Rate My Professor Javier Vela

Javier Vela is a University Professor and Associate Chair of Chemistry at Iowa State University of Science and Technology in the Department of Chemistry, with a focus on Inorganic and Materials Chemistry. He also serves as a faculty scientist at Ames National Laboratory since 2010. Vela earned his B.S. with honors from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 2001, an M.S. in 2003, and a Ph.D. in 2005, both from the University of Rochester. He joined Iowa State University in 2009, was granted tenure in 2015, promoted to full professor in 2019, named University Professor in 2020, and held the rotating John D. Corbett Endowed Professorship from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, he served as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar on sabbatical at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, Italy. From 2015 to 2021, he represented the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Iowa State University's ADVANCE program.

Professor Vela's research group synthesizes nanostructured materials for applications in energy conversion, chemical catalysis, and fluorescence imaging. Key projects include multinary semiconductor nanocrystals such as pnictides, chalcogenides, and halides; quantum dot surface modification via epitaxial shell growth and ligands to enhance optical properties; halide perovskites for photoluminescence studies; nanocatalysts to understand nanostructuring effects; and heterobimetallic complexes as precursors for intermetallic materials. Along with collaborators, he is the author or co-author of over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents on these topics. Vela has directed twenty doctoral theses and four master's theses, mentored undergraduate researchers including three NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardees, and contributed to editorial advisory boards for ACS Energy Letters, Chemistry of Materials, ACS Applied Engineering Materials, Chemistry – An Asian Journal, and ChemNanoMat. His leadership in the American Chemical Society includes serving as councilor for the Ames local section, program chair for the Midwest Regional Meeting in 2018, treasurer of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry, and member of the Committee on Committees. Major awards include Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2021), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018), Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program (2023 award for 2024), NSF CAREER Award (2013), College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Cassling Innovator Award (2018), Institutional Service Award (2017), Early Achievement in Research Award (2014), ISU Advancing One Community Faculty Award (2017), ACS Midwest Stanley C. Israel Award (2014), IUPAC Young Observer (2017), and Big XII Faculty Fellow at UT Austin (2017).