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Dr. Laura Gagliardi

Lead Investigator

Research Areas

Actinides, Catalysis, Classical Simulations, Electronic Structure, Machine Learning, Metal Organic Frameworks, Molecular Qubits and Magnets, Quantum Computing, Photochemistry

Academic Rank

Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering

Education

  • M.A./M.S. University of Bologna, Italy, 1992
  • Ph.D./J.D. University of Bologna, Italy, 1997

Professional Experience

University of Chicago
2020 – present: Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor Department of Chemistry,
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and James Franck Institute
2020 – present: Staff Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory
2022 – present: Director of the Catalyst Design for Decarbonization Center (EFRC)
2020 – 2023: Director of the Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry

University of Minnesota
2019 – 2020: McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair
2014 – 2020: Distinguished McKnight University Professor
2009 – 2020: Professor of Chemistry
2012 – 2020: Graduate Appointment in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
2014 – 2023: Director of the Inorganometallic Catalyst Design Center (EFRC)
2012 – 2020: Director, Chemical Theory Center
2012 – 2014: Director, Nanoporous Materials Genome Center

University of Geneva (Switzerland)
2005 – 2009: Associate Professor

University of Palermo (Italy)
2002 – 2004: Assistant Professor, University of Palermo

University of Bologna
2000 – 2002: Research Associate

Publications

Awards and Academic Achievements

2023: The Pauling Medal Award
2022: Fred Kavli Innovations in Chemistry Lecture
2022: Elected Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
2021: Elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences
2021: Faraday Lectureship Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry
2021: Elected Foreign Member of the Accademia dei Lincei
2020: Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2020: Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry from the American Chemical Society
2019: Elected Member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science
2019: McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair
2019: Award in Theoretical Chemistry from the Physical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society
2018: Elected Member of Academia Europea
2018: Humboldt Foundation Research Award
2017: Elected Member of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists
2016: Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS)
2016: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
2016: Bourke Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry
2016: Isaiah Shavitt Lectureship award, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
2014: Distinguished McKnight University Professor
2010: Swiss National Science Foundation Grant
2004: Annual award of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science to scientists under 40, with citation: “for her innovative contributions to prediction and understanding of new inorganic molecules using quantum chemical methods”

Visiting Professorships or Visiting Scholar Positions

2015: École Normale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris, France
2005: Lund University (Sweden), Department of Chemistry
2003 and 2005: University of Tokyo (Japan), Department of Chemistry