Shuyuan Shi is a Professor and Ph.D. Supervisor at Beihang University. She is a recipient of the National Excellent Young Scientists Fund and was selected for the Beijing Nova Program. She received her B.S. degree with honor in Electronic Information Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, and her Ph.D. degree from the National University of Singapore. From 2019 to 2021, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore. She has also been a visiting student at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and a visiting scholar at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States.

She joined Beihang University in 2021. Her research focuses on spintronic memory and logic devices, spin–orbit torque materials and devices, and spin manipulation in topological quantum materials. She received the MMM Best Student Presentation Award at the 2019 Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference, awarded to one recipient each year, and the Singapore Microelectronics Institute Award in 2020, also awarded to one recipient each year.

In recent years, She has published first-author and corresponding-author papers in journals including Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Nano Letters, Physical Review B, Physical Review Applied, and a Cell Press journal. As a co-author, She has published papers in Science, Nature Materials, Nature Electronics, Physical Review Letters, and other journals. She has been granted two U.S. patents.

She teaches undergraduate courses including Engineering University Physics II, Characterization of Semiconductor Materials and Devices, and undergraduate research training courses. She also supervises undergraduate research projects such as the Feng Ru Cup competition and innovation training programs. For graduate students, She teaches Frontiers in Integrated Circuits.

Research Interests

Current research directions include:

• Spin-based memory and logic devices

• Spin–orbit torque materials and devices

• Spin manipulation and functional devices based on emerging spintronic materials, including topological materials, transition metal dichalcogenides, and two-dimensional ferromagnets

• Spin dynamics, including ST-FMR, FMR, spin waves, and magnon torque

• Spin–orbit electronics and spin manipulation in antiferromagnets,

• Spintronic neuromorphic devices and computing, including artificial neural networks and spiking neural networks

Awards and Honors

• 2019: Best Oral Presentation Award, Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference, awarded to one recipient each year

• 2020: Singapore Microelectronics Institute Award, awarded to one recipient each year

• 2021: Beijing Nova Program

• 2022: National High-Level Young Talent Program, Overseas Category

• 2023: Beihang Excellent Master’s Thesis Supervisor

• 2025: Outstanding Mentor, National Excellence Engineer College Mentor Team

Representative Publications

Corresponding Author

Physical Review Applied 25(2), 024066 (2026)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sr8x-26ls

Applied Physics Letters 127, 022407 (2025)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0273330

Physical Review B 111, 094433 (2025)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.111.094433

Advanced Quantum Technologies (2025)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/qute.202500016

Nano Letters 24(23), 6931–6938 (2024). IF: 10.8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c01100

Physical Review B 109(13), 134433 (2024)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.134433

Advanced Functional Materials 34(3), 2470016 (2023). IF: 19.924. Selected as a Frontispiece article.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202308219

Cell Reports Physical Science 4(7), 101468 (2023). IF: 8.9. Selected for the 2023 Best of Physics and Engineering collection.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101468

Materials Today Electronics 6, 100060 (2023)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtelec.2023.100060

First Author or Co-First Author

Nature Nanotechnology 14, 945 (2019). Highlighted in News & Views. IF: 40.523
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0525-8

Nature Materials 20, 800 (2021). ESI Highly Cited Paper. IF: 47.656
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00946-z

Nature Communications 10, 1290 (2020). IF: 17.694
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09208-8

Physical Review B 97(4), 041115 (2018). Rapid Communication.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.97.041115

Advanced Quantum Technologies 4, 2100038 (2021)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/qute.202100038

Advanced Materials 32, e2002799 (2020)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202002799

Physical Review B 111, 094433 (2025)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.111.094433

Co-Author

Physical Review B 109, 094424 (2024). Editors’ Suggestion.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.094424

Nature Electronics 123, 042402 (2023). IF: 33.255
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-01039-2

Science 366, 1125 (2019). IF: 63.832
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav8076

Physical Review Letters 123(1), 016801 (2019)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.016801

Nature Materials 18, 29 (2019)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0236-9

Nature Communications 8, 1364 (2017). ESI Highly Cited Paper.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01583-4

Patents

1. Spin orbit materials for efficient spin current generation, U.S. Patent US10923651B2, granted on February 16, 2021.

2. Spin torque device having a spin current polarized at a canting angle of out-of-plane spin, U.S. Patent US12075708B2, granted on August 27, 2024.

3. All-electrical spin–orbit torque magnetic tunnel junction, memory cell, and fabrication method, China, 202310287413.1.

4. Magnetic random access memory cell, memory, and fabrication method of the memory cell, China, 202310954549.3.

5. Magnetic random access memory cell structure, China, 202410487062.3.

6. Dual-current magnetization switching method and apparatus for spin–orbit torque devices and spin–orbit torque device, China, 202511597956.9.

News & Achievements

January 2026

Our paper on the theory and characterization methodologies of spin–orbit torques, led by Fangye Lin, was published in Physical Review Applied.

https://doi.org/10.1103/sr8x-26ls

June 2025

Yongxin Fu completed his M.S. degree. Best wishes for his future endeavors.

March 2025

Two new papers from our group on spin transport in topological insulators and topological semimetals were published. The online versions are available through the links below.

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.111.094433

https://doi.org/10.1002/qute.202500016

January 2025

Our first Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Xinran Wang, received several honors, including the Beihang Outstanding Graduate Award and a nomination for the Shen Yuan Medal.

June 2024

Our group reported an anomalously strong spin–orbit torque in amorphous Mo with weak spin–orbit coupling and demonstrated SOT-driven switching of perpendicular magnetization with a critical current density comparable to that of heavy metals such as Pt and W. This work was mainly carried out by Xinran Wang and Ao Meng from our group and was published in Nano Letters.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c01100

January 2024

Our first two M.S. graduates, Xinhao Huang and Ao Meng, received several honors, including the Beijing Outstanding Graduate Award, Beihang Outstanding Graduate Award, and Beihang Excellent Master’s Thesis Award.

January 2024

Our paper on field-free magnetization switching was selected as the Front Cover of Advanced Functional Materials and was published online on January 15.

Adv Funct Materials.jpg

March 2024

Our paper on symmetry-breaking-induced field-free switching of perpendicular magnetization in large-area Weyl semimetal WTe₂ was selected for the Cell Reports 2023 Best of Physics and Engineering collection.

best of p n e.jpg

March 2024

Our collaborative work with Prof. A. Manchon at Aix-Marseille University and Prof. H. Yang at the National University of Singapore on the role of spin leakage in charge–spin interconversion was published in Physical Review B 109, 094424 (2024), and was selected as an Editors’ Suggestion.

Open Positions

We recruit several academic master’s students and Ph.D. students each year. We are particularly interested in students with the following qualities:

1. Good physical and mental health, diligence, self-motivation, and a strong sense of responsibility.

2. Excellent academic performance in mathematics and physics, strong hands-on ability, and a CET-6 certificate or equivalent English proficiency.

3. A strong interest in scientific research and a plan to pursue a Ph.D. degree.

4. For Ph.D. applicants, prior experience in micro/nano-device fabrication and electrical measurements is preferred.

5. Coursework related to the group’s research directions, such as fundamentals of magnetism, semiconductor physics, and solid-state physics.

6. Ability to learn and use relevant software and programming languages, such as LabVIEW, MATLAB, Python, MuMax, and OOMMF.

7. Students with backgrounds in microelectronics, applied physics, condensed matter physics, and electronic materials are welcome to join us.

Interested undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers are welcome to contact us by email at smeshis@buaa.edu.cn.

Ph.D. students in the group will receive personal recommendations from Prof. Shi for joint training opportunities at top international universities and leading research groups, as well as support for participation in domestic and international academic exchanges and conferences.