Two researchers are among six selected on campus
Illinois News Bureau
July 12, 2019
Prashant Jain (left) and Daniel Llano
Prashant Jain, left, and Daniel Llano (Jain photo by L. Brian Stauffer; Llano photo courtesy of Beckman Institute.)

Two researchers in the College of LAS were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers.

The winners this year are chemistry professor Prashant Jain and molecular and integrative physiology professor Daniel Llano.

Jain investigates artificial photosynthesis through light-matter interactions in nanoscale materials. He has affiliations with the department of physics, the Materials Research Laboratory and the Beckman Institute.

Llano investigates how the human auditory system processes complex sounds such as speech and recovery from brain injury. He is affiliated with the Beckman Institute and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at Illinois.

The young scientists and engineers receive up to a five-year research grant to further their study in support of critical government missions. The federal agencies involved include the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and the National Science Foundation.

Four others on campus were also selected for the award, including mechanical engineering and science professors Gaurav Bahl and Kelly Stephani; materials science and engineering professor Pinshane Huang; and physics professor Julia “Jessie” Shelton.

Bahl’s research focuses on systems that incorporate both optical and mechanical elements – particularly mechanisms where light interacts with photonic devices via radiation pressure, gradient force, electrostrictive pressure, and photothermal effects.

Huang researches the atomic structure and chemical properties of nanomaterials and molecules to design materials and nanoelectronic devices for energy storage, sensing, catalysis, and flexible electronics. Huang is also affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Materials Research Laboratory at Illinois.

Stephani leads the Computational Kinetics Group, which utilizes direct simulation of molecular dynamics for improved modeling of nonequilibrium and noncontinuum flows, fundamental transport processes, and material response within multiscale, multiphysics systems. She is also affliated the department of aerospace engieering.

Shelton studies particle physics with particular interests in dark matter, top quarks, and the Higgs boson.

Read article: Successful summers in the lab
Successful summers in the lab
 It’s not easy for students to stay on campus during the summer to do research, but it can also be a prime opportunity for them to develop their interests. The 2025 Student Research Showcase, hosted in August by the Department of Chemistry,...
Read article: A growing look at the brain
A growing look at the brain
 A group of students with a shared passion for neuroscience are writing about it for the greater good—and they’re getting noticed.Brain Matters is a student-run neuroscience journal created in 2018 by student Thomas...
Read article: Crowdsourcing chemistry: Gift cards serve as incentive in Kaggle competition for data-driven discoveries
Crowdsourcing chemistry: Gift cards serve as incentive in Kaggle competition for data-driven discoveries
 Inspired by their own recent chemical discoveries for solar energy development using machine learning, a research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was curious what other data-driven chemical discoveries could be possible if they could access a broader machine learning...