The Alfred P. Sloan Foundationhas just released the names of this year’s Fellows and our very own Professor Noriega is one of them!

“Congratulations to the Sloan Research Fellows of 2024. The following 126 early-career scholars represent the most promising scientific researchers working today. Their achievements and potential place them among the next generation of scientific leaders in the U.S. and Canada. Winners receive $75,000, which may be spent over a two-year term on any expense supportive of their research.”

Here’s what Professor Noriega’s research group is doing: Our group employs ultrafast laser spectroscopy tools to establish relationships between chemical identity, molecular-scale dynamic processes, and macroscale observables with the purpose of directing materials development. We are particularly interested in molecular systems because a large number of chemical variations can yield a seemingly boundless portfolio of materials with tunable properties. Most functional materials operate in the condensed phase and thus experience the presence of nearby molecules; this local environment has substantial effects on their behavior. Our goal is to tailor the molecular environment in order to tune the properties of functional materials.

Dynamic molecular environments span a large range of complexity, and active projects in our group investigate a variety of chemical systems ranging from bimolecular reactive species in solution, to functionalized electrochemical interfaces, and large protein-RNA complexes. To uncover the role of molecular-scale events that can direct the evolution of and be affected by much slower processes (e.g., local solvation and global supramolecular reorganization), we employ laser spectroscopies across the electromagnetic spectrum that can monitor dynamics spanning from sub-picosecond to minutes.

To read more about the 2024 Sloan Research fellows visit here!

Click here for the press release!

The College of Science featured Noriega’s as well! Check that out here!

The University of Utah also featured Noriega, visit here!