Diwakar Shukla is the J. W. Westwater Professorial Scholar and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with affiliate appointments in Chemistry, Plant Biology, Bioengineering and the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology. He received his B.Tech. and M.Tech. in chemical engineering from IIT Bombay and his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from MIT, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. His group combines artificial intelligence, molecular dynamics simulations and high-throughput experiments to understand how proteins move and function, and to engineer them for medicine, agriculture and biotechnology. Tools developed in his group, such as ESMDynamic, EZSpecificity and AdaptivePy, are freely available to the research community.
His recent recognition includes the 2026 AIChE Impact Award in Computational Molecular Science and Engineering and a 2026 Simons Foundation Pivot Research Award, along with early-career awards from the American Chemical Society, AIChE, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. At Illinois, he has received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (2020, 2024), the Stanley H. Pierce Award for Excellence in Mentoring (2024), the Engineering Council Outstanding Advising Award (2015, 2024) and the Teaching Excellence Award from the School of Chemical Sciences (2019).
Education
2006, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; B.Tech., Chemical Engineering
2009, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; M.S., Chemical Engineering
2011, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ph.D., Chemical Engineering
2014, Stanford University; Postdoc, Chemistry
Honors
2026, Impact Award in Computational Molecular Science and Engineering, AIChE
2026, Pivot Research Award, Simons Foundation
2025, J. W. Westwater Professorial Scholar, ChBE, University of Illinois
2024, Stanley H. Pierce Award for Excellence in Mentoring, College of Engineering, University of Illinois
2024, Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, College of Engineering, University of Illinois
2024, Engineering Council Outstanding Advising Award, University of Illinois
2016–2024, List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (multiple semesters), University of Illinois
2022, Pivot Fellowship, Simons Foundation
2022, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Physical Chemistry, American Chemical Society
2022, Frontiers of Engineering, US National Academy of Engineering
2021, Maximizing Investigator Research Award (MIRA), NIGMS, National Institutes of Health
2021, Influential Early Career Researcher in Bioengineering, I&ECR, American Chemical Society
2021, J. Phys. Chem. & PHYS Division Lectureship Award, American Chemical Society
2021, Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Scholar, University of Illinois
2020, Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, College of Engineering, University of Illinois
2020, CAS Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois
2020, Emerging Investigator, Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, Royal Society of Chemistry
2019, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry, Sloan Foundation
2019, Faculty Fellow, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
2019, SCS Excellence in Teaching Award, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois
2018, NSF Early Career Award, National Science Foundation
2018, OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty in Computational Chemistry, American Chemical Society
2018, CoMSEF Young Investigator Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers
2017, New Innovator Award in Food and Agriculture Research, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research
2015, Engineering Council Outstanding Advising Award, University of Illinois
2015, Collins Scholar, AE3, University of Illinois
2015, Blue Waters Professorship, University of Illinois
2014, Biomedical Data Science Initiative Postdoc Scholar, Stanford University
2011, SIMBIOS Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University
2011, W. H. Peterson Award, American Chemical Society
2011, Innovation in Biotechnology Award, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists
2010, CoMSEF Graduate Student Award for Outstanding Research Performance, American Institute of Chemical Engineers
2010, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2006, Chemical Weekly Best Student Paper Award, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers
2006, R. G. Manudhane Award for Best Thesis, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
2006, Institute Silver Medal, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (Top Student in Graduating Class)
Academic positions
2025 – present, Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2024 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Chemistry
2024 – present, J. W. Westwater Professorial Scholar, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2022 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Bioengineering
2021 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Institute for Genomic Biology
2021 – 2025, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2021 – 2023, Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professor Scholar, College of LAS
2020 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Center for Digital Agriculture
2020 – 2022, Center for Advanced Study Fellow
2019 – present, Affiliate Faculty, NIH Center on Macromolecular Modeling & Bioinformatics
2019 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
2019 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Cancer Center at Illinois
2015 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology
2015 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Plant Biology
2015 – present, Affiliate Faculty, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
2015 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Computational Science and Engineering
2015 – 2021, Blue Waters Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2011 – 2014, SIMBIOS Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, NIH Center for Biomedical Computation, Stanford University