Michael Zhu
Michael Zhu
Michael Zhu is an aspiring Quantitative Finance and Financial Technology Major interested in physics, math, chemistry, and finance from Cleveland, Ohio.
Michael began research his freshman year of high school, investigating various starch-derived biopolymer films to determine the feasibility of utilizing common industry additives to surface-engineer hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. He successfully tuned the surface properties of biopolymers and provided a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics, presenting his findings at the 2023 National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (National JSHS) as a poster presenter. He was also named as a 2024 American Junior Academy of Sciences (AJAS) Delegate, attending the 2024 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Conference, presenting his research to industry and research professionals.
In 2024, Michael joined Professor Xuan Gao at the Gao Group at Case Western Reserve University, where he worked alongside three PhD candidates and undergraduate researchers investigating semiconductor materials and condensed matter physics. There, he built, tested, and redesigned flexible polymer and elastomer substrate-based 2D semiconductor devices and field-effect transistors (FETs), determining device fabrication procedures and performance under ambient testing environments, ultimately contributing to the push to create alternatives to conventional silicon-based transistors. He also studied the utilization of ionic liquids, in particular [DEME][TFSI], during gating procedures to provide an alternative to solid-state gates, conducting one of the first studies to utilize ionic liquid gating (ILG) on FETs synthesized from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Michael presented these findings at the 2025 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), where he earned a Fourth Grand Award in the Physics and Astronomy Category as the only Grand Award recipient from Ohio, and a special award–the 3rd Place Innovator Award from the company Qorvo. He also presented this work at the 2025 Sigma Xi International Forum on Research Excellence as one of 300 abstracts selected nationwide to compete, earning him an Associate Membership Nomination to Sigma Xi, and as a 2026 AJAS delegate at the 2026 Annual AAAS Conference.
Aside from research, Michael is also deeply interested in chemistry, self-studying and competing in the United States National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO), earning a nomination to the National Exam. During high school, he was also involved in several business-related activities, including attending luncheons and seminar events, competing in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), engaging in a summer internship at a locally operated business, and running his own successful print-on-demand business. Additionally, as a cellist for 14 years, Michael was recently the fourth-chair cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO), where he was selected through a rigorous audition process to perform under the auspices of the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Music Center. He was also the principal of the cello section in his school orchestra. In his free time, Michael enjoys folding origami, working out, and learning about Roman history, where he earned two consecutive perfect scores on the National Latin Exam (NLE) in 2023 and 2024, and four gold medals in 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026.
These activities ultimately allowed Michael to be named a Semifinalist in the United States Presidential Scholars Program, as well as a recipient of the National Merit Scholarship. At Columbia, Michael hopes to continue exploring his passion for physics and electronics by intersecting his interests with finance and seeing how technology and AI continue to affect financial markets.