Promising young researchers receive NSF CAREER awards

Four Northwestern University assistant professors — James Gaynor, Junsoo Kim, Keara Lane and Jen Munson — have received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the foundation’s most prestigious honor for junior faculty members.

Gaynor, an assistant professor of chemistry at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, will receive $670,000 from the NSF’s Division of Chemistry.

Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering, will receive $678,248 from NSF’s Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation.

Lane, an assistant professor of molecular biosciences at Weinberg College, will receive $1,029,262 from NSF’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences.

Munson, an assistant professor of learning sciences at the School of Education and Social Policy, will receive $815,789 from NSF’s Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings.

The CAREER Awards, dispersed to recipients over a period of five years, support promising young faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholar through the combination of outstanding research and education.

Northwestern's most recent honorees

James Gaynor

James Gaynor studies how complex molecules and materials respond to light, focusing on how they move energy and electrical charge at incredibly fast timescales. By using advanced laser-based techniques to watch these ultrafast processes in real time, Gaynor’s research group aims to uncover the fundamental rules that govern how light interacts with matter. This deeper understanding could help drive future technologies, including more efficient energy-capture systems and quantum devices.

With his CAREER Award, “Directly measuring spin-vibronic dynamics in photochemistry with ultrafast coherent 2D spectroscopy,” Gaynor will use ultrafast laser techniques developed in his lab to study how tiny molecular motions influence electron spin in cobalt-based molecules. By understanding how these motions affect fragile quantum states, his team aims to help design more stable molecular qubits and sensors for quantum technologies.

“I am deeply honored and very excited to receive the NSF CAREER Award,” Gaynor said. “This prestigious award will enable my group and I to systematically investigate how electronic spin properties can be tuned through increasing interaction with ligand molecules. The project is rooted in fundamental molecular photochemistry and ultrafast structural dynamics while also connecting with applications in a burgeoning field of molecular quantum information.”

In partnership with Northwestern’s Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching and Science in Society program, Gaynor will create a virtual reality laser lab to teach students of all ages how lasers work and how to use them safely — all without needing expensive equipment.

Junsoo Kim

Junsoo Kim studies the mechanics of soft materials, such as gels, rubbers and their composites. Through this work, his lab seeks to identify the theoretical limits of soft materials’ mechanical properties and design their molecular structures to approach these limits. This work could be applied to areas ranging from reducing plastic pollution to improving robotics, human-machine interfaces and medical devices.

With his CAREER award, “Multi-scale effects of polymer network topology on mechanical properties,” Kim will investigate why soft materials like those used in tires, medical devices and flexible electronics can crack and wear out. He will focus on how the internal arrangement of polymer chains and larger structural features influence durability. With this understanding, he aims to create new design rules for stronger, longer lasting and more sustainable soft materials that produce less waste and perform more reliably.

“I am deeply grateful to the National Science Foundation for this investment in my research group and me,” Kim said. “This support will enable us to pursue fundamental scholarly work in the mechanics of soft materials, particularly in understanding how polymer network topology governs fracture and fatigue across multiple length scales, which will serve as a foundation toward more reliable and durable soft technologies.”

As a part of his project, Kim will integrate an educational program that trains students in mechanics and polymer science, develops learning modules that connect molecular structure to mechanical properties and engages students in interdisciplinary research.

Keara Lane

Keara Lane studies bacterial infections at the level of individual cells, watching how infections unfold in real time. By combining advanced imaging and single-cell analysis tools, her team aims to understand how bacteria and host cells make choices to shape the course of infection. Ultimately, this work could help identify new ways to better control infection spread or treat disease.

With her CAREER Award, “Survival strategies: Using contextual cues for accurate cell decision-making in changing environments,” Lane will investigate how Salmonella bacteria make time-sensitive survival decisions. After being swallowed by immune cells, bacteria must quickly detect danger and adapt to stay alive. By tracking individual bacterial cells in real time, Lane aims to uncover how these microbes balance speed and accuracy. This knowledge could lead to new ways to disrupt infections and treat disease and reveal general principles about how cells achieve this balance as they adapt to new environments.

“I am very honored to receive the NSF CAREER Award,” Lane said. “This award will allow my research group to watch decision making in individual bacteria in real-time to identify the strategies they use to make accurate decisions even when the signals in their environments are noisy or ambiguous. We will bring the same AI-based image analysis tools we use in the lab into high school classrooms, giving students practical experience with this technology and helping improve AI literacy.”

As part of her project, Lane will partner with Science in Society to develop an interdisciplinary educational component that introduces high school students to cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques through a hands-on curriculum combining biology, computer science and image analysis.

Jen Munson

Jen Munson studies how interactions among mathematics students, teachers and coaches can support learning. Her work explores how discussion, inquiry and play can deepen understanding in elementary classrooms, while also helping teachers adopt these instructional approaches. Through her lab, Munson provides educators with simple visual activities that encourage flexible, creative mathematical thinking.

With her CAREER Award, “Designing an elementary after-school mathematics program to expand conceptions of mathematics for teachers and students,” Munson will create and study an after-school program designed to help elementary students see math as creative, playful and enjoyable. She also will include teachers in the program, so they can learn to notice students’ mathematical thinking as they play games, work puzzles and build.

“We often think of math in very narrow ways that teach kids that math happens only during math time and that some people aren’t good at it,” Munson said. “But all children do mathematical thinking — especially when they play. This project is designed to create an environment where children come to see the rich math thinking they do when they play and come to understand themselves as mathematicians who do math simply because it feels good. This is recreational math.”