The Materials Research Society (MRS) has selected Zhijie Chen, Northwestern University, and Dasha Nelidova, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, as the 2021 recipients of the MRS Postdoctoral Awards. This award recognizes postdoctoral scholars who are showing exceptional promise and excellence in scientific research, leadership, advocacy, outreach or teaching.
Chen and Nelidova will accept the honors at the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting during the MRS Award Recipients—Lightning Talks and Panel Discussion virtual event on Tuesday, December 7, at 12:00 pm (EST).
Awarded “for his outstanding contributions to the fields of porous materials, nanochemistry, and supramolecular assembly,” Chen will present Precise Synthesis of Porous Crystalline Materials for Clean Energy and Nerve Agents Destruction.
Nelidova is awarded “for creating tunable nanogenetic near-infrared light sensors to restore vision,” and will present Engineering Near-Infrared Vision.
Zhijie Chen was born in Fuzhou, Fujian, China, in 1989. He received his BS degree in 2012 from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) in China under the supervision of Yong Cui, and his PhD degree in 2018 from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under the supervision of Mohamed Eddaoudi. He joined Omar Farha’s group at Northwestern University as a postdoctoral researcher in 2018. His research interest is related to the reticular synthesis of functional porous materials, as well as their structure-property relationships.
Dasha Nelidova completed her undergraduate degrees in medicine and human biology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She completed her PhD degree in neurobiology at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland. Nelidova is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, where she is working to develop new translational technologies for treating retinal diseases that lead to blindness.
Photos of Chen and Nelidova available upon request at mrs.org/contact.
About the Materials Research Society
MRS is an organization of over 13,000 materials researchers from academia, industry and government worldwide, and a recognized leader in promoting the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research and technology to improve the quality of life. MRS members are students and professionals hailing from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering—the full spectrum of materials research. Headquartered in Warrendale, Pennsylvania (USA), MRS membership now spans 90 countries, with approximately 45 percent of members residing outside the United States.
MRS serves and engages members across generations to advance their careers and promote materials research and innovation. The Society produces high-quality meetings and publications, assuring that members of all career stages can present and publish their most important and timely work to an international and interdisciplinary audience. MRS continues to expand its professional development portfolio, as well as promote diversity and inclusion in the scientific workforce, with career services for researchers worldwide. The Society advocates for the importance of scientific research and innovation to policymakers and the community. And the MRS Awards program honors those whose work has already had a major impact in the field, as well as those whose work shows great promise for future leadership.
For more information about the Materials Research Society visit
mrs.org and follow
@Materials_MRS.