Peng Jiang, Ph.D., a professor at the UF Department of Chemical Engineering, has been selected as a 2020 Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentoring Awardee.
“I am honored to be recognized by this award which I believe is one of the highest awards for a Ph.D. advisor,” Dr. Jiang said. “I deeply care about and do my best to help all my students, not only their academic development, but also many other aspects of their lives.”
Dr. Jiang’s research focuses on developing new chemical, physical, engineering, and biological applications related to self-assembled nanostructured materials. His work spans development of stimuli-responsive polymers, bio-inspired anti-reflection coatings, materials for energy conversion, reconfigurable photonic crystals, and chromogenic sensors.
Jiang noted that one of his most important mentoring goals for his Ph.D. students is to train them how to independently conduct innovative research.
“After extensive mentoring in the first two years to ensure the mastering of basic research methodologies by the students, I prefer to give them more research freedom in the following 2-3 years,” Dr. Jiang said.
The Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentoring Award recognizes excellence, innovation and effectiveness in doctoral student advising and mentoring. The awardees were honored at a virtual ceremony on May 14.
