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Dr. Raffaella Buonsanti is a tenured Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC) of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) which she joined in October 2015. She received her Master Degree in Chemistry from the University of Bari in 2006. In 2010, she graduated in Chemistry from the University of Salento working at the National Nanotechnology Laboratory (NNL, in Lecce-Italy). She continued her research as a postdoc at the Molecular Foundry, the Nanoscience Research Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). After two years as a postdoctoral researcher, she was promoted to Project Scientist in the Molecular Foundry. Then, from 2013 to 2015, she was a tenure-track staff scientist at LBNL where she started her own research program within the Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP).
At EPFL, Professor Buonsanti implements a highly interdisciplinary approach, spanning from Chemistry to Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, to address fundamental challenges in energy technologies. Through the core expertise in materials chemistry via colloidal synthesis, her team develops novel approaches to controlled and tunable nanomaterials to drive chemical transformations. The science of her team bridges materials chemistry, nanoscience, catalysis and energy research.
Experience
- Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, 2022-present
- Tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, 2015-2022
- Tenure-Track Staff Scientists, The Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis, Materials Science Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2013-2015.
- Project Scientists, The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2012-2013.
- Postdoctoral Fellow, The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2010-2012
- Ph.D. in Nanochemistry, University of Salento, National Nanotechnology Laboratory, Italy 2010.
Awards and Honors
- ACS Inorganic Nanoscience Award, 2024
- Russel Lecture (Queen’s University, Canada), 2024
- Eastman Lecture in Catalysis at UC Berkeley (along with Marc Koper, William Mustain, Henry Sheldon White), 2023
- ERC Consolidator Grant, 2022
- Swiss Chemical Society Werner Price, 2021
- Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, 2019
- European Chemical Society Lecture Award, 2019
- Royal Chemical Society ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship, 2019
- Endowed chair from the Sandoz Family Foundation, 2018
- ERC Starting Grant, 2016.
- SNSF Assistant Professor Energy Grant, 2016.
Recent Professional Services
- Associate Editor ACS Catalysis (2021 – present)
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Advanced Research Center-Chemical Building Blocks Consortium , catalysis consortium in the Netherlands (2024 – present)
- Chair-Elect and Chair of the Nanoscience Subdivision of the ACS Inorganic Chemistry Division (2021 – 2022)
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of ACS Energy Letters (2023- present)
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Chemistry of Materials, Chemical Communications, Nanoscale, Dalton Transactions (2020- present)
- Member of the Early Career Advisory Board for ACS Materials Letters (2020-2021, 2 years mandate)
- Member of the Early Career Advisory Board of ACS Catalysis (2018-2019, 1 year mandate)
Professional memberships
Member of the Swiss Chemical Society, American Chemical Society, Royal Chemical Society, Materials Research Society