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Two UChicago PME researchers receive Sloan Fellowship Award

Sloan Fellowship Award

Two notable academic members of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) were awarded 2026 Sloan Research Fellows, one of the most distinguished early-career scientific awards in the US and Canada. Peter Maurer, Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering, and Chibueze Amanchukwu, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor, were among 126 outstanding researchers chosen by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their “outstanding promise” by hand.

The two-year, $75,000 Sloan Research Fellowship supports creative research by young scholars who will lead science. This funding allows UChicago PME grantees latitude to perform high-risk, high-reward research, unlike other federal awards. Because these fellowships are cheaper, Maurer says his team may “try some of our crazier ideas and see where they go”.

Linking Quantum Physics and Life

Peter Maurer's work is important in biophotonics and quantum engineering. His lab aims to develop quantum sensors that can assess biological processes more precisely than current technology. Maurer's work aims to build sensors to monitor molecular-scale biological activity and study quantum system restrictions in “noisy” biological situations.

Quantum physics' precision should be applied to biological complexity, according to Maurer. He claims that his organization is using quantum phenomena to “become part of biology” rather than just observe it. Since life occurs at the molecule length scale, where signals are excellent for quantum sensors but too small for traditional detection, this strategy works effectively.

Quantum sensors can detect nuclear spin density, unlike fluorescent labels, which only display molecular location. These data are crucial for understanding ion transport through cellular channels and protein conformational changes. Maurer's lab created the first protein-based qubit, one of Physics World's top ten physics accomplishments of 2025. Maurer hopes to utilize the Sloan Fellowship to scale these biological qubits into larger quantum arrays, taking use of biology's intrinsic capacity to arrange matter with atomic accuracy, which is harder to achieve with typical quantum platforms.

Maurer pioneered room-temperature qubit quantum control during his doctoral study in physics at Harvard. He also completed a Stanford postdoctoral program under Nobel laureate Steven Chu.

Revolutionizing Energy Storage and Sustainability

Chibueze Amanchukwu's study focuses on clean energy transition challenges, notably how electrolytes, which allow electrical charge to flow in batteries, affect chemical processes during energy conversion and storage. His lab created a “carbon and salt” battery and made significant progress. This new battery technology is safer, cheaper, and more abundant than current lithium-ion batteries.

Beyond hardware innovation, Amanchukwu's group forecasts electrolyte performance and develops future energy system formulations using machine learning methods. Amanchukwu extends battery electrolyte design knowledge to other pressing environmental issues at the “intersection of different fields.” This includes degrading "forever chemicals," or PFAS, and boosting electrochemical carbon dioxide collection and conversion.

Amanchukwu will study electrode-electrolyte interface under the Sloan Fellowship. He wants to give scientists new insights into charging and discharging chemical processes by developing reliable, high-resolution battery monitoring devices. He believes these sensors will be “transformational,” guiding material development and elucidating complex chemical pathways.

Amanchukwu has a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT and a joint post at Argonne. Stanford and Cambridge postdoctoral fellowships are among his credentials. MIT Technology Review's 2024 “Innovators Under 35” list and Chemical & Engineering News' “Talented 12” list are among his many distinctions.

Past Excellence at UChicago PME

The hiring of Maurer and Amanchukwu continues the Sloan Research Fellow tradition at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. They join Matthew Tirrell, Chong Liu, Hannes Bernien, Margaret Gardel, Liang Jiang, Aashish Clerk, Greg Engel, Aaron Esser-Kahn, Jiwoong Park, and Dmitri Talapin as outstanding graduates. Continued recognition underscores the institution's quantum science, sustainability, and biological engineering excellence.

[govindhtech]

UChicago PME Scientists Create Ultra-Dense Data Storage

UChicago PME

A new computer memory storage method from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) could revolutionise microelectronics. Scientists have developed a way to store massive amounts of data in crystals' small defects, where atoms should be. Since one cubic millimetre of material may hold gigabytes of data, this revolutionary technology may increase storage density.

Traditionally, “on” and “off” items have been associated with information storage. This rule applies to 19th-century punch card looms and current telephones. Modern laptops express binary ones and zeroes with transistors that flip between low and high voltage. A “zero” on a compact disc means no change, but a “one” can go from a little indentation “pit” to a flat “land,” or vice versa. Traditional storage device capacity was limited by physical component size.

The UChicago PME team created memory cells utilising atomic-scale crystal defects to overcome this restriction. Assistant Professor Tian Zhong says, “each memory cell is a single missing atom a single defect.”

As Zhong says, “Now you can pack terabytes of bits within a small cube of material that’s only a millimetre in size,” miniaturisation allows amazing density. The researchers found that the millimetre cube could store at least a billion atom-based classical memories. This incredible density promises to revolutionise data storage and elevate typical computing memory.

UChicago PME's interdisciplinary research ethic is reflected in this invention, which skilfully employs quantum techniques to change classical, non-quantum computing. However, succeeded to integrate solid-state physics applied to radiation dosimetry with a quantum-savvy research team.

This uncommon combination was discovered by Zhong's postdoctoral researcher Leonardo França, the first author of the study. While quantum system researchers are needed, conventional non-volatile memory store capacity must be increased, he said. This relationship between quantum and optical data storage underpins work. They created “a new type of microelectronic device, a quantum-inspired technology,” Zhong said.

This work addresses the critical need to expand the storage capacity of traditional non-volatile memory that protect data during power outages.

França's PhD studies at the University of São Paulo in Brazil inspired this groundbreaking work. Radiation dosimeters, used in particle accelerators and hospitals to track radiation exposure, were his first interest. França studied materials that absorb radiation and store it.

He became interested when he realised that optical means, such as shining a light on the substance, might control and access this stored information. França explained: “Electrons and holes are released from the crystal when it absorbs enough energy.” Additionally, defects catch charges. Optical data recovery is possible by freeing trapped electrons. After realising memory storage's huge potential, França successfully integrated his non-quantum results into Professor Zhong's quantum laboratory to lead to this multidisciplinary breakthrough in classical memory storage.

The scientists developed the new memory storage technology using an oxide crystal and lanthanide ions. They used Praseodymium and a Yttrium oxide crystal to take use of rare earths' strong and varied optical properties, but the method can be applied to many materials. It is well known that rare earths have electronic transitions that allow optical control of laser excitation wavelengths from ultraviolet to near-infrared regimes.

Unlike X-ray or gamma dosimeters, this new storage device is activated by a simpler ultraviolet laser. Lasers induce rare earth ions to release electrons. Flaws in the oxide crystal structure, such as oxygen-free gaps, trap these electrons. “It’s impossible to find crystals in nature or artificial crystals that don’t have defects,” França remarked, emphasising their prevalence. He continued, “So what we are doing is we are taking advantage of these defects,” outlining their inventive approach.

The UChicago PME team found a novel use for classical memory, even though crystal defects are often used in quantum research to create “qubits” in stretched diamond or spinel. Their method allowed them to precisely charge and not charge these defects. By ingeniously identifying a charged gap as a “one” and an uncharged gap as a “zero,” they turned the crystal into a powerful memory storage device on a scale never before seen in traditional computing.

The UN has declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology to commemorate a century of quantum engineering and science. This work proves that “crystal defect memory” can be used for data storage in the future, circumventing size constraints that have plagued storage devices. This invention shows how cutting-edge science benefits everyone.