Researcher Spotlights

Meet the researchers and staff behind the Molecule Maker Institute!

September 2023 Featured researchers

Trainee Spotlight:

James Planey is a postdoctoral scholar and the curriculum design lead for Thrust 5.

Faculty Spotlight: Nick Jackson

Nick Jackson is an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry department at UIUC and is working in Thrust 4 on the closed-loop design of organic electronics with Marty Burke, Charles Schroeder, and Ying Diao (and all of their excellent students!). [Learn more here]

August 2023 Featured researchers

Trainee Spotlight: James Planey

James Planey is a postdoctoral scholar and the curriculum design lead for Thrust 5. He joined MMLI this May (2023) after defending his thesis in the College of Education. James is an alum of the Embodied and Immersive Technologies Lab (EmIT) run by Robb Lindgren at the college. His thesis work focused on how students utilized an immersive VR drawing program he designed to explore science explanations of spatially complex content. I’ve also worked on the design of AR a
mixed reality learning experiences across multiple contexts in chemical, physical, and life sciences. [Read More]

Huimin Zhao

Faculty Spotlight: Huimin Zhao

Dr. Huimin Zhao is the Director of the MMLI. 
 
He is the Steven L. Miller Chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and professor of chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, and bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), director of NSF AI Institute for Molecule Synthesis, and Editor in Chief of ACS Synthetic Biology. [Read More]


Previously Featured Researchers: