at international conferences and seminars. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Physical Society (APS).
Education
- PhD, Stanford University, 2002
Honors & Awards
- Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), 2024
- American Physical Society Fellow, 2024
- Outstanding Translational Research Award, COE, 2020
- Humboldt Research Award, 2019
- Fellow, IEEE, 2019
- First Prize, Create the Future Design Contest, NASA Tech Briefs, 2018
- W.M. Keck Foundation Award, 1M$, 2014
- Fellow, the Institute of Engineering and Technology, 2013
- Fellow, the Institute of Physics, 2012
- Søren Buus Outstanding Research Award, 2012
- Ten Most Outstanding Papers in the Past Decade (2001~2010) in Advanced Functional Materials, 2010
- US Air Force SFFP Fellowship, 2010
- US Air Force SFFP Fellowship, 2009
- NSF CAREER Award, 2008
- ONR Young Investigator Award, 2007
- First Prize, IDEMA Fellowship $25,000, 2000
- President’s Fellowship, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 1996
- Outstanding Graduate of the Institute of Metal Research (CAS), 1996
- Outstanding Graduate of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1993
Research Overview
Magnetoelectric materials and devices for wireless power and biomedical sensing
Advanced Materials and Microsystems Laboratory
We are a group of scientists working at the cutting edge on ultra-sensitive and highly specific gas sensors and systems, magnetic, multiferroic, ferroelectric, thermoelectric, and other advanced materials and microsystems. Specifically, we work on materials, devices and microsystems for gas sensing for biomedical diagnosis, magnetic sensing, neural magnetic sensing and stimulation, different tunable RF/microwave components, including thin-film frequency selective limiters, magnetoelectric antennas, tunable inductors, filters, phase shifters, isolators, circulators, integrated thermoelectric materials and devices, vibration and wireless energy harvesting, etc.
W.M. Keck Laboratory for Integrated Ferroics
The W.M. Keck Laboratory for Integrated Ferroics was made possible by a generous grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, for the purpose of investigating ultra-sensitive magnetic sensors and nanofabricated neural probes for electro-magneto-brain activity mapping (EM-BAM). Our research interests include novel integrated magnetic, ferroelectric and multiferroic materials and microsystems for sensing, memory, power, RF and microwave electronics. Specifically, we work on materials and microsystems for biomagnetic sensing, micromagnetic neural stimulation, room-temperature electro-magneto-encephalography, different tunable RF/microwave components, including multiferroic antennas, tunable inductors, filters, phase shifters, isolators, circulators, etc., integrated thermoelectric materials and devices, materials and devices for vibration energy harvesting applications, etc.
Selected Research Projects
- Center for Pandemic Insights
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Boosting the Cold Chain Efficiency Through Integrated, Magnetoelectric, Piezoelectric and Ferroelectric Devices in pAssive on-Chip Tags (IMPACT)
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Heterogeneous Integration in Power Electronics for High-Performance Computing (HIPE-HPC)
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Disease Surveillance with Multi-modal Sensor Network & Data Analytics
- – Co-Principal Investigator, Trinity Awards
- Novel Implantable Smart Magnetoelectric NanoRFIDs for Large-Scale Neural Magnetic Recording and Modulation
- – Principal Investigator, National Institutes of Health
- NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems (TANMS)
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers
Research Centers and Institutes
- Director, W.M. Keck Laboratory for Integrated Ferroics
- Director, Advanced Materials and Microsystems Laboratory
- Center for Pandemic Insights
- Center for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems (TANMS)
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Zaeimbashi, M., Nasrollahpour, M., Khalifa, A., Romano, A., Liang, X., Chen, H., Sun, N., Matyushov, A., Lin H., Dong, C., Xu, Z., Mittal, A., Martos-Repath, I., Jha, G., Mirchandani, N., Das, D., Onabajo, M., Shrivastava, A., Cash, S., Sun, N.X. (2021). Ultra-compact Dual-band Smart NEMS Magnetoelectric Antennas for Simultaneous Wireless Energy Harvesting and Magnetic Field Sensing. Nature Communications, 12, 3141
- Emam, S., Nasrollahpour, M., Colarusso, B., Cai, X., Grant, S., Kulkarni, P., Ekenseair, A., Gharagouzloo, C., Ferris, C., Sun, N.X. (2020). Detection of Presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease through Breath Biomarkers. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 12, e12088
- Nan, T., Anderson, T.J., Gibbons, J., Hwang, K., Campbell, N., Zhou, H., Dong, Y.Q., Kim, G.Y., Shao, D.F., Paudel, T.R., Reynolds, N., Wang, X.J., Sun, N.X., Tsymbal, E.Y., Choi, S.Y., Rzchowski, M.S., Kim, Y.B., Ralph, D.C., Eom, C.B. (2019). Anisotropic Spin-Orbit Torque Generation in Epitaxial SrIrO3 by Symmetry Design. PNAS, 116(33), 16186-16191
