Zain Zaidi is a doctoral student in theoretical and computational chemistry at Princeton University, where he seeks to uncover the mechanisms governing energy transfer within and between molecules, materials and solutions.
Under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Subotnik, Zaidi’s work aims to enable next-generation materials and technologies for sustainable energy applications. His research has been published in leading scientific journals.
Zaidi received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Stony Brook University in three years. Under the mentorship of Dr. Benjamin Levine and Dr. Arshad Mehmood, he applied and advanced computational methods to study the dynamics of electronically excited molecules. His work led to the development of novel, efficient approaches for predicting the fluorescence efficiency of dyes in solution, addressing a challenge long considered computationally intractable. As a freshman, his research was recognized with the ACS COMP Undergraduate Poster Award at ACS Fall 2023. He is a recipient of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence and the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Along with his research, Zaidi served on the executive board of the Society of Physics Students, where he co-developed a low-cost Mach-Zehnder interferometer kit and curriculum to expand hands-on optics and quantum mechanics education in high school classrooms.
Born in Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia, and raised in Coppell, Texas, Zaidi enjoys playing trumpet, video games, rock climbing and Dungeons & Dragons with his friends.
