Shengwang Du is the Scifres Family Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and also a Professor of Physics and Astronomy, at Purdue University. Prior to Purdue, he held the Francis S. and Maurine G. Johnson Chair Professorship at the University of Texas at Dallas (2021-2024). Du had been at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2008-2020, where he was promoted from assistant professor to associate professor to full professor. His research focuses on quantum optics and its applications in quantum networking, quantum computing, quantum sensing, optical neural networks for AI and optical microscopy. Du’s work in optical microscopy led to the establishment of Light Innovation Technology USA, a startup for commercializing cutting-edge optical microscopies and bioimaging techniques. He holds several positions within the scientific field, including serving as an Associate Editor for
Optics Express. He is a Fellow of Optica, a Fellow of the American Physical Society and an Alumni Member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences.
[ Trustees ratify faculty, dean positions; approve new degree, resolutions of appreciation and namings, Purdue News February 6 2026]
He is noted for having led a team that performed an experiment[ It's official: Time machines won't work, Los Angeles Times July 25 2011][ HKUST Professors Prove Single Photons Do Not Exceed the Speed of Light]
Du claims in a peer reviewed journal to have observed single photons' precursors, saying that they travel no faster than c in a vacuum. His experiment involved slow light as well as passing light through a vacuum. He generated two single , passing one through rubidium atoms that had been cooled with a laser (thus slowing the light) and passing one through a vacuum. Both times, apparently, the precursors preceded the photons' main bodies, and the precursor traveled at c in a vacuum. According to Du, this implies that there is no possibility of light traveling faster than c (and, thus, violating causality).
