Two University of Chicago researchers were named 2024 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their distinguished contributions to the sciences.
Di-Jia Liu and Tobin Sosnick were among the 471 fellows elected as AAAS members for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications.
Tobin Sosnick is the William B. Graham Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UChicago.
Sosnick has made significant contributions in the fields of protein and RNA folding and function, both experimental and computational. His recent interests include mechano-sensitive membrane proteins, stress-induced bio-condensates, and optogenetics.
He has been the department chair for 13 years and is the William B. Graham Professor, a member of the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and a fellow of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. He co-founded the Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, a dual-mentored graduate training program that has promoted numerous collaborations across the University of Chicago.
Di-Jia Liu is a senior chemist at Argonne National Laboratory and holds a joint appointment as a Senior Scientist at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering of the University of Chicago.
Liu’s research is centered on developing new electrocatalysts, which are materials that speed up chemical reactions that involve electricity. The goal is to make these reactions more energy-efficient and less expensive. One of his key innovations is using metal-organic frameworks—structures made by combining organic molecules with metals—to make electrocatalysts that are both highly efficient and long-lasting. This could potentially replace costly metals like platinum and iridium. Many research groups around the world are now using this approach for various applications, including fuel cells, water splitting, CO2 conversion and metal-air batteries.
An author of numerous publications and holder of 33 U.S. patents — four of which received R&D 100 awards — Liu has also played a key role in numerous U.S. Department of Energy programs and industry partnerships.
