Contributors to the Emerging Investigators collection 2025: Part 2

Guillaume Bélanger-Chabot is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, Université Laval, Québec, Canada. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California in 2015, under the supervision of Karl O. Christe. He was then a postdoctoral associate at Texas A&M University (host: F. Gabbaï) and an Alexander von Humbolt postdoctoral fellow at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany (host: H. Braunschweig). His research interests revolve around unusual combinations of oxidizing and reducing groups in single molecules and the introduction of polynitrogen and nitrogen oxide functional groups in p-block compounds.

Dr Guilong Cai received his PhD degree from Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) in 2017. After carrying out postdoctoral research at Shenzhen University (2017–2019), and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2019–2023), he was appointed as a professor at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2023. His research focuses on emerging photovoltaics, particularly the design of organic and perovskite solar cell materials and device fabrication, with a special emphasis on enhancing device long-term stability through novel materials.

Hongliang Chen is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Zhejiang University. He received his PhD in 2016 from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, under the guidance of Professor Xuefeng Guo. From 2016 to 2018, he worked as a research scientist at Core R&D department in Dow Chemical Company. Then he moved to Northwestern University in the United States and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart’s group from 2018 to 2021. He joined Zhejiang University as an assistant professor in June 2021. His research interest is focused on supramolecular electronics.

Wei Feng received his PhD in chemistry from Donghua University in 2016. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago and the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently a professor in the School of Life Sciences at Shanghai University. His research focuses on the design and fabrication of multifunctional catalytic materials and the application of engineered microbiology for diverse biomedical purposes.

Peiyang Gu received his PhD from Soochow University under the supervision of Prof. Jianmei Lu in 2014. He then joined Prof. Qichun Zhang’s group at Nanyang Technological University as a postdoctoral fellow (July 2014–August 2017). In October 2017, he joined Prof. Thomas P. Russell’s group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow (October 2017–November 2020). In October 2021, he joined Changzhou University as an assistant professor. In September 2022, he was promoted to full professor. His research interests are focused on the synthesis and application exploration of functional materials. He has published >100 papers.

Junnan Hao received his PhD degree in 2020 from the University of Wollongong, Australia. Now he works as an ARC DECRA fellow at the University of Adelaide, Australia. His research interests are focused on energy storage and conversion, including aqueous Zn-ion batteries, high-voltage Li-ion batteries, and flexible energy storage devices. He has published 99 papers with >14 000 citations and has an h-index of 56. His international standing is further reflected by recognition as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, a ScholarGPS Top 0.05% Global Scholar, and one of Stanford/Elsevier’s World’s Top 2% Scientists.

Dr Enyuan Hu is a principal investigator in the Chemistry Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), leading research on lithium metal, lithium-sulfur, solid-state, and sodium-ion batteries. He received his PhD from Stony Brook University and was a postdoc at BNL before becoming a staff chemist. He is the lead PI on multiple DOE projects and co-PI on Battery500 and LENS. Dr Hu is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2022–2024) and recipient of the 2023 IBA Early Career Award. He also holds an adjunct professorship at Stony Brook University.

Wei Huang obtained his BS in physics from Nankai University and his PhD in optical engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). He was a research assistant professor at Northwestern University, under the supervision of Professor Tobin J. Marks and Professor Antonio Facchetti. Currently, he is a professor at the School of Automation Engineering, UESTC. His research interests include flexible/stretchable electronics, neuromorphic electronics, and transistor-based chemical/biological sensors.

Haidong Li received his PhD from Dalian University of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Xiaojun Peng in 2019. Then, he joined the Department of Chemistry and Nanoscience, Ewha Womans University, where he was a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Juyoung Yoon. Now, he is an associate professor in the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, School of Bioengineering at Dalian University of Technology. His research interests are focused on activatable bioprobes and theranostic agents.

Ning Li is a tenured associate professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Beijing Institute of Technology. He received his PhD degree in applied chemistry from the Beijing Institute of Technology in China under the supervision of Prof. Feng Wu in 2015. From 2016 to 2020, he worked as a postdoc fellow in the Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the supervision of Dr Gao Liu, Dr Wei Tong, Dr Wanli Yang and Prof. Bryan D. McCloskey. His research mainly focuses on advanced cathode and anode materials for rechargeable batteries and synchrotron-based advanced characterizations.

