James Cahoon

Dr. James Cahoon is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill. His research is focused on the chemical synthesis of semiconductor nanomaterials with unique physical properties that can enable a range of technologies, from solar cells to solid-state memory. His Ph.D. background is in experimental physical chemistry, and his post-doctoral training focused on nanomaterial synthesis, a topic at the border of physical chemistry, inorganic materials, and engineering. At UNC, he has combined these backgrounds to develop a research program that emphasizes nanomaterials synthesis coupled with detailed physical characterization and computational modeling. By combining these three key areas - synthesis, measurement, and modeling - his research group has a general strategy to develop new materials with specific properties and function under the overarching theme "morphology encodes function." Professor Cahoon has received several accolades including an IC Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (2009-2011); Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2002); National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2004); ACS Physical Chemistry Division Post-doctoral Research Award (2010); Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering (2014); Sloan Research Fellowship (2015); Cottrell Scholar Award (2015); and NSF CAREER Award (2016). He received his B.S. in Chemistry from William & Mary in 2003 and Ph.D in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. He also trained as a postdoc under the leadership of Prof. Charles Lieber at Harvard University before joining the faculty at UNC in 2011.