Dishari first Nebraska Engineering faculty to earn 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award

Shudipto Dishari, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, is the first College of Engineering faculty member to be selected for the prestigious 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award.

The 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award recognizes outstanding young faculty who excel in STEM research, experience, and academic leadership. The recipients are nominated by 3M researchers. The purpose of the award is to help these faculty achieve tenure, remain in their teaching positions, and conduct research.

"Being nominated by the highly reputed scientists from 3M Fuel Cell Division and receiving this award is a great recognition of my work. This is undeniably a great feeling to be counted among the incredible young faculty across the U.S. who are doing highly transformative research to make a difference in the world," said Dishari.

This award provides a discretionary research fund of $15,000 per year for up to three years to support the work of Dishari's research group, which designs novel polymers and develops innovative tools to explore the fascinating nanoscale phenomena within the polymeric systems.

"The 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award Program is a great way to recognize new and innovative research from the nation's brightest new scientists. While the funds are unrestricted, the program encourages interactions between top academic researchers and industrial scientists looking to solve real world problems. 3M views this program as a mean to stay connected to leading-edge scientific advancements and to support the researchers who are doing this important work," said Mike Yandrasits, advanced senior specialist in 3M's Corporate Research Materials Lab.

This funding from 3M will be instrumental in continuing Dishari's paradigm-shifting materials research and paving new ways to improve the performance of fuel cell- and battery-driven vehicles, fight against antibiotic resistance, and tackle pandemics.

"I have taken up some of the toughest scientific challenges the world is facing right now, such as achieving energy sustainability, fighting against antibiotic resistance, and dealing with a pandemic," Dishari said. "The support through 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award (3M-NTFA) will be invaluable to pursue outstanding materials research and keep thinking out-of-the-box to solve real life problems, train the next-generation workforce, and improve the quality of life."