Recently, Xia Shiqi, a postdoctoral fellow from the School of Physics and TEDA Institute of Applied Physics, Nankai University, was named the 2023 Rising Stars of Light.

The 2023 Rising Stars of Light program lasted for 6 months, which received many applications from the world’s outstanding young scientists. As a result of rigorous selection by the committee, 13 candidates from Stanford University, Duke University, University of Washington, Georgia Institute of Technology, Washington University in St. Louis, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Tel Aviv University, Monash University, National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University, Nankai University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology stood out to vie for the Rising Stars of Light award in the “Faculty Track” and “Before Faculty Track” categories. In the end, Dr. Xia Shiqi from the research group headed by Prof. Chen Zhigang and Prof. Xu Jingjun of Nankai University was named the 2023 Rising Stars of Light in the Before Faculty Track (only three were selected).

Xia Shiqi received his doctorate in optics from Nankai University in 2021, and, under the Postdoctoral Innovation Talents Support Program, proceeded to engage in postdoctoral research at Nankai University, with Professor Chen Zhigang as the tutor, in research areas of topological photonics, non-Hermitian optics, etc. He has published more than 20 papers in a number of world-renowned academic journals, including Science, Nature Communications, Physical Review Letters, Light: Science & Applications, and Advanced Photonics. He has won the Guo Guangcan Outstanding Optics Paper Award of the Chinese Optical Society, the Wang Daheng Optics Award - Student Optics Award, etc. His research findings were selected as the Top Ten Advances in Optics in China in 2021, OPTICA Top Ten Advances in Optics and Photonics “Optics in 2022”, etc. 

The Rising Stars of Light is an international honor initiated by Light: Science & Applications, a leading journal of the China Science and Technology Journal Excellence Action Plan, in collaboration with iCANx, to recognize and reward young scientists who have performed excellently in the field of optics. The establishment of the award provides a key platform for young researchers to showcase their achievements and increase communication, thereby aiding advances in optical science. 

（Edited and translated by Nankai News Team.)