Armstrong/Siadat Endowed Professorship Fuels Research Excellence for CBE’s Nianqiang Wu

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Professor Nianqiang “Nick” Wu, who has spent the past five years as the inaugural Armstrong/Siadat Endowed Professor in Materials Science within the UMass Amherst Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) Department, is the ultimate example of all the amazing benefits that an endowed professorship can produce. During the duration of Wu’s professorship, the endowed title helped him acquire many millions in research funding, publish numerous peer-reviewed journal papers, and achieve various prestigious honors, including being elected as a Fellow of several prominent professional societies.

The Armstrong/Siadat Endowed Professorship was established through gifts from John and Elizabeth Armstrong and Barry and Afsaneh Siadat, and its mission is “to establish and support research programs in the field of materials science and engineering.” Its benefits are numerous, substantial, and long-lasting. 

As Wu explains, “I am deeply grateful for the generous support from the Armstrong/Siadat Endowed Professorship. It is an incredible honor and privilege to hold this prestigious title. This endowment has been transformative for our research group, enabling us to boldly explore new frontiers in point-of-care testing devices and solid-state lithium batteries. Moreover, it has played a vital role in nurturing the professional growth and development of our talented postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. I am truly thankful for this opportunity to advance impactful research and inspire the next generation of scientists.”

Wu’s pioneering research focuses on gaining fundamental insights into charge-transfer and energy-transfer processes in electrochemical and photoelectric materials and devices. As Wu says, “This foundation provides a unique advantage to develop high-performance materials and devices through a ‘device-by-design’ strategy.” 

His research work spans three interconnected domains: photocatalysts and photoelectrochemical cells; electrochemical-energy storage; and biosensing and photodynamic therapy.

The fellowship has proven to be a powerful force for facilitating Wu’s exploration of new research directions, for bringing him worldwide recognition, for harvesting extensive research funding, and for attracting and training high-quality students and postdocs.

As one example of Wu’s accomplishments during the five-year duration of the fellowship, he obtained seven federal grants, totaling $21.3 million, awarded to him as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI. Some $7.9 million of that amount was allocated directly to the Wu Research Group. In addition, during this time, Wu has also published one patent and filed two intellectual-property disclosures.

During his Armstrong/Siadat Professorship, Wu published 35 journal papers, with four manuscripts currently under review. Wu’s publishing accomplishments in that timeframe also include invited review articles on point-of-care testing, bio-imaging, and plasmonic nanoparticles in the prestigious journal Chemical Society Reviews. In addition, he had an invited perspective article on “Plasmonic hot electrons for sensing, photodetection, and solar-energy applications” published in the influential Journal of Chemical Physics and an invited review article on “Ionic conductivity and ion-transport mechanisms of solid-state lithium-ion battery electrolytes” published in another respected journal, Energy Science & Engineering.

Additional well-known journals that have published Wu’s work in that time period include Analytical Chemistry, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, ACS Nano, Chemical Science, Chemical Engineering Journal, and Nature Reviews Clean Technology, among others.

During the past five years, Wu’s published papers garnered annual citations of nearly 3,000, an abundant total which enabled him to be named a coveted “Highly Cited Researcher” by Clarivate Analytics.

Beyond the Armstrong/Siadat Endowed Professorship, Wu was elected as a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society (ECS), a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He also received the notable ECS Sensor Outstanding Achievement Award, as well as the Riccio College of Engineering Outstanding Senior Faculty Award. 

Wu’s considerable accomplishments while carrying the banner of the Armstrong/Siadat Endowed Professorship are proof positive of the power of named professorships. They are among the most potent ways that donors can shape the future of engineering education and research. These gifts help attract and retain exceptional faculty members whose work drives discovery, sparks innovation, and addresses the world’s most pressing challenges. 

By providing resources for academic-year compensation, start-up funding, and research initiatives, professorships enable faculty to pursue bold ideas that serve the common good. Creating a named professorship requires establishing an endowment with a minimum of $1.5 million or a current-use commitment of $300,000. (January 2026)