Jacqueline Manina Cole is the Head of the

Molecular Engineering Molecular engineering is an emerging field of study concerned with the design and testing of molecular properties, behavior and interactions in order to assemble better materials, systems, and processes for specific functions. This approach, in whi ...

group in the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Her research considers the design of functional materials for

optoelectronic Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radia ...

applications.

Early life and education

Cole earned her first degree in

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 ...

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

in 1994. She remained there for her graduate studies, completing a PhD in 1997 ( Grey College). Her thesis, Structural studies of organic and organometallic compounds using x-ray and neutron techniques, described the structure-property relationships of non-linear optical materials, including studies of

transition metal complex A coordination complex is a chemical compound consisting of a central atom or ion, which is usually metallic and is called the ''coordination centre'', and a surrounding array of bound molecules or ions, that are in turn known as ''ligands'' or ...

es. She was supervised by Judith Howard. Cole was appointed a

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

associate at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

, where she worked on the structure of

amorphous In condensed matter physics and materials science, an amorphous solid (or non-crystalline solid) is a solid that lacks the long-range order that is a characteristic of a crystal. The terms "glass" and "glassy solid" are sometimes used synonymousl ...

materials. Cole moved to the

as a Junior Research Fellow in

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The colle ...

in 2001. Here she began to investigate photo-crystallography. In her spare time, Cole completed a bachelor's degree in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

. After the bachelor's degree in mathematics, Cole earned diplomas in statistics (2004), physics (2008) and astronomy (2006) as well as a second bachelor's degree in engineering (2014) from the

. Cole earned a second doctorate in physics at the

in 2010.

Career and research

As a

Royal Society University Research Fellow __NOTOC__ The Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) is a research fellowship awarded to outstanding early career scientists in the United Kingdom who are judged by the Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society ...

, Cole developed a new analytical approach to establish the photo-induced structures of

materials. Photo-crystallography permits the 4D structural determination of photo-activated states. Photo-activation can result in structural changes that are irreversible, reversible, long-lived (microsecond lifetimes) and very short-lived (nanosecond lifetimes). Cole uses

single-crystal X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract in specific directions. By measuring the angles and ...

to monitor the minute structural changes that occur during photo-excitation. Photo-crystallography allows the visualisation of switching processes in

single crystal In materials science, a single crystal (or single-crystal solid or monocrystalline solid) is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no Grain boundary, grain bound ...

s. In 2008 she was appointed Vice-Chancellor's Research Chair at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

. Cole is interested in

dye-sensitized solar cell A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC, DSC, DYSC or Grätzel cell) is a low-cost solar cell belonging to the group of thin film solar cells. It is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a '' photoelectr ...

nonlinear optics Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in Nonlinearity, nonlinear media, that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity ...

and

optical data storage Optical storage refers to a class of data storage systems that use light to read or write data to an underlying optical media. Although a number of optical formats have been used over time, the most common examples are optical disks like the ...

. In

s, the dye absorbs sunlight, injecting electrons into

titanium dioxide nanoparticle Titanium dioxide nanoparticles, also called ultrafine titanium dioxide or nanocrystalline titanium dioxide or microcrystalline titanium dioxide, are particles of titanium dioxide () with diameters less than 100 nm. Ultrafine is used in sunscr ...

s and starting an

electric circuit An electrical network is an interconnection of electrical components (e.g., battery (electricity), batteries, resistors, inductors, capacitors, switches, transistors) or a model of such an interconnection, consisting of electrical elements (e. ...

. Cole worked on the design of

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

fluorophores in an effort to improve the performance of the dye. She investigated how

data mining Data mining is the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and ...

and Quantum chemical calculations could be used to predict which dyes might perform best. She uses the

EPSRC The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...

National Service for Computational Chemistry Software. She has looked to use some of the dyes, in particular p-phenylene, as a laser. Whilst inorganic materials dominate the

photonic Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in the form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Eve ...

device industry, the need for high-speed telecommunications has exceed their limitations. Organic electronic materials have a significantly faster response time. Whilst working at the

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Lemont, Illinois, Lemont, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United Sta ...

, Cole used ''in situ'' neutron reflectometry to study the interaction between the

electrolyte An electrolyte is a substance that conducts electricity through the movement of ions, but not through the movement of electrons. This includes most soluble Salt (chemistry), salts, acids, and Base (chemistry), bases, dissolved in a polar solven ...

s and

electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or a gas). In electrochemical cells, electrodes are essential parts that can consist of a varie ...

s in

s. She designed cells that used metal-free organic dyes and achieve a 14.3% efficiency. The cells incorporated an organic sensitiser, MK-44, and an organic dye, MK-2, based on thiophenylcyanoacrylate. Cole optimised the anchoring characteristics of the dye on

s to improve charge-transfer pathways. Her early work considered how molecular structure impacted

second-harmonic generation Second-harmonic generation (SHG), also known as frequency doubling, is the lowest-order wave-wave nonlinear interaction that occurs in various systems, including optical, radio, atmospheric, and magnetohydrodynamic systems. As a prototype behav ...

. Cole studied the origins of the

observed in ''N''-methylurea, where solid-state intermolecular interactions and electron-donation from the

methyl group In organic chemistry, a methyl group is an alkyl derived from methane, containing one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms, having chemical formula (whereas normal methane has the formula ). In formulas, the group is often abbreviated a ...

separate it from the reference material

urea Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest am ...

. She has investigated the molecular design rules of

organometallic Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

active materials. In 2018 Cole was appointed a

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

Senior

Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

. The fellowship is a collaboration between the

Science and Technology Facilities Council The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astr ...

(STFC),

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

and

ISIS neutron source The ISIS Neutron and Muon Source is a pulsed neutron and muon source, established 1984 at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, United ...

to discover functional materials systematically. As of 2019, Cole leads the

group in the

. She works with the

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the At ...

on data science and buried interfaces. She has recently designed new databases of magnetic materials. In 2025, Cole was appointed as the lead for AI in Materials Discovery, Characterisation and Application by the

Henry Royce Institute The Henry Royce Institute (often referred to as ‘Royce’) is the UK’s national institute for advanced materials research and innovation. Vision Royce's vision is to identify challenges and stimulate innovation in advanced materials researc ...

Awards and honours

*2000

British Crystallographic Association The British Crystallographic Association (BCA) is an association for crystallographers, based in the United Kingdom. It is one of the largest crystallographic societies in the world. The Association administers a Dorothy Hodgkin Prize and an Ar ...

Chemical Crystallography Prize *2001

Royal Society University Research Fellowship __NOTOC__ The Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) is a research fellowship awarded to outstanding early career scientists in the United Kingdom who are judged by the Royal Society to have the potential to become leaders in their fie ...

*2009

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 ...

SAC Silver Medal *2020

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Clifford Paterson Medal and Lecture

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Jacqui Academics of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Kent Alumni of the Open University British women chemists British women physicists British crystallographers Academic staff of the University of New Brunswick Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Grey College, Durham