Junjie Niu awarded STEM Forward’s Engineer of the Year

MILWAUKEE_Junjie Niu, associate professor of materials science and engineering at UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science, was named the 2023 STEM Forward Engineer of the Year. The award recognizes outstanding contributors to the engineering profession from the greater Milwaukee area.

STEM Forward is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit organization that inspires youth to pursue STEM careers.

Past winners have helped raise the visibility of the profession in the region while serving as role models. The award recognizes a UWM faculty member for the second year in a row. Wilkistar Otieno, associate professor of industrial engineering, was honored in 2022.

Niu will receive the award Feb. 13 at the organization’s annual Celebration of STEM banquet.

Niu’s research focuses on materials for next-generation batteries, battery and polymer recycling, and the water-energy nexus, which includes self-cleaning and water purification materials. His research areas help prepare students to meet the ever-increasing demand for engineers in the renewable energy and energy storage fields.

He is an active researcher who has more than 90 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and is highly cited by other scientists. He holds two U.S. patents.

Niu has received several millions of dollars of research funding from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, and local industries, such as Johnson Controls, Milwaukee Tool, SSI Technologies, A.O. Smith, Badger Meter and Sloan Valves. Through these projects, he is helping manufacturers in the Milwaukee area improve their capability in the rapidly increasing areas of energy storage and environment.

He devotes significant time to inspiring students and encouraging them to pursue careers in engineering and science. Through UWM’s Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows program, he recruits students to become involved in his lab’s research in paid positions. Also, by providing high school teachers with support and teaching materials, and offering summer experiences for high school students, he is attracting more students, particularly women and under-represented groups, to study at UWM.

Niu has been funded by a number of grant awards, including a Richard & Joanne Grigg Associate Professorship in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, a UWM Office of Research/Foundation Research Award in 2020, and a Technology Licensing Award in 2018 from the UWM Research Foundation. He also won an Ignite Grant for Applied Research Award for 2020-2021, given by the Universities of Wisconsin. He has organized and chaired several international conferences in the STEM fields.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.