Prashant K. Jain
Alumni Scholar and Professor of Chemistry
Professor of the Materials Research Lab
Professor of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Affiliate Faculty Member of Physics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chemical & Life Sciences A224
217-333-3417, Fax: (217)244-3186
jain (at) illinois (dot) edu
(Click PDF) Curriculum Vitae
RECENT AWARDS/HONORS
Elected Fellow of the AAAS
Alumni Scholar
Science News Ten Scientists to Watch (SN10)
Blavatnik National Awards Finalist & Medalist
Campus Distinguished Promotion Award
PECASE
Beilby Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry & IOM3
Defense Science Study Group Member
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate Analytics
Editorial Advisory Board, J. Phys. Chem.
Chemistry Discovery Fund Award
Richard & Margaret Romano Professorial Scholar
Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lectureship
Campus Distinguished Promotion Award
AVS Prairie Chapter Early Career Award
NSF CAREER Award
Beckman Young Investigator
Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
Most Cited Researchers in ChemE, Elsevier Scopus
I. C. Gunsalus Scholar
JPC C Lectureship Award
Dupont Young Professor Award
TR35, 35 Innovators under 35
ACS Unilever Award
Center of Advanced Studies Beckman Fellow
3M Nontenured Faculty Award
ACS/PRF Doctoral New Investigator
IACAT Faculty Fellow, NCSA
US NAE Frontiers of Engineering
Golden Jubilee Visiting Fellowship, ICT
NAE E2I Innovator
Google SfX Moonshot thinker/speaker
TEACHING
2015 SCS Faculty Teaching Award
UIUC List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent
(Sp' 20, Fa'19, Sp' 18, Fa'16, Fa'15, Sp'15, Sp'14, Fa'12)
Outstanding Ratings in Fa'19 and Spr'20.
Chem 444: Physical Chemistry II
Spring 2015, 18, and 20 | Fall 2019, 20
Chem 445/7: Physical Principles Lab I/II
Spring 2013, 14, and 18 | Fall 2013, 14, 15 and 16
Chem 544A: Graduate Statistical Mechanics
Fall 2011 | Fall 2012
Chem 545: Graduate Physical Chemistry Seminar
Spring 2019
BIOGRAPHY: Prashant Jain grew up in Bombay where he completed his undergraduate education in polymer engineering at the Institute of Chemical Technology. Because of his strong interest in physics and chemistry, he switched disciplines when he started graduate school at Georgia Tech. With M. A. El-Sayed at Georgia Tech, Prashant studied the nature of energy and carrier relaxation in photoexcited metal nanoparticles using ultrafast spectroscopy and theoretical electrodynamics. He also developed now well-known scaling rules for nanoscale electromagnetic interactions. Following his PhD, Prashant moved to Harvard as the very first postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Adam Cohen. At Harvard, Prashant learned single-molecule microscopy and helped launch a research program on magneto-optical and chiro-optical phenomena. An offer of a prestigious Miller Research Fellowship took Prashant to UC Berkeley, where he was hosted by A. P. Alivisatos. In the Alivisatos group, Prashant established the topotactic nature of cation exchange reactions in ionic nanocrystals and uncovered the plasmonic origin of optical resonances induced in semiconductor nanocrystals upon doping. Prashant now directs a research laboratory on nanoscale light-matter interactions at UIUC, where he is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, the Materials Research Lab, and the Beckman Institute and an affiliate faculty member in Physics.
His lab is best known for using nanoscale-confined light for artificial photosynthesis and for probing the hidden workings of complex materials and catalysts. His lab has also discovered new solid-state phases and expanded the phenomenon of plasmon resonancesbeyond metal nanostructures. Although he no longer performs experiments, he complements the brilliant experimentalists in his lab with his theoretical modeling. Prashant teaches graduate & undergraduate physical chemistry for which he has received considerable recognition, including the School of Chemical Sciences Faculty Teaching Award and a mention on the Excellent Teachers list for every course he has taught. Prashant is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, a member of the 2020-22 Defense Science Study Group (DSSG), and the lead developer of nanoDDSCAT, an open-source computational toolkit for nano-optics and photonics. Prashant's research has been cited ~24,700 times (Scholar profile) and highlighted in science media (links). His career's scientific milestones are listed below along with citations.
Developed plasmonic photosynthesis & photoredox chemistry
Angew Chem 2020, MRS Bulletin 2020, Nature Comm 2019, Nature Chem 2018, ACS Energy Lett 2019, JPC C 2019, Nature Comm 2018, ACS Nano 2018, JACS 2018, Nano Lett 2018, Nano Lett 2018, ACS Energy Lett, 2018, Nano Lett 2016, ACS Catalysis 2017, Angew Chem 2019, Nano Today 2015.
Co-discovered plasmon resonances in doped quantum dots
Nature Comm. 2017, JPC Lett. 2014, JPC Lett. (Perspective) 2014, Angew. Chem. 2013, JPC Lett. 2013, PRL 2013, Israel J. Chem. 2012, Nature Mater. 2011, TR35, Google SfX
Engineered super-ionicity on the nanoscale
Nature Comm. 2019, Nature Comm 2019, Angew Chem 2019, Chem Mater 2019, Angew Chem 2018, JPC Lett 2018, Nature Comm. 2017.
Reclassified solid-state reactions as co-operative phase transitions
Nature Comm 2013, Nano Lett 2014, Angew. Chem. 2014, Nano Lett 2015, Angew. Chem. 2016, JACS 2016, Chem. Mater 2016, PCCP 2016, JMC A 2017.
Co-developed nanostructured sorbents for sulfur cleanup
Nature Nanotech. 2012, Angew Chem 2015, US Patent 2016, US Patent 2017, IChemE Energy Award Highly Commended Technology, RSC Advances 2018
Employed cation exchange for new nanocrystalline phases
Nature Comm. 2017, Angew Chem 2019, Angew Chem 2018, Chem Mater 2017, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013, Angew. Chem. 2011, JACS 2010, Chem. Mater 2016, Chem Mater 2019.
Developed scaling rules and bonding model of plasmonic fields
JPC Lett 2018, Nano Lett. 2014, JPC C 2015, Nano Lett. 2010, JPC B 2006, ACS Nano 2010, Chem. Phys. Lett. 2010, Nano Lett. 2008, JPC Lett. 2008, Nano Lett. 2007
Formulated new spectroscopic selection rules in near-fields
JPCC 2014, PNAS 2011, Nano Lett. 2008
Developed guidelines for biomedical use of gold nanoparticles
Acc. Chem. Res. 2008, Nano Today 2007, JPCB 2006
