NC State Faculty Member Receives NSF CAREER Award

Assistant Professor Yang Zhang at NC State University’s Wilson College of Textiles is the recent recipient of one of the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER grants. 

These awards, part of the Early Career Faculty Development Program, are given to tenure-track assistant professors who demonstrate the potential to become leaders in their areas of research and education. 

Zhang anticipates receiving up to $641,448 by the grant’s estimated end date in 2030. 

Addressing big picture questions 

Using this grant, Zhang will make progress toward finding the explanation for a colorful phenomenon. Single molecules of the same dye species show different colors, but these differences can only be observed through a specific grade of microscope.  

“The color variation, spectral heterogeneity, is so large that it goes beyond what any current chemistry theory can explain,” Yang says. “We are trying to quantify this property for different dye libraries and connect how big the heterogeneity is with the structure to establish a theory to explain.”

Next, he will explore mechanisms that have the potential to control those color differences and innovate imaging techniques that can more readily depict this molecular-level variance. 

This fundamental research will open the door to addressing even broader scientific challenges in the fields of health and materials science, among others. 

Inspiring young scientists 

Support from the NSF’s CAREER grant will also improve science education for K-12 and graduate students. Zhang will work with teachers to develop and implement classroom curricula in the areas of color chemistry and machine learning. 

He will also work with organizers at the North Carolina Science Olympiad to create summer camps, a yearly event and a statewide contest related to his area of research. 

“The educational programs yielded from this project will cultivate the next generation of chemists with cross-disciplinary and computational thinking skills,” Zhang says. 

The ultimate goal is to generate more interest in chemistry-related careers.