The Engel Group at The University of Chicago

The Engel Group strives to exploit femtosecond dynamics to steer and to control excited state reactivity. We use a combination of ultrafast spectroscopy, theory, synthesis, and biophysics to approach this problem.


 

Revealing Nature's Designs

Nature has had 2.4 billion years to evolve and engineer excited state dynamics. From photosynthesis to vision to photoenzymes, we examine natural mechanisms to steer excited states. Our goal is to isolate and identify new design principles to control quantum dynamics.

Steering Excited State Dynamics

Electronic excited states carry enough energy to make and break chemical bonds. Photochemistry operates outside the Born-Oppenheimer regime -- thereby escaping our standard chemical intuition. We seek new strategies to steer excited states and to control their reactivity.

 

Seeing the Unseen

You can't engineer what you can't see. We build new spectroscopic tools to probe femtosecond dynamics of electronic excitations. In living cells, protein complexes, and small molecules, we capture how these systems evolve with unprecedented depth and specificity.

Congratulations   6/7/2025

Sarah KressMolly RoeschCoco (Shiyu) Li

Congratulations to Sarah Kress on graduating with her S.B. in Chemistry, Molly Roesch on receiving her S.M. in Chemistry, and Coco (Shiyu) Li receiving her S.M. in physics!

Berggren Center   6/5/2025

Greg Engel

The Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine at the University of Chicago has launched with a gift of $21M from philanthropist Thea Berggren. The Center will merge quantum technology with biology to transform the future of medicine. Greg Engel will serve as one of the inaugural co-Directors.

Fellowship   6/4/2025

Indranil Ghosh

Congratulations to Indranil Ghosh on being awarded the Eugene Olshansky Memorial Fellowship to support his research for the next year.

Travel Award   5/10/2025

Felice Chan

Congratulations to Felice Chan on receiving The Hillhouse Undergraduate Student Travel Award.

Quantum Biology activities within the Engel Group

Quantum Biology

Ultrafast Spectroscopy activities within the Engel Group

Ultrafast Spectroscopy

Quantum Materials activities within the Engel Group

Quantum Materials

Photocatalysis activities within the Engel Group

Photocatalysis

Theory activities within the Engel Group

Theory

Coherent Dynamics activities within the Engel Group

Coherent Dynamics

Light Harvesting Materials activities within the Engel Group

Light Harvesting Materials

Ultrafast Chiral Response activities within the Engel Group

Ultrafast Chiral Response

Live Cell Studies activities within the Engel Group

Live Cell Studies

A.S. Abbas, B.C. Li, R.D. Schaller, V.B. Prakapenka, S. Chariton, D. Bian, G.S. Engel, A.P. Alivisatos, "Efficient Up-Conversion in CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals via Phonon-Driven Exciton-Polaron Formation", Nature Communications 2025 (accepted)

B.C. Li,* K. Lin,* P.-J. Wu, A. Gupta, K. Peng, S. Sohoni, J.C. Ondry, Z. Zhou, C.C. Bellora, Y.J. Ryu, S. Chariton, D.J. Gosztola, V.B. Prakapenka, R.D. Schaller, D.V. Talapin, E. Rabani, G.S. Engel, "Exciton-phonon Coupling and Phonon-assisted Exciton Relaxation Dynamics in In1-xGaxP Quantum Dots", Nature Communications 16, 4424 2025

* These authors contributed equally

B.C. Li, H. Cairney, Y. Jin, J. Park, S. Sohoni, L.T. Lloyd, Y.Liu, J.E. Jureller, Y.J. Ryu, S. Chariton, V.B. Prakapenka, R.D. Schaller, G. Galli, and G.S. Engel, "Connectivity-dependent Exciton-phonon Coupling in Cesium Bismuth Halide Quantum Dots", ACS Nano 19, 10359–10368 2025

University of Chicago
Chemistry Department
Biophysical Sciences
Institute for Molecular Engineering
James Franck Institute
Institute for Biophysical Dynamics
MRSEC
College
quantum
spectroscopy
materials
AFOSR
DARPA
Dreyfus
Searle
Keck
DTRA
Lockheed Martin
UChicago
NSSEFF
NSF
NIH
QNRF
DOE
Sloan