The 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award recognizes outstanding new faculty who excel in research, experience, & academic leadership. Prof. Ou Chen was recognized for his work on developing novel functional materials using nanocrystals. 

This highly competitive award has been given to help young faculty achieve tenure while teaching and conducting research. This award provides a discretionary research fund for three years. The company's Research and Development Community, in partnership with 3M's Corporate Giving Program, administer the award. Recipients are nominated by 3M researchers.