Vatsal Jhalani received his PhD from California Institute of Technology working with advisor Marco Bernardi, where his research focused on the application and development of ab initio computational methods to study light emission, carrier transport, and ultrafast dynamics in solid-state lighting materials. He is currently a Data Scientist in the Science Data Modeling and Computing group.

• BSc Engineering Physics, University of California Berkeley, 2013
• PhD Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, 2019

Numerical modeling and simulation, semiconductor/solid-state physics and materials modeling and theory, ab initio methods and simulation (Density functional theory, many-body perturbation theory/GW-BSE, Boltzmann transport equation, electron-phonon interactions)

• Data Scientist, JPL, Jan 2022 - Present
• Postdoctoral Scholar, JPL, Jan 2020 - Jan 2022
• Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology, May 2019 - Jan 2020
• Research Assistant, California Institute of Technology, Sep 2014 - May 2019

1. Jhalani, Vatsal A., et al. “Piezoelectric Electron-Phonon Interaction from Ab Initio Dynamical Quadrupoles: Impact on Charge Transport in Wurtzite GaN” Physical Review Letters 125 (2020)
2. Jinsoo Park, et al. “Long-range quadrupole electron-phonon interaction from first principles” Physical Review B 102 (2020)
3. Chen, Hsiao-Yi, et al. "Ab initio calculations of exciton radiative lifetimes in bulk crystals, nanostructures, and molecules." Physical Review B 100 (2019)
4. Jhalani, Vatsal A., et al. "Precise radiative lifetimes in bulk crystals from first principles: the case of wurtzite gallium nitride." Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 32 (2019)
5. Jhalani, Vatsal A., et al. "Ultrafast Hot Carrier Dynamics in GaN and its Impact on the Efficiency Droop." Nano Letters 17 (2017)