Her research investigates metamaterials—engineered materials with optical and electrical properties not found in nature—for applications ranging from high-efficiency solar energy conversion to bioimaging. Jen received her Ph. D. in Applied Physics in 2009 at the California Institute of Technology and B.S. degrees in Physics and Systems & Electrical Engineering from Washington University in 2003. Prior to joining Stanford, she served as a postdoctoral research fellow in Chemistry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her work has been recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the inaugural Kavli Nanoscience Early Career Lectureship, an NSF CAREER Award, and an AFOSR Young Investigator Award. In 2011, she was named one of Technology Review's TR35—35 international innovators under 35 tackling important problems in transformative ways.