Jain Wins 2013 DuPont Young Professor Award

Date
05/28/13

Recognizing exciting and innovative scientific research, DuPont named 14 young faculty members to its 2013 Class of Young Professors including UIUC Assistant Professor Prashant Jain. Over the next three years, the company will provide this outstanding international group with more than $824,000 to support their work in advancing basic science to meet global challenges.

The DuPont Young Professor program is designed to help promising young and untenured research faculty working in areas of interest to DuPont, begin their research careers. Since 1968, DuPont has provided nearly $50 million in grants to greater than 680 young professors in more than 130 institutions in 14 countries. In addition to providing unrestricted funding to new faculty, this prestigious program enables DuPont to build future research partnerships with emerging, global academic leaders. Research interests within the class of 2013 Young Professors represent key components of DuPont science and include promising research in the fields of: environmental remediation, genomic prediction, optics in nanoscience, pest management, phytochemicals for nutrition and medicine, plant breeding, protein engineering, studies of the human microbiome, sustainable energy and fuel production, and, water treatment and desalinization.

"Research is absolutely fundamental to meeting the needs for food, energy and protection of this growing population," said DuPont Senior Vice President and Chief Science & Technology Officer Douglas Muzyka. "This program is an excellent way for DuPont, as a science company, to create lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships with creative and cutting-edge research leaders who are working to overcome some of the world's toughest challenges through The Global Collaboratory™."

The DuPont Young Professor grant program is significant, not only for the diversity of people, universities and disciplines represented, but also because it has reached out to the academic community for more than four decades, making it one of the most sustained programs for academic support. Professors are nominated by a member of the DuPont technical staff and the nominator serves as the liaison between the company and the faculty member. During the three-year award, each grant recipient is invited to present a seminar on his or her work to the DuPont research community.

Members of the DuPont Young Professor Class of 2013 represent seven nations and 14 universities.

excerpted from Reuters, via PRWeb (full article here)

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