Jianjun Cheng elected to National Academy of Inventors
Professor Cheng is the Hans Thurnauer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of the Illinois-JITRI Institute.
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) recognizes prolific academic innovators from across the world who have shown great dedication, creativity, and perseverance in the advancement of academic technology and innovation.
The NAI Fellows Program was established to highlight academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.
Jianjun Cheng is the Hans Thurnauer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He obtained a B.S. degree in Chemistry at Nankai University, China, in 1993, and a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2001. After completing his postdoctoral reserach at MIT with Professor Robert Langer in 2005, he joined the faculty at UIUC as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and Full Professor in 2015 (Distinguished Promotion). Cheng is the co-inventor of 40 issued patents, and co-authored over 200 publications. Cheng’s research has made translational impact. Two nanomedicine systems he developed/co-developed have made to clinical trials. He received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2008 and a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2010. Cheng is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Biomaterials Science, Royal Society of Chemistry. He is the Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, American Chemical Society-Division of Polymer Chemistry, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In addition to Professor Cheng, the NAI selected Xiuling Li, who is an affiliate of MatSE and professor of electrical and computer engineering.