Diwakar Shukla is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also an affiliate faculty in the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative biology, Department of Plant Biology, Bioengineering and Chemistry. His research work is focused on understanding the complex molecular processes in chemical and biomolecular systems using computational and experimental techniques. He started his research career at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India, where he received B. Tech and M. Tech. degrees in chemical engineering. He then joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering. Before joining Illinois, he was postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Vijay S. Pande, Department of Chemistry at Stanford University.
Diwakar has received early-career faculty awards from the American Chemical Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. At Illinois, Shukla has been recognized for his research and teaching: he has been awarded the Dean’s Award for excellence in research (2020, 2024); Stanley H. Pierce Award for excellence in mentoring (2024); Engineering Council Outstanding Advising Award (2016, 2024) and the Teaching Excellence Award from the School of Chemical Sciences (2019).
Educational Background.
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
Honors.
2026, Pivot Research Award, Simons Foundation
2024, James 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
2024, List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Sp’16, Fa’16, Sp’17, Fa’17, Fa ’19,….,Fa’24)
2022, Pivot Fellowship, Simons Foundation
2022, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Physical Chemistry, ACS
2022, Frontiers of Engineering, US National Academy of Engineering
2021, Maximizing Investigator Research Award (MIRA), NIGMS, NIH
2021, Influential Early Career Researcher in Bioengineering, I&ECR, ACS
2021, J. Phys. Chem. & PHYS Division Lectureship Award, ACS
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 Advance 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, ACS
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, AAPS
2010, CoMSEF Graduate Student Award for Outstanding Research Performance, AIChE
2010, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, MIT
2006, Chemical Weekly Best Student Paper Award, IIChE
2006, R. G. Manudhane Award for Best Thesis, IIT Bombay
2006, Institute Silver Medal, IIT Bombay (Top Student in Graduating Class)
List of Academic Positions.
2011 – 2014, SIMBIOS Distinguished Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Chemistry, NIH Center for Biomedical Computation, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Mentor: Vijay S. Pande
2015 – 2021, Blue Waters Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
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
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
2020 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Center for Digital Agriculture
2020 – 2022, Center for Advanced Study Fellow
2021 – present, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2021 – 2023, Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professor Scholar, College of LAS
2021 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Institute for Genomic Biology
2022 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Bioengineering
2024 – present, Affiliate Faculty, Chemistry
2024 – present, J. W. Westwater Professorial Scholar, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2025 – present, Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering