He obtained his M.S. and B.S. in Condensed Matter Physics from Jilin University, China. In 2007, he received his PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, where he continued as Post-Doctoral Associate till 2010. He has focused his research on mechanical-electrical energy conversion enabled by nanomaterials and nanotechnology. He has developed new processes to achieve nanowires with controlled orientation and post-growth approaches to align nanostructures. He has created piezoelectric biomaterials with controlled polarization and applied them energy harvesting. He has published over 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals (citation > 6,000). His transformative work won him NSF Career Award and 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, and he was selected as a McKnight Land Grant Professor in 2013.