Published: Aug. 20, 2012
Jennifer Cha

Norviel Associate Professor Jennifer Cha's research focuses on the design, synthesis, and integration of biomolecular materials for nanoscience. Specific research areas within her group include use of DNA nanomaterials for nanoelectronics, synthesis and engineering of smart biomolecular systems for sensing and medicine, and biochemical synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials for energy applications. Her Before her academic career, she was a research staff member at the IBM Almaden Research Center from 2004 to 2008, where she instigated a new program focused on bionanotechnology. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in Cell Biology and her Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara in Materials Chemistry. Cha then held the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Nanoengineering at the University of California, San Diego from July 2008 to July 2012. She is the recipient of a 2006 IBM Innovation Research Award, a 2009 UCSD Hellman Faculty Award, 2009 DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2011 NSF CAREER Award, 2011 DOE Early Career Award and the 2011 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. During her career she has published over 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has given over 55 invited talks at numerous conferences, workshops, and universities. In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys hiking, reading, cooking and spending time with her family.