By Lois Yoksoulian, Physical Sciences Editor, Illinois News Bureau

Chemistry professor Mei Shen is among 126 early-career researchers receiving the 2023 Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

According to the foundation, the awards “honor extraordinary U.S. and Canadian researchers whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.” Awardees receive a two-year $75,000 fellowship to advance their research.

Shen’s research focuses on the interface between nanoscience, electrochemistry and neuroscience – specifically involving the study of neurotransmission of nanoscale biological structures. Research in her lab aims to develop new analytical methods for addressing pressing challenges in neuroanalysis. Shen joined the Illinois chemistry faculty in 2019 and also is affiliated with bioengineering, the neuroscience program, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, and the Cancer Center at Illinois.  

In 2022, Shen was honored with the Chinese American Chemical Society Rising Star Award. Other recent honors include the American Chemical Society Arthur F. Findeis Award for Achievements by a Young Analytical Scientist in 2021, the Scialog Fellow on Microbiome, Neurobiology and Disease from 2020-2023, a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2019 and the Award for Excellence in Guiding Undergraduate Research, Office of the Provost, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2019.

“Sloan Research Fellows are shining examples of innovative and impactful research,” says Adam F. Falk, the president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “We are thrilled to support their groundbreaking work, and we look forward to following their continued success.”

A full list of the 2023 Fellows is available on the Sloan Foundation website.