Jingyi Chen Wins Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award

Jingyi Chen, assistant professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 30 scientists to win the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from the Oak Ridge Affiliated Universities. She was one of 118 applicants who competed for the 30 awards. The University of Arkansas will match the $5,000 award.

The funding will support her resarch into establishing robust and controllable chemical approaches for synthesizing multi-functional inorganic nanomaterials that have well-defined sizes, shapes and composition. Her goal is to create structures whose optical and electronic properties can be precisely controlled for biological and photovoltaic applications. Size, shape, composition and surface modifications are the main tuning knobs to optical, catalytic, electronic, and magnetic properties. Ultimately, she wants to use nanomaterials to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as well as to replace some fossil fuels with a renewable energy source.