Month: October 2025

Fall 2025 UConn ECE Chemistry Instructor Workshop

Happy October, ECE family!

To kick off a busy month of Professional Development events, our Chemistry instructors met on the Storrs Campus on Thursday, October 9th for an exciting workshop. The keynote address of the day was titled “Introduction to Molecular Quantum Science and Quantum Dots”, and during this session attendees got to hear from Dr. Jing Zhao and Dr. Tomoyasu Mani (you can read more about their research and contributions to the field below)! Instructors were then treated to a tour of some of UConn’s Chemistry lab facilities, for some hands-on experience with our state-of-the-art equipment.

Many thanks to our Faculty Coordinator, Fatma Selampinar, Ph.D., as well as Dr. Zhao and Dr. Mani for their time and efforts in supporting our instructors! We are grateful to all Chemistry instructors who attended as well. See you next year!

 

Dr. Jing Zhao: Dr. Zhao’s research focuses on the optical spectroscopy of semiconductor and metallic nanoparticles, aiming to i) to characterize the optical and structural properties of nanoparticles at the single particle level; ii) to understand the interaction between various materials, e.g. exciton-plasmon interaction between colloidal quantum dots and noble metal nanoparticles; iii) to functionalize the nanoparticles and to control and optimize their properties for biological sensing and imaging, and energy related applications.

Dr. Tomoyasu Mani: Dr. Mani leads a research group focused on exploring photo- and radiation-induced chemical reactions in condensed phases. His work aims to understand how to control electronic excited states, charge and exciton transfer, and spin dynamics in molecules and molecular assemblies. Insights from his research contribute to the development of emerging technologies in quantum information science, biomedical imaging, and green chemistry. His laboratory specializes in the synthesis of molecules with quantum functionalities, as well as time-resolved optical spectroscopy and pulse radiolysis, to investigate ultrafast processes and transient species.

Chemistry (CHEM) courses available through UConn Early College Experience.