Jennifer Dionne is a professor of materials science and engineering and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investigator and associate editor of Nano Letters. Dionne earned her bachelor's degrees in physics and systems science and mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, her doctorate in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology in 2009, and her postdoctoral training in chemistry at UC Berkeley. As a pioneer of nanophotonics, she is passionate about developing methods to observe and control chemical and biological processes as they unfold with nanometer scale resolution, emphasizing critical challenges in global health and sustainability. Her research has developed culture-free methods to detect pathogens and their antibiotic susceptibility; amplification-free methods to detect nucleic acids and proteins; and new methods to image light-driven chemical reactions with atomic-scale resolution.  Her work has been recognized with the Alan T. Waterman Award, a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, a Moore Inventor Fellowship, the Materials Research Society Young Investigator Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and was featured on Oprah’s list of “50 Things that will make you say ‘Wow’!” Dionne is passionate about translating scientific inventions to commercial innovations, and is co-founder of Pumpkinseed, a company enabling life-speed reads of biological bits. She also perceives outreach as a critical component of her role and frequently collaborates with visual and performing artists to convey the beauty of science to the broader public. Beyond the lab, Dionne enjoys long-distance cycling, trail running, and reliving her childhood with her two young sons.