Dr. Hong Qin is a theoretical and computational physicist whose work spans fusion energy, plasma physics, accelerator physics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and quantum computing. He served as a Principal Research Physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2007–2026), a Lecturer with the Rank of Professor at Princeton University (2010–2026), and a Professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (2010–2018), combining research with contributions to education and mentorship.
His previous scientific management roles include Leader of Beam-Plasma Collective Effects for the U.S. Heavy Ion Fusion Science Virtual National Laboratory (2010–2014), Executive Dean of the School of Nuclear Science and Technology at the University of Science and Technology of China (2014–2017), and Director of the Theory Center for Magnetic Fusion at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2010–2018).
He coauthored the textbook An Introduction to the Physics of Intense Charged Particle Beams in High Energy Accelerators. In recent years, his work has helped establish two new research areas in plasma physics: structure-preserving algorithms for plasma simulation and topological plasma physics. He has mentored more than thirty Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers.
He earned his Ph.D. (1998) and M.A. (1997) from Princeton University and his M.S. (1993) and B.S. (1990) from Peking University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory from 1998 to 2000.