- Zhang, Y., Cai, D., Zhao, C., Zhu, M., Gao, Y., Chen, Y., Liang, X., Chen, H., Wang, J., Wei, Y., Sun, N.X. (2020). Nonreciprocal Isolating Bandpass Filter With Enhanced Isolation Using Metallized Ferrite. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 68, 5307-5316
- Shah, P.J., Bas, D.A., Lisenkov, I., Matyushov, A., Sun, N.X., Page, M.R., Page, M.R. (2020). Giant Nonreciprocity of Surface Acoustic Waves Enabled by the Magnetoelastic Interaction. Science Advances, 6, eabc5648
- Emori, S., Gray, B.A., Jeon, H.‐M., Peoples, J., Schmitt, M., Mahalingam, K., Hill, M., McConney, M.E., Gray, M.T., Alaan, U.S., Bornstein, A.C., Shafer, P., N’Diaye, A.T., Arenholz, E., Haugstad, G., Meng, K.‐Y., Yang, F., Li, D., Mahat, S., Cahill, D.G., Dhagat, Jander, P.A., Sun, N.X., Suzuki, Y., Howe, B.M. (2017). Coexistence of Low Damping and Strong Magnetoelastic Coupling in Epitaxial Spinel Ferrite Thin Films. Advanced Materials, 29, 1701130
- Nan, T., Lin, H., Gao, Y., Matyushov, A., Yu, G., Chen, H., Sun, N., Wei, S., Wang, Z., Li, M., Wang, X., Belkessam, A., Guo, R., Chen, B., Zhou, J., Qian, Z., Hui, Y., Rinaldi, M., McConney, M.E., Howe, B.M., Hu, Z., Jones, J.G., Brown, G.J., Sun, N.X. (2017). Acoustically Actuated Ultra-Compact NEMS Magnetoelectric Antennas. Nature Communications, 8, 296
- Liu, M., Zhou, Z., Nan, T., Howe, B.M., Brown, G.J., Sun, N.X. (2013). Voltage Tuning of Ferromagnetic Resonance with Bistable Magnetization Switching in Energy-Efficient Magnetoelectric Composites. Advanced Materials, 25, 1435
- Lou, J., Liu, M., Reed, D., Ren, Y., Sun, N.X. (2009). Giant Electric Field Tuning of Magnetism in Novel Multiferroic FeGaB/Lead Zinc Niobate Lead Titanate Heterostructures. Advanced Materials, 21, 4711
- Liu, M., Obi, O., Lou, J., Chen, Y., Cai, Z., Stoute, S., Espanol, M., Lew, M., Situ, X., Ziemer, K.S., Harris, V.G., Sun, N.X. (2009). Giant Electric Field Tuning of Magnetic Properties in Multiferroic ferrite/ferroelectric Heterostructures. Advanced Functional Materials, 19, 1826
Sep 23, 2025
2025 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above.
Jan 31, 2025
2024 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes those who published a paper in 2024 or later.
Jan 06, 2025
Patent for Energy-Saving Spin Technology
ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun was awarded a patent for “Topological insulator/normal metal bilayers as spin hall materials for spin orbit torque devices, and methods of fabrication of same.”
Dec 11, 2024
Sun and Melodia Named National Academy of Inventors Fellows
ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun and William Lincoln Smith Professor Tommaso Melodia were selected as Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election as an Academy Fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.
Nov 20, 2024
ECE PhD Student Wins Multiple AVS Awards
Bin Luo, PhD’26, electrical engineering, who works in ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun’s lab, won the 2024 American Vacuum Society (AVS) National Graduate Research Award, the AVS MEMS/NEMS Group Best Research Work Award, and was a finalist for the Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures (MIND) Division Leo Falicov Student Award for Best Presentation of Graduate Research at the AVS 70th Symposium.
Oct 07, 2024
Sun Selected as APS Fellow
ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun was selected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society by the Topical Group on Magnetism and its Applications (GMAG) for his innovations in high magnetization materials, magnetoelastic and magnetoelectric thin film materials, microsystems, and device physics.
Aug 29, 2024
Creating a Device To Detect Epileptic Seizures
In collaboration with ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun, Mukki Gill, E’25, mechanical engineering and history, is developing Zor, a portable device that can predict when its user is about to have an epileptic seizure. She received a second place Women Who Empower Award from Northeastern in the Powering a Healthy Tomorrow Award category, and an honorable mention in the undergraduate category.
Aug 28, 2024
New NSF Center for Pandemic Insights
Northeastern University was featured in the Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News article New NFS Center for Pandemic Insights, a partnership of 11 universities and includes ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun […]
Aug 27, 2024
Patent for Breakthroughs in Miniature Antenna Technology
ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun was awarded a patent for “Mechanically-driven SMR-based MEMS magnetoelectric antennas.”
Aug 22, 2024
Northeastern Co-PI of New NSF Center for Insights Into the Pre-Emergence Phase of Pandemics
ECE Distinguished Professor Nian Sun is co-PI of the new NSF Center for Pandemic Insights, which is led by the University of California-Davis and in partnership with 10 universities. Sun is leading innovative sensing technology, while Associate Teaching Professor Jennifer Love is part of the project team for education, outreach, training, and workforce development.