Vatsal Jhalani

Vatsal Jhalani is a Postdoctoral Researcher at NASA/JPL, affiliated with the California Institute of Technology. He holds a PhD in Applied Physics from Caltech and a BSc in Engineering Physics from UC Berkeley (2013). His research focuses on carrier dynamics, light emission mechanisms in III-V semiconductors, and first-principles computational methods for sustainable materials. His work aims to enhance LED efficiency and photovoltaic technologies through microscopic insights into material behavior.

Education:

• PhD in Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology (Year unspecified)
• BSc in Engineering Physics, UC Berkeley (2013)

Research Interests: Vatsal investigates carrier dynamics in semiconductor materials using first-principles calculations. His projects include optimizing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaic systems by understanding electronic and optical properties at the atomic scale. He has contributed to studies at Livermore, Stanford, and Japanese institutions, exploring X-ray free-electron lasers and material engineering for energy applications.

Awards:

• Resnick Graduate Research Fellow (Alumni)

Advising & Grants: Advised by Marco Bernardi during his PhD. No listed grants or current advising roles.

Labs/Teams: Engaged with JPL's materials science and computational physics teams, leveraging interdisciplinary collaboration for NASA applications.