Sangyeop Lee

My research has been focused on the fundamental aspects of energy transport at nano-to-microscales using theory and simulation. It includes the following topics: - Hydrodynamic phonon transport in high thermal conductivity materials - Thermal transport in partially disordered solids. - Development of machine learning interatomic potentials for phonon transport in non-crystalline solids - Non-equilibrium hear carrier dynamics in heterostructures and its impact on the interfacial thermal transport My current research focuses on - Quantum simulations of thermal transport - Thermal transport in largely disordered matter I have an opening for a PhD student. Please contact me with your resume or CV for the position.

  • (2019) National Science Foundation CAREER award.
  • (2013) Poster award in Micro/Nano poster forum of ASME IMECE, San Diego, CA.
  • (2009 - 2014) Samsung scholarship ($50,000/year for tuition and stipend).
  • (2003) Graduated with honors (Magna Cum Laude) from KAIST.
  • (1999 - 2005) Korean government scholarship for B.S. and M.S. program (full tuition and boarding).

  • Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009 - 2015
  • M.S. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 2003 - 2005
  • B.S. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1999 - 2003

  • Han, J., & Lee, S. (2025). Nonequilibrium thermal transport across metal-Si interfaces from Boltzmann transport theory. Physical Review B, 112(23), 235310.American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/fndt-fln1.
  • Han, J., & Lee, S. (2024). Thermal resistance across Si–SiGe alloy interface from phonon distribution mismatch. Applied Physics Letters, 124(14), 142201.AIP Publishing. doi: 10.1063/5.0202880.
  • Han, J., & Lee, S. (2024). Nonequilibrium thermal resistance of interfaces between III-V compounds. Physical Review Materials, 8(1), 014604.American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/physrevmaterials.8.014604.
  • Han, S., Lee, D., Lee, S., Lee, G.D., Lee, S., & Jang, H. (2024). Lattice thermal conductivity and phonon transport properties of monolayer fluorographene. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 136(13).AIP Publishing. doi: 10.1063/5.0224083.
  • Li, X., Han, J., & Lee, S. (2023). Thermal resistance from non-equilibrium phonons at Si-Ge interface. MATERIALS TODAY PHYSICS, 34.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.mtphys.2023.101063.
  • Hashemi, A., Guo, R., Esfarjani, K., & Lee, S. (2022). Ab initio phonon transport across grain boundaries in graphene using machine learning based on small dataset. Physical Review Materials, 6(4), 044004.American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/physrevmaterials.6.044004.
  • Lee, S., Chen, R., & Volz, S. (2022). Engineering and understanding of thermal conduction in materials. Journal of Applied Physics, 132(4), 040401.AIP Publishing. doi: 10.1063/5.0106187.
  • Li, X., Lee, H., Ou, E., Lee, S., & Shi, L. (2022). Reexamination of hydrodynamic phonon transport in thin graphite. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 131(7).AIP Publishing. doi: 10.1063/5.0078772.
  • Gong, W., Garg, R., Guo, R., Lee, S., Cohen-Karni, T., & Shen, S. (2021). Thermal Transport in Multidimensional Silicon-Graphene Hybrid Nanostructures. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 13(42), 50206-50212.American Chemical Society (ACS). doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c08093.
  • Guo, R., Jiang, P., Tu, T., Lee, S., Sun, B., Peng, H., & Yang, R. (2021). Electrostatic interaction determines thermal conductivity anisotropy of Bi2O2Se. Cell Reports Physical Science, 2(11), 100624.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100624.
  • Jeong, J., Li, X., Lee, S., Shi, L., & Wang, Y. (2021). Transient Hydrodynamic Lattice Cooling by Picosecond Laser Irradiation of Graphite. Phys Rev Lett, 127(8), 085901.American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.085901.
  • Guo, R., & Lee, S. (2020). Mie scattering of phonons by point defects in IV-VI semiconductors PbTe and GeTe. MATERIALS TODAY PHYSICS, 12.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.mtphys.2020.100177.
