5/19/2025 Ben Libman
Bioengineering professor Shuming Nie has reached an extraordinary milestone—his work has now been cited over 100,000 times, making him one of the most influential researchers in his field. Two of his landmark papers—from 1997 on detecting single molecules with surface-enhanced Raman scattering and from 1998 on fluorescent quantum dots—have each been cited more than 10,000 times, a feat achieved by fewer than 0.01% of scientific publications. Nie credits this success to a mix of “serendipity” and rigorous preparation.
Written by Ben Libman
How is the impact of an academic researcher measured? One widely recognized metric is citation count- the number of times a scholar’s work is referenced by others. Each citation reflects how that research has contributed to advancing scientific discovery. Bioengineering professor Shuming Nie at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has achieved a rare milestone of 100,000 citations, according to Google Scholar1. “It is a feeling of joy and satisfaction,” said professor Nie, “knowing that my academic work has been read and cited by so many other scientists and continues to inspire the next generation.”
Two of his most influential papers have surpassed 10,000 citations each, one on single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and the other on semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). Of his single-molecule SERS paper (Science 1997), professor Nie said it “was so astonishing that my student Steve Emory and I could not believe it ourselves. We spent a full six months trying to find out if the results were caused by artifacts, but in the end, we could not show that it was wrong.” Professor Nie said that a key inspiration for this astonishing finding came from his postdoctoral work on laser-induced fluorescence and single-molecule detection with Dr. Richard Zare at Stanford University.
Professor Nie’s quantum dot paper was published back-to-back in the same issue of Science (1998) with a paper by Dr. Paul Alivisatos’ group at UC Berkeley. These two papers reported similar results in developing bioconjugated quantum dots, which opened up an entirely new field called bionanotechnology. Fluorescent quantum dots have also found broad applications in optoelectronic displays, especially in large-screen, high-resolution QLED televisions. Remarkably, colloidal quantum dots were the topic of the 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry2.
Academic citations of 10,000 or more for a single paper are exceedingly rare, with only 0.01% of all papers (one out of 10,000) hitting that mark. Nie credited this success to a combination of luck and good fortune. “The best words for this phenomenon are ‘serendipity’ or ‘luck happening to a prepared mind.’ When we published these two papers we knew that the results were very exciting, but we never imagined that each of these papers would be cited over 10,000 times. Looking back, it is really luck, boldness, and curiosity.”
Professor Nie started out at Northwestern under professor Richard VanDuyne and studied quantum mechanics, optical spectroscopy, and electrocatalytic chemistry, before moving on to his postdoc at Stanford under professor Richard Zare. Nie credits both VanDuyne and Zare as role models for his own scholarly work and dedication. He later went to Indiana University for his first academic appointment. His journey into bioengineering began at Georgia Tech and Emory in 2002. “I immediately enjoyed the collegial and collaborative environment in biomedical engineering,” said professor Nie, “which allowed my research to flourish in combining engineering and medicine, especially in cancer nanomedicine and image-guided surgery.”
Professor Nie has simple advice to young researchers in the field: “Learn the fundamentals and develop a deep understanding of key concepts. Find a research topic that you are truly interested in, be bold and daring. Prepare to encounter difficulties and even failure, because nothing worthwhile is easy.” When it comes to doing impactful research, professor Nie says there are no big secrets, but there are best practices. “Start with first principles, think through things carefully, and ask honest and insightful questions. High-impact work starts with great ideas, careful planning, and skillful execution, but that is not enough. It needs to be written and presented well to reach a broad readership.”
Impactful scholars in science and engineering don’t just do their own research- they help mentor the next generation. Many of professor Nie’s graduate students and postdocs have gone on to distinguished careers, including Warren Chan, Dean of the College of Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Illinois bioengineering professor Andrew Smith. To Nie, the impact he’s had on the next generation is even more important than the research he does now. “I derive even greater happiness from their success and their impact than from my purely academic work. Of course, their successes are primarily due to their talents and hard work, but it is still a good feeling that my guidance during their early careers might have played a role.”
A very long and prestigious academic career has led professor Nie to the Department of Bioengineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an institution he characterizes as “scholarly, collaborative, and collegial.” According to Nie, Illinois offers new opportunities in bioengineering, a collaborative environment, and a reputation for academic excellence. Looking into the future, Nie said that he is most excited by the potential impact of cancer immunotherapy and the application of robotics and artificial intelligence to surgery. “I call it autonomous, or surgeon-less, surgery- similar to autonomous driving.”
Science is a team sport. The greatest players don’t always score every goal- rather, they distinguish themselves by helping their teammates. If science kept statistics for assists, professor Shuming Nie would be one of the very best. 100,000 citations is an already impressive feat, and the count shows no signs of slowing down, with over four thousand citations every year since 2009. Shuming Nie continues to illuminate the path for others, much like another scientist: “The great American inventor Thomas Edison once said that he feels great because his invention of the light bulb has ‘lit up’ many people’s lives,” said professor Nie. “It is indeed a great feeling.”
Paraphrasing the great American scholar and engineer Vannevar Bush, professor Nie continues, “Science is still the endless frontier, and technological innovations continue to change our lives.”
Shuming Nie is a Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering and a professor of bioengineering, chemistry, materials science and engineering, and electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
1scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=8_C-MpAAAAAJ
2www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2023/popular-information/