Contributors to the Pioneering Investigators collection 2025: Part 1

Daniel S. Alessi is a professor and the Getty Oil Company Centennial Chair in Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, having spent 12 years as a professor and the Encana Chair in Water Resources at the University of Alberta. His research focuses on the exploration and extraction of critical minerals, the surface chemistry of environmental materials, and the water cycle of industrial processes and natural catchments. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada.

Magnus R. Buchner studied chemistry at the Technische Universität München where he received his PhD in 2011 under the supervision of Klaus Ruhland. After postdoctoral stays in the groups of Florian Kraus (Munich), Robin Perutz (York) and Sjörd Harder (Erlangen) and a stint in the patent department of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, he started his independent research at the Philipps-Universität Marburg in 2015, funded by the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft and since 2019, within the Emmy Noether program. His research interests lie in the coordination, organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry of hard (pseudo) main group metals, with a focus on beryllium.

Yu Chen is a full professor at Shanghai University. His research focuses on materdicine, nanomedicine and nanobiotechnology, with a specific focus on pancatalytic biomaterials, pancatalytic biology and pancatalytic medicine. Focusing on biomedical applications including drug/gene delivery, molecular imaging, chemoreactive nanomedicine, energetic nanomedicine, theragenerative biomaterials and in situ localized disease therapy. He has published more than 400 scientific papers in the materdicine field with total citations of over 52 000 (H-index: 122).

Zhi-Min Chen is a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Fuzhou University in 2009 and completed his PhD in organic chemistry in 2014 at Lanzhou University under the supervision of Prof. Yong-Qiang Tu. Following three years (2014–2017) of postdoctoral training at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (supervised by Prof. Yong-Qiang Tu) and the University of Utah (2015–2017, supervised by Prof. Matthew S. Sigman), he launched his independent research career at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2017. His current research primarily focuses on chiral organo-chalcogen chemistry and asymmetric catalysis.

Yingwen Cheng earned his Bachelor's degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from Shandong University, and PhD in chemistry from Duke University in 2013. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and started his independent career at Northern Illinois University. He is currently an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His group works on problems associated with the chemistry of materials under an electrochemical potential, and aims to develop advanced materials and devices for next generation energy storage and conversion.

Roman Dobrovetsky completed his PhD in 2011 at the Technion under Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig, followed by postdoctoral research with Prof. Doug Stephan at the University of Toronto. In 2015, he started his independent career at Tel Aviv University, where he is now a full professor. His research centers on the design and reactivity of main-group compounds, with a strong focus on structurally constrained pnictogen ions and radicals for small-molecule activation and metallomimetic catalysis. He also explores the chemistry of boron clusters, especially carboranes, and their application in ligand design to develop novel catalysts and materials.

Jianping Guo is a professor at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research centers around the alkali and alkaline earth metal hydrides, imides, amides, and nitrides for chemical transformations of small molecules such as N₂, H₂, NH₃, C₆H₆ etc.

Jason P. Holland is from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and received a Master's degree in chemistry from the University of York (MChem, 2004) followed by a doctorate from the University of Oxford (D.Phil, 2008). He is currently the Chair of Medicinal Radiochemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Zurich. Research in the group focuses on new methods for radiolabelling bioactive molecules using photochemical and supramolecular reactions where the main theme is to use innovative chemistry to control radiotracer pharmacokinetics. Work is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Research Council (starting and consolidator grants), the European Innovation Council, and the University of Zurich.

Daniel Wooseok Ki is an associate professor in the Chemistry Program at Stockton University. He earned his PhD in chemistry and chemical biology from Rutgers University–New Brunswick in 2008, followed by postdoctoral research at Purdue University and the University of Washington–Seattle. He began his independent academic career at Stockton University in 2016 as an assistant professor. His research focuses on the design and development of luminescent metal complexes for optical applications, including chemosensors and light-emitting phosphors.

Youngkook Kwon is an associate professor of energy and chemical engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). He received his PhD in 2013 from Leiden University under the supervision of Prof. Marc T. M. Koper, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) with Prof. Alexis T. Bell. Prior to joining UNIST in 2019, he worked as a research scientist at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT). His research focuses on the fundamental aspects of electrocatalysis for sustainable energy and chemical conversion.

