MEM·C Faculty New Members of the WA State Academy of Sciences

The Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) has announced 25 new members and three of them are MEMC participating faculty: Prof. Jihui Yang, Prof. Jim Pfaendtner, and Prof. Xiaosong Li. The WSAS announcement can be found here and the UW news article can be found here. In the UW news article, Yang, Pfaendtner, and Li’s specific awards are quoted as follows:

• Xiaosong Li, the Harry and Catherine Jaynne Boand Endowed Professor of Chemistry, co-associate chair of the Department of Chemistry, and associate vice provost for research cyberinfrastructure, “for a body of work that supercharges computational chemistry, including pioneering work in time- dependent electronic structure theory and quantum mechanical techniques,” and “for exemplary collaborative efforts, as well as leadership in developing educational pathways for underrepresented minority students in STEM.” Li is also a faculty member in the UW Clean Energy Institute and the UW Molecular & Engineering Sciences Institute.
• Jim Pfaendtner, the Steven and Connie Roger Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering, professor of chemistry, and chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, “for pioneering contributions that advanced the frontiers of molecular simulation, impacting the prediction of enzyme activity in ionic liquids, peptide interactions with surfaces and molecular design.” Pfaendtner is also a faculty member in the Clean Energy Institute and the Molecular & Engineering Sciences Institute, as well as a senior data fellow with the UW eScience Institute and staff scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
• Jihui Yang, the Kyocera Professor in Materials Science & Engineering and vice dean of the College of Engineering, “for pioneering contribution to the discovery of new thermoelectric and energy storage materials for clean energy, and for exceptional leadership to promote interdisciplinary collaboration among academia, industry, and national laboratories for creating transformational and sustainable impact for Washington.” Yang is also a faculty member in the Clean Energy Institute and the Molecular & Engineering Sciences Institute.