  • Hashemi, A., Babaei, H., & Lee, S. (2020). Effects of medium range order on propagon thermal conductivity in amorphous silicon. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 127(4).AIP Publishing. doi: 10.1063/1.5124821.
  • Banaei, H., Guo, R., Hashemi, A., & Lee, S. (2019). Machine-learning-based interatomic potential for phonon transport in perfect crystalline Si and crystalline Si with vacancies. PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS, 3(7).American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.3.074603.
  • Lee, S., & Li, X. (2019). (invited book chapter) Hydrodynamic Phonon Transport: Past, Present, and Prospect. In Nanoscale Energy Transport: Emerging Phenomena, Methods, and Applications, Liao, B. (Ed.). Institute of Physics Publishing, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1903.05731.pdf.
  • Lee, S., Li, X., & Guo, R. (2019). Thermal Resistance by Transition Between Collective and Non-Collective Phonon Flows in Graphitic Materials. NANOSCALE AND MICROSCALE THERMOPHYSICAL ENGINEERING, 23(3), 247-258.Taylor & Francis. doi: 10.1080/15567265.2019.1575497.
  • Li, X., & Lee, S. (2019). Crossover of ballistic, hydrodynamic, and diffusive phonon transport in suspended graphene. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 99(8).American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.99.085202.
  • Ou, E., Li, X., Lee, S., Watanabe, K., Taniguchi, T., & Shi, L. (2019). Four-Probe Measurement of Thermal Transport in Suspended Few-Layer Graphene With Polymer Residue. JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER-TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASME, 141(6).ASME International. doi: 10.1115/1.4043167.
  • Li, X., & Lee, S. (2018). Role of hydrodynamic viscosity on phonon transport in suspended graphene. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 97(9).American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.97.094309.
  • Lindsay, L., Hua, C., Ruan, X.L., & Lee, S. (2018). Survey of ab initio phonon thermal transport. Materials Today Physics, 7, 106-120.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.mtphys.2018.11.008.
  • Lee, S., & Lindsay, L. (2017). Hydrodynamic phonon drift and second sound in a (20,20) single-wall carbon nanotube. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 95(18).American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.95.184304.
  • Katz, H.E., & Poehler, T.O. (2016). Innovative Thermoelectric Materials. In Innovative Thermoelectric Materials: Polymer, Nanostructure and Composite Thermoelectrics, Katz, H., & Poehler, T. (Eds.). IMPERIAL COLLEGE PRESS. doi: 10.1142/p980.
  • Lee, D., Sayed, S.Y., Lee, S., Kuryak, C.A., Zhou, J., Chen, G., & Shao-Horn, Y. (2016). Quantitative analyses of enhanced thermoelectric properties of modulation-doped PEDOT:PSS/undoped Si (001) nanoscale heterostructures. Nanoscale, 8(47), 19754-19760.Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). doi: 10.1039/c6nr06950a.
  • Lee, S., Broido, D., Esfarjani, K., & Chen, G. (2015). Hydrodynamic phonon transport in suspended graphene. Nat Commun, 6(1), 6290.Springer Nature. doi: 10.1038/ncomms7290.
  • Lee, S., Esfarjani, K., Luo, T., Zhou, J., Tian, Z., & Chen, G. (2014). Resonant bonding leads to low lattice thermal conductivity. Nat Commun, 5(1), 3525.Springer Nature. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4525.
  • Lee, S., Esfarjani, K., Mendoza, J., Dresselhaus, M.S., & Chen, G. (2014). Lattice thermal conductivity of Bi, Sb, and Bi-Sb alloy from first principles. Physical Review B, 89(8), 085206.American Physical Society (APS). doi: 10.1103/physrevb.89.085206.
  • Nayeb Sadeghi, S., Lee, S., & Esfarjani, K. THERMACOND, a code to compute lattice thermal conductivity from harmonic and anharmonic force constants. npj Computational Materials, 11(1), 303.Springer Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41524-025-01673-8.
Research Interests
Condensed matter physics Materials engineering Macromolecular and materials chemistry Nanotechnology Atomic, molecular and optical physics
headshot of Sangyeop Lee
Contact Sangyeop Lee
Associate Professor
sylee@pitt.edu
Work: 412-624-8111
Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science