Professor Nicholas E. Jackson has been selected to receive The Kavli Foundation Emerging Leader in Chemistry Award and deliver the Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lecture at the upcoming American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2025 Meeting in San Diego, California.

The Kavli Foundation Emerging Leader in Chemistry aware recognizes the achievements of outstanding young chemical scientists. The presentations feature exceptional scientists younger than 40 years old and not more than 10 years removed from earning their Ph.D.s at the time of their lecture, which represents a significant opportunity for young scientists to showcase their innovative research to chemists, chemical engineers, and students at the ACS National Meeting.

Jackson's research group works on problems at the interface of soft materials, quantum mechanics, and machine learning, with specific interests in the development of coarse-grained electronic structure methods, conjugated materials theory, and sustainable polymer design.

Recent research: Breaking open the AI black box, team finds key chemistry for solar energy and beyond | Department of Chemistry | Illinois

Jackson, assistant professor of chemistry and Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Scholar, is a leader of the AI for Materials Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He obtained his B.A. in Physics from Wesleyan University in 2011, followed by a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern University in 2016, working with Prof. Mark Ratner and Prof. Lin Chen. He was subsequently a Named Fellow and Assistant Scientist in the Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, working with Prof. Juan de Pablo, before joining the faculty at Illinois in 2021.