Jun Li (born 1966) is a distinguished professor of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

known for his research in

nanoscience Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

and

nanomaterials Nanomaterials describe, in principle, chemical substances or materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science ...

. He is a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

, the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 201 ...

, and the International Association of Advanced Materials. He has published over 200 journal articles with h-index 59, proceeding papers, and book chapters, and is the co-inventor of over 30 nanotechnology patent applications. He co-edited a book on ''Biosensors based on Nanomaterials and Devices'' in 2014. He is a senior editor of ''

IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology ''IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by IEEE. Sponsored by IEEE Nanotechnology Council, the journal covers physical basis and engineering applications in nanotechnology. Its editor-in-chief is So ...

''. He is also a recipient of the 2005 Nano 50 Innovator Awards by Nanotech Briefs.

Education

Li completed his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in chemistry at

Wuhan University Wuhan University (WHU; 武汉大学) is a key comprehensive public university in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is directly affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The un ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He pursued a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in chemistry at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He completed his Ph.D. in

Physical Chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

from Princeton University, under the guidance of his co-advisors,

Giacinto Scoles Giacinto Scoles (2 April 1935 – 24 September 2024) was an Italian-American chemist and physicist who was best known for his pioneering development of molecular beam methods for the study of weak van der Waals forces between atoms, molecules, ...

and Keng S. Liang. He carried out his postdoctoral research in electrochemistry under the guidance of

Héctor D. Abruña Héctor Daniel Abruña (born 1953) is a Puerto Rican physical chemist whose work focuses on electrochemistry, molecular electronics, fuel cells, batteries, and electrocatalysis. Abruña is director of the ''Energy Materials Center'' and Emile M. ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Career

Li held the position of a senior scientist at

NASA Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

from September 2000 – June 2007. He served as a tenured associate professor at

from July 1, 2007, to June 2012 and a full professor from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2023, at Kansas State University. Since July 1, 2023, Li has held the position of University Distinguished Professor at Kansas State University.

Research

Li's research is primarily centered on

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

, and

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between Electric potential, electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve Electron, electrons moving via an electronic ...

. His research in nanoscience and nanotechnology focuses on exploring uses of micro- and nano-scale devices across diverse areas such as chemical and biochemical analysis, biomedical applications, energy transformation and storage, environmental surveillance, and electronics. A large set of his research is focused on a special type of nanostructured carbon materials, i.e., vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs).

Awards and honors

* Member of the carbon nanotube logic circuit team of NASA Turning Goals Into Reality (TGIR) Award (2005) * NASA Ames Honor Award for excellence in Commercialization and Technology Transfer (2005) * Nano 50 Innovator Awards by Nanotech Briefs for pioneering achievements in advancing the state of the art in nanotechnology (2005) * Professorial Performance Award, Kansas State University (2018) * The Segebrecht Award by Kansas State University (2018) * Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (Since 2019) * Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (Since 2021) * Fellow of International Association of Advanced Materials (Since 2022) * Elected as University Distinguished Professor, Kansas State University (2023)

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Jun Li - Google Scholar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Jun 1966 births Living people Chinese materials scientists Wuhan University alumni Princeton University alumni University of Kansas faculty American materials scientists Chinese emigrants to the United States American nanotechnologists Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors Cornell University alumni