Wei Li is a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Fudan University. He received his BS degree from Heilongjiang University in 2008, and PhD from Fudan University in 2014. He then worked as a postdoctoral follow at the University of Toronto (Canada) and Institute of Basic Science Center (Korea). He started his independent research in 2016, working on mesoporous materials for energy applications.

Jian Lin is a full professor at the School of Nuclear Science and Technology at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. He earned his PhD in environmental engineering from the University of Notre Dame under the supervision of Prof. Thomas E. Albrecht, followed by postdoctoral research in chemical science and engineering at Argonne National Laboratory with Dr Lynda Soderholm. His research focuses on developing synthetic strategies for crystalline materials, including metal–organic frameworks and metal–oxo clusters, with targeted applications in radionuclide separation, radionuclide sensing, and radiation detection.

Xiaoding Lou received her PhD from Wuhan University in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Zhen Li. Then she worked in Prof. Ben Zhong Tang's group at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Prof. Alan J. Heeger's group at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2013, she joined the Huazhong University of Science and Technology as an assistant professor. Currently, she is a professor at the China University of Geosciences, Wuhan. Her scientific interest is focused on the chemical and biosensor field.

Matthew G. Panthani joined the Iowa State University Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2014, where he is the Herbert L. Stiles Faculty Fellow. He did his undergraduate work at Case Western Reserve University. He earned his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin and trained as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago. His research group focuses on developing new semiconductor materials and devices, and he has received several awards including the National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award.

Kasper S. Pedersen was born in Allerød, Denmark, and received his PhD from the University of Copenhagen in 2014. After postdoctoral stints in Bordeaux and Montreal, he joined the faculty at the Technical University of Denmark in 2017, and was appointed full professor in 2022. His research spans synthetic and structural inorganic chemistry as well as advanced properties characterization. His current focus is directed toward the discovery of novel metal–organic framework materials with hitherto unknown structural and physical properties, and the development of the field of low/zero-valent metal cluster-based MOFs and the application of 3D electron diffraction techniques.

Wendy L. Queen earned her PhD in chemistry from Clemson University (2009), then received a National Research Council Fellowship to study neutron scattering at the NIST Center for Neutron Research, focusing on small molecule interactions in porous materials. In 2012, she became a project scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Molecular Foundry, then joined EPFL as an assistant professor in 2015, advancing to associate professor in 2022. Her research centers on synthesizing and characterizing metal–organic frameworks for gas and liquid separations, aiming to address global challenges including energy reduction, sustainable processes, CO₂ emission cuts, and water purification.

Dragoş-Adrian Roşca obtained his PhD from the University of East Anglia in 2014, working under the supervision of Prof. Manfred Bochmann on gold(III) pincer complexes. Subsequently, he joined the group of Prof. Alois Fürstner at the Max-Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, Germany, as a postdoctoral Humboldt Fellow. In 2018, he started his independent career at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, obtaining his Habilitation in 2023 (Chair Prof. Lutz Gade), supported by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie and the DFG. He is now a junior professor at the University of Rennes, France.

Chandra Sekhar Rout is a distinguished full professor at Jain University. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in London, UK in 2024. He was a DST-Ramanujan Fellow at IIT Bhubaneswar, India (2013–2017) and Brain Pool Fellow, South Korea (2023–2025). Rout earned his PhD at JNCASR, in 2008 under the mentorship of Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Bharat Ratna awardee. He pursued postdoctoral research at the National University of Singapore (2008–2009), Purdue University, USA (2010–2012), and UNIST, South Korea (2012–2013). His research focuses on 2D materials for different device applications.

Toshiki Sugimoto is an associate professor at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), Japan. His research focuses on developing cutting-edge operando and nonlinear optical spectroscopy techniques to uncover exotic structures, chemical functions, and quantum dynamics of interfacial molecular systems. In particular, he has contributed to molecular-level understanding of photocatalysis and energy-related interfacial phenomena. He received his PhD in engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2011, and served as an assistant professor in physical chemistry at Kyoto University (2012–2018), as well as a JST-PREST researcher in Innovative Catalysis (2016–2020) and Innovative Photonic Technology (2019–2023).

Fu Wang is a professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University. He has been selected as the Class A Young Top Talents of Xi'an Jiaotong University and is the recipient of the Shaanxi Provincial Outstanding Youth Fund. Prof. Wang's research focuses on molecular diagnosis and biomedical imaging. In recent years, he has hosted more than 10 national and provincial funds and published about 60 articles including in PNAS, Nature Protocols, ACS Nano, Nano Letters and Nucleic Acids Research. Furthermore, he was the recipient of the first prize in Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province's High Education Institution.