Dr Tahereh Nematiaram received her PhD from the University of Grenoble Alpes. She then joined the University of Liverpool as a postdoctoral research associate in the Materials Innovation Factory, where she worked in the group of Professor Alessandro Troisi on computer-aided materials discovery. Currently, she is a Chancellor’s Fellow in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde. Her research lies at the intersection of advanced physical modeling, computational chemistry, and data-driven methodologies, with a focus on accelerating the discovery and design of novel materials. In recognition of her contributions, she was named a finalist for the 2022 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Rising Talent Award.

Kevin Neumann is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He studied chemistry at the University of Stuttgart, completed his PhD with Prof. Mark Bradley at the University of Edinburgh in 2018, and was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Jeffrey Bode at ETH Zürich. His research group at Radboud focuses on precision chemistry at the interface of organic and macromolecular chemistry. Specifically, his group develops synthetic tools to access complex and previously unexplored chemical space in macromolecular and biomolecular architectures, achieving the highest possible molecular precision to drive innovations in medicine and at the biointerface.

Ji Qi is a professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology at Tianjin University. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, under the supervision of Prof. Phillip Christopher. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Eric McFarland at UC Santa Barbara. His research group at Tianjin University focuses on the rational design of heterogeneous catalysts for carbonylation and hydroformylation reactions. By combining advanced characterization techniques with mechanistic studies, his team aims to uncover the structure–performance relationships that govern catalytic activity and selectivity, thereby enabling the development of next-generation catalysts for highly efficient transformations.

Jin Qian is an early-career staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She earned her PhD degree from California Institute of Technology with Prof. William Goddard in 2019 and established her research group at Berkeley Lab in 2021. Her research focuses on computational chemistry and materials science via (1) developing digital twins to bridge theory and experiment, and (2) advancing real-space KS-DFT for large-scale electronic structure simulations. A recipient of the DOE Early Career Award, she integrates HPC to study ultrafast excited-state dynamics and complex gas–liquid–solid interfaces, pushing the boundaries of first-principles simulations for chemistry and materials science.

Dr Zhe Qiang is the SSCT Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi. His research group focuses on the materials and manufacturing science of polymers and their derived functional materials, with an emphasis on sustainable development for the environment and society. Dr Qiang has received many awards and honors, including being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science list (2022), the ACS PMSE Early Career Investigator (2023), SAMPE Young Professional of the Year (2023), NSF CAREER Award recipient (2023), AIChE 35 Under 35 (2023), and the PPS Early Career Award (2025).

Christian Reece is a group leader and Rowland Fellow at the Rowland Institute at Harvard University who specialises in heterogeneous catalytic surface science. After earning their PhD from Cardiff University in 2016, Christian joined Harvard University as a postdoctoral fellow under Prof. Robert J. Madix. Christian was awarded the Rowland Fellowship in 2019 and their group develops new instrumentation and methods for understanding catalytic processes in complex environments. Additionally, Christian is focused on enhancing accessibility in academia by developing low-cost open-source instrumentation.

Dr Sudipta Raha Roy is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. He earned his PhD from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, and subsequently carried out postdoctoral research in the areas of catalysis and synthetic methodology. Dr Raha Roy joined IIT Delhi in 2018 and currently leads the Molecular Editing Lab, where his research is focused on the activation of small molecules through photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. His work combines fundamental mechanistic insights with impactful applications in organic synthesis.

Linsey Seitz joined the faculty of the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at Northwestern University in 2018. She earned her BS (2010) in chemical engineering from Michigan State University, followed by her MS (2013) and PhD (2015) in chemical engineering from Stanford University. Linsey was also previously a Helmholtz Postdoctoral Fellow with the Institute of Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology. In her independent career, she has been the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award (2022), an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2025), and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2025). Linsey’s research uses tools at the interface of electrocatalysis and spectroscopy to investigate dynamic catalyst materials and reaction environments towards the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals, as well as upconversion of waste streams.

