David J. Flannigan
Professor, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Co-Principal Investigator, Minnesota Institute for Ultrafast Science (MIUS)

David J. Flannigan is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota.  He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, respectively.  At Illinois, he studied single-bubble sonoluminescence with Prof. Ken Suslick, for which he received the T. S. Piper Outstanding Thesis Award.  Following this, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Caltech with Prof. Ahmed H. Zewail, the 1999 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, where he worked on the development and application of femtosecond and nanosecond laser-based ultrafast transmission electron microscopy.  He joined the faculty at Minnesota in 2012 and has held the Mayon Plastics Professorship and a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship.  He has also received the George W. Taylor Career Development Award from the College of Science and Engineering and a McKnight Presidential Fellowship from the University of Minnesota.  He is the faculty PI of the University of Minnesota 4D Ultrafast Electron Microscopy Lab.  He is a co-founding member of the Minnesota Institute for Ultrafast Science (MIUS), which currently consists of five faculty PIs and approximately 50 undergrad, graduate, postdoc, and staff researchers spanning three departments.  He served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Materials Science and Engineering from 2018 to 2022.  He has published nearly 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, over 30 conference proceedings papers, and 7 popularizations.  He has given nearly 100 invited talks at universities, meetings, conferences, workshops, and industry settings.  His group has also developed automation software that has been licensed by companies and academic labs.  His group’s work has been recognized with a Beckman Young Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER Award, a DOE Early Career Award, and a Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award.

Education and Appointments
B.S., Chemistry (Distinction), Math Minor, University of Minnesota, 2001
Ph.D., Chemistry (T.S. Piper Thesis Award), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006 (Suslick)
Postdoc/Senior Postdoc, California Institute of Technology, 2007-2012 (Zewail)

Professor, 2023-present
L.E. Scriven Professor, 2019-2023
Associate Professor, 2018-2023
Assistant Professor, 2012-2018
McKnight Presidential Fellow, 2018-2021
Director of Undergraduate Studies for Materials Science and Engineering, 2018-2022
McKnight Land-Grant Assistant Professor, 2014-2016
Graduate Faculty in Chemical Physics, 2013-present
Ray D. and Mary T. Johnson/Mayon Plastics Assistant Professor, 2012-2015

Honors and Awards
Fellow, Sigma Xi, 2023
L.E. Scriven Chair, 2019
Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award, 2018
McKnight Presidential Fellowship, 2018
George W. Taylor Career Development Award, 2018
DOE Early Career Award, 2017
NSF CAREER Award, 2017
Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2015
3M Nontenured Faculty Award, 2013
McKnight Land-Grant Assistant Professorship, 2013
Ray D. and Mary T. Johnson/Mayon Plastics Assistant Professorship, 2012