Stacy Copp

Stacy Copp is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Physics and Astronomy. Her research is conducted at the Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Building, where she leads a multidisciplinary lab focused on nanoscale materials design.

• Department: Materials Science and Engineering
• School: Samueli School of Engineering
• University: University of California, Irvine (UCI)
• Email: stacy.copp@uci.edu

Dr. Copp’s research lies at the intersection of nanotechnology, biomolecular engineering, and computational materials science. She leverages biomolecules such as DNA and peptides, along with synthetic polymers, as programmable building blocks to create novel nanomaterials that control light and charge at the nanoscale. Her primary focus is on photonic nanomaterials, including DNA-stabilized metal nanoclusters that emit in the near-infrared (NIR) for deep-tissue bioimaging, and block copolymer self-assembly for hierarchical nanostructures. A distinctive feature of her research is the integration of machine learning and data mining tools to accelerate the discovery and design of atomically precise materials.

Her research interests include:

• NIR-emitting DNA-stabilized metal nanoclusters
• Energy transfer mechanisms in nanocluster architectures
• Metal-mediated DNA base pairing
• Block copolymer self-assembly
• Machine learning for materials discovery
• Bioelectronics

Stacy Copp has been recognized with several prestigious awards and fellowships, highlighting her contributions to science and her role as a leader among women in STEM.

• Hoffman Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow
• UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship
• L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellowship
• LANL Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship

She has secured research support from major funding bodies including the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the MRSEC program. Her lab is affiliated with key research centers such as the Center for Complex and Active Materials (CCAM) and the UCI Center for Synthetic Biology. While specific details of students and grants are not listed, her lab is active in training researchers and pushing the frontiers of nanomaterials science. She also contributes to interdisciplinary initiatives in synthetic biology and advanced materials.