Jian Peng

Jian Peng is an Associate Professor and Willett Faculty Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with primary appointment in the Department of Computer Science and courtesy appointments in the College of Medicine. He holds affiliate positions at the Institute of Genomic Biology, Cancer Center at Illinois, and National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

His research integrates computational biology and machine learning, focusing on functional genomics, cancer genomics, neurodegenerative diseases, deep learning architectures, and reinforcement learning applications in biological domains. His work bridges algorithmic development with real-world biomedical challenges.

Analysis of recent publications (2020-2021) reveals strong emphasis on machine learning applications in drug design, protein engineering, and computational biology. Key technical themes include generative modeling for molecular structures, reinforcement learning advancements, causal inference frameworks, and novel computer vision approaches. The work demonstrates consistent interdisciplinary innovation across computational and biological domains.

Major Scientific Awards:

• Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Fellow (2020)
• Overton Prize - ISCB (2020)
• Dean's Award for Excellence in Research (2020)
• C.W. Gear Junior Faculty Award (2019)
• NSF CAREER Award (2017-2022)
• Sloan Research Fellowship (2016)

He leads significant research initiatives including co-directing the NSF AI Institute's Molecular Maker Lab and an ASAP collaborative grant for Parkinson's disease research. His students have secured faculty positions at leading institutions including Georgia Tech and University of Washington.