Chemistry professor Ka Un Lao becomes first to earn three prestigious awards from American Chemical Society

By Sian Wilkerson

Ka Un Lao, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry in Virginia Commonwealth University's College of Humanities and Sciences, has been recognized by the American Chemical Society's Division of Computers in Chemistry for the novelty and significance of his research.

Lao is one of four spring 2025 winners of ACS COMP's OpenEye Cadence Molecular Sciences Outstanding Junior Faculty Award in Computational Chemistry, which recognizes exceptional tenure-track junior faculty from institutions around the world.

Lao's research focuses on integrating knowledge from non-chemistry fields - such as differential geometry, set theory and machine learning - with electronic structure theory to accelerate quantum chemistry calculations.

"These integrated approaches enable simulations of complex systems that were previously unattainable and facilitate the acceleration of processes in molecular design and drug discovery," he said.

This is Lao's third award from ACS COMP. Previously he was recognized with the division's Excellent Graduate Student Award in 2015 and its Outstanding Postdoctoral Award in 2018. He is the first individual to earn all three awards and the first from VCU to receive the junior faculty award since it was created in 2006.

"Receiving this recognition is deeply meaningful to me, both personally and professionally, as it reflects years of dedication to advancing theoretical and computational chemistry," Lao said. "It inspires me to continue pushing the boundaries of quantum chemistry and making meaningful contributions to the field. Most importantly, this achievement is a reflection of the unwavering support from my mentors, colleagues and students throughout this journey."

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit founded in 1876. As one of the world's largest scientific organizations, its mission is to advance chemistry and its practitioners for the benefit of society.