Zhiyu Wang is a professor of chemical engineering at Dalian University of Technology. He completed his PhD from the same university in 2008, and subsequently served as a research fellow at the National University of Singapore in 2008 and Nanyang Technological University in 2009. In 2014, he was awarded a Humboldt Fellowship and joined the Technische Universität Dresden. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). His research focuses on solid-state batteries and seawater electrolysis.

Go Watanabe received his PhD from the Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University in 2011, supervised by Prof. Yuka Tabe. He began his academic career at Kitasato University in 2012 as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, School of Science. He is now a professor in the Department of Data Science, School of Frontier Engineering, at the same institution. His research employs molecular simulations to understand the structure and dynamics of functional soft materials, such as liquid crystals, biomolecules, and supramolecules. He also applies these techniques, along with machine learning, to predict the structure and physical properties of organic crystals.

Stefan Wuttke created the research group “WuttkeGroup for Science”, initially hosted at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Munich (LMU, Germany). Currently, he is an institute professor and director of the Department of Functional Materials and Nanomagnetism at the Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology of the AGH University of Krakow (Poland), and also a visiting professor of functional materials at Lincoln University (UK). His principal focus is the design, synthesis, and functionalization of MOFs and their nanometric counterparts to target diverse applications. At the same time, he aims to establish a basic understanding of the chemical and physical elementary processes involved in the synthesis, functionalization, and application of these hybrid materials.

Ji-Bao Xia is currently a professor in synthetic chemistry at the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. He earned his PhD in 2010 under the supervision of Prof. Shu-Li You at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), Chinese Academy of Sciences. After post-doctoral research with Prof. Chuo Chen at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), he started his independent career in 2015 at LICP. His group works on developing useful synthetic methodologies and synthesizing biologically active small molecules, with a special focus on reductive coupling of π-unsaturated molecules via photoredox metal dual catalysis.

Gang Xu received his PhD in 2008 at FJIRSM, CAS. Then he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at COSDAF in the City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong), University of Regensburg (Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, Germany) and Kyoto University (JSPS Fellowship, Japan) in sequence. In 2013, he joined FJIRSM and undertook independent research as a PI. His research interests focus on the surface/interfacial coordination chemistry of materials and related electrical devices.

Tao XU graduated from the East China University of Science and Technology in 2007. He received his MS and PhD in organic chemistry from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, CAS (SIOC) under the supervision of Prof. Guosheng Liu. After one year's experience in process development in industry, he joined Prof. Xile Hu's group for postdoctoral studies at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland in 2013. In 2017, he started his independent career as a professor at Tongji University, China. His current research focuses on deoxygenative difunctionalization of carbonyls.

Jun Xuan is currently a professor at the College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Anhui University. He received his PhD at Central China Normal University (CCNU) under the supervision of Prof. Wen-Jing Xiao. Then, he worked as a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Armido Studer at Westfälische Wilhems-University (Germany). In 2017, he joined Anhui University to start his independent career. His current research interests focus on the development of catalyst-free photochemical organic transformations (carbene and nitrene transfer reactions) and metal cluster-catalyzed photochemical synthesis under long-wavelength irradiation (red light, near-infrared light, etc.).

Fabiao Yu received his PhD from the Dalian University of Technology and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013. After four years’ work at Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as an associate professor, he joined Hainan Medical University from 2018 as a full professor. His research interests in biomedical engineering, especially focus on bio-functional materials, molecular diagnosis of tropical disease, multi-modal visual surgery navigation, and point-of-care testing (POCT) technology.

Xun Yuan received his BE (2006) and ME (2009) degrees from Shandong University of Technology, China, and PhD (2014) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) under the supervision of Prof. Jianping Xie. After 3 years of postdoctoral work at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), he joined Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUST) as a professor in 2017. His research focuses on the synthesis and applications of metal nanoclusters.

Fa-Guang Zhang is a professor of chemistry at Tianjin University, China. He earned his BS in applied chemistry (2005) and PhD in chemistry (2014) from Tianjin University under the supervision of Prof. Jun-An Ma. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology with Prof. Ilan Marek, he returned to Tianjin University as an associate professor in 2017 and was promoted to full professor in 2023. His research focuses on organofluorine chemistry and enzymatic synthesis.

---