Dr Dongxing Tan received his PhD degree from the School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2020. After finishing his postdoctoral research in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Shandong University, he joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Qufu Normal University (China) as a lecturer in 2023. His research interests focus on the functional design of advanced energy materials for catalytic conversion of clean energy, including electrocatalytic/photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, water splitting and biomass conversion.

Dr Ziqi Tian received his BS and PhD in physical chemistry from Nanjing University in 2009 and 2014, respectively. He then spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Riverside. Currently, he is a research scientist at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research mainly focuses on the investigation of novel materials for gas separation and electro-catalysis.

Katherine Villa is a Group Leader at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), where she leads a team developing light-driven micromotors and photocatalytic materials for water purification and energy conversion. She received her PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and pursued postdoctoral research in Spain, the Czech Republic, and Belgium. Her work combines materials chemistry, nanotechnology, and photophysics to create responsive microsystems for environmental remediation. She has received several distinctions, including the 2023 EuChemS Lecture Award, the Young Researcher Award by the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry, and an ERC Starting Grant (2022) for her project “PhotoSwim”.

Jiayu Wang received his BS degree in chemistry from Beijing Institute of Technology in 2014 and a PhD in Advanced Materials and Mechanics from Peking University under the supervision of Prof. Xiaowei Zhan in 2019. After working as a research assistant in Prof. Zhan’s group at Peking University and a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Xinhui Lu’s group at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, he joined College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, as an associate professor in 2022. His research interests are focused on the design and synthesis of organic functional materials and their applications in optoelectronics.

Dr Qiulong Wei is an associate professor at the College of Materials, Xiamen University. He received his PhD from the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, in 2016. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, during 2016–2019. His research focuses on the design and synthesis of functional materials for high-rate sodium-ion storage devices.

Can Yang received his PhD in physical chemistry under the supervision of Professor Xianzhi Fu and Professor Xinchen Wang at Fuzhou University in 2018. He is now a full professor at the College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University. His current research primarily focuses on the selectively catalytic conversion of gaseous molecules (e.g., H₂S, CO₂), as well as on elucidating the underlying surface or interfacial transformation mechanisms involved in these processes.

Jin Yi received his PhD from Fudan University in 2014 and later worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan. He is currently a full professor at Shanghai University, China. His research focuses on electrochemical functional materials and their application in rechargeable batteries.

Qin Yin is now a tenured associate professor at Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology (SUAT). He received a BS degree from Hunan Normal University in 2009 and a PhD from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry in 2014, and then carried out a postdoc study at the Technical University of Berlin until 2017. After that, he was appointed as a research associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology until June 2021, and then he joined SUAT as an associate professor. He is a recipient of the Thieme Chemistry Journals Award (2023). His research interests are focused on asymmetric synthesis and drug discovery.

Peiyuan Yu is an assistant professor of chemistry at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) China, where he uses computational chemistry to study a wide range of phenomena in physical organic chemistry, with a focus on understanding the reaction mechanisms and origins of selectivity in asymmetric catalysis. He studied chemistry and biochemistry at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as an undergraduate from 2008 to 2012, obtained his PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2017, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2017 to 2019.

Qi Zhang is a junior professor at East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) in Shanghai, China. He obtained his BSc degree (2015) and PhD degree (2020) from ECUST under the supervision of Prof. He Tian. He then spent three years in the lab of Prof. Ben L. Feringa as a postdoc researcher funded by a Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship. Since May 2023, he has been a junior professor (tenured) at ECUST. His research focuses on dynamic chemistry, exploring the interface of supramolecular chemistry and dynamic covalent chemistry. The molecules of interest are poly(disulfide)s.

Xin Zhang is a tenure-track assistant professor at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). He received his PhD from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the supervision of Prof. Jiannian Yao and Prof. Chuanlang Zhan in 2015. Next, he worked as a postdoctoral scientist at Peking University and Nankai University before joining UCAS. His research focuses on low-cost optoelectronic materials.

Yunhai Zhu received his PhD degree in materials science from Jilin University at 2019. After that, he worked as a research fellow at Jilin University and Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In September 2022, he joined the State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing at Wuhan Textile University as a full professor. His current interests mainly focus on functional materials for electrochemical energy storage.

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