ORAU Powe Award recognizes Xiaoxue Wang’s AI research prowess
Xiaoxue Wang, an assistant professor in the William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has earned the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) in recognition of her research accomplishments and career potential.
Wang is one of just 35 recipients nationwide to earn the prestigious award, which provides seed funding to enhance the research and professional growth of junior faculty at ORAU member institutions. Each winner receives a one-year, $5,000 research grant from ORAU, which is matched by the faculty member’s institution. Winners are competitively selected from among 156 applications at 89 member institutions.
Focused on enhancing the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence hardware, Wang’s research supported by this award will explore polymer-based artificial synapses used in neuromorphic computing, which emulates the human brain. This new computing architecture is predicted to break the energy efficiency bottleneck associated with the widely-used von Neumann architecture.
Prior to joining Ohio State as a tenure-track assistant professor in September 2019, Wang was a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she also earned her PhD. Her research accolades include the Materials Research Society (MRS) graduate student award and MIT’s Robert T. Haslam Fellowship. She has filed 2 patents, and published 1 book chapter and 21 articles in peer reviewed journals including Science Advances, Advanced Materials and Nature.
Earlier this month, an interdisciplinary team led by Wang received funding through the President’s Research Excellence (PRE) program. An “Accelerator Grant” will support development of an artificial intelligence platform to advance sustainable drug manufacturing methods.
Last year, Engineering Assistant Professors Darren Drewry and Stephanie Stockar earned the Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. Assistant Professor Vicky Doan-Nguyen received the same award in 2018.
