daily californian logo

BERKELEY'S NEWS • MAY 25, 2023

Apply to The Daily Californian!

‘A central pioneer’: UC Berkeley’s Paul Alivisatos wins Priestley Medal

article image

AREN SAUNDERS-GONZALEZ | FILE

Paul Alivisatos has served as UC Berkeley’s executive vice chancellor and provost since 2017. He has spent 33 years as campus faculty, and he also entered UC Berkeley as a graduate student in 1981.

SUPPORT OUR NONPROFIT NEWSROOM

We're an independent student-run newspaper, and need your support to maintain our coverage.

JULY 05, 2020

Internationally renowned chemist, UC Berkeley professor and campus Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Alivisatos was awarded the 2021 Priestley Medal on June 25.

The Priestley Medal is the highest honor given by the American Chemical Society and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Alivisatos is being recognized for his foundational contributions to the chemistry of nanoscience, his development of nanocrystals as nanotechnology building blocks and his leadership in the chemistry and nanoscience communities.

“The research of my coworkers and I has been all about nanocrystals, tiny enough crystals that their intrinsic properties are different from ordinary matter on the human scale,” Alivisatos said in an email. “As an example we studied quantum dots, very small pieces of semiconductor that make the colors behind QLED or Quantum Dot TVs you may have seen. ”

Alivisatos “is highly regarded as a central pioneer in the field of nanoscience,” states a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory press release.

According to American Chemical Society spokesperson Elizabeth Zubritsky, several Nobel Prize winners have been recognized with the Priestley Medal as well.

Alivisatos said he thinks the honor recognizes the supportive and inspirational environment on campus.

“For me, this award recognizes Berkeley more than me,” Alivisatos said in the email. “Since the moment I arrived here more than thirty years ago, I have been lifted up by my many coworkers and the inventive and collaborative environment that is Cal.”

In addition to the Priestley Medal, Alivisatos’ many accolades include the National Medal of Science, the Spiers Memorial Award, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and more than 10 other awards for his research.

But Alivisatos is far more than a scientist with numerous awards, and he said he feels like his honors further the intellectual community.

“An honor like this helps to build community around discovery and draws in more people to contribute,” Alivisatos said in the email.

Alivisatos also oversees a group on campus, the Alivisatos Group, which focuses on investigating colloidal nanoparticles, particularly quantum dots.

Graduate students from the Alivisatos Group speak well of his character.

“Paul strikes me as somebody that really cares about the researchers that are working in his lab, and I think that he genuinely is concerned about us and being able to succeed,” said campus graduate student Jason Calvin. “He is very, very smart, and he thinks about things outside the box. He has proven that now with enough hard work, you can achieve a lot of really amazing things.”

Despite juggling his responsibilities as executive vice chancellor and a professor of nanoscience and nanotechnology research, materials science and engineering as well as chemistry, Alivisatos still makes time for his group, said campus graduate student and Alivisatos Group member Jakob Dahl.

“Paul is a very thoughtful and dedicated scientist and administrator,” Dahl said. “Even after being in the group for four years, it is still amazing to me that he is one of the most senior administrators of the university and still finds time to oversee a group of 20 researchers.”

Contact Aryia Dattamajumdar at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @AryiaDm.
LAST UPDATED

JULY 06, 2020


Related Articles

featured article
UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry Jennifer Doudna has been awarded the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine for her discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool.
UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry Jennifer Doudna has been awarded the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine for her discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool.
featured article
featured article
Paul Alivisatos, who will become the campus’s vice chancellor for research in March after seven years as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been awarded the international Dan David Prize for his work in the field of nanoscience.
Paul Alivisatos, who will become the campus’s vice chancellor for research in March after seven years as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been awarded the international Dan David Prize for his work in the field of nanoscience.
featured article
featured article
ASUC External Affairs Vice President, or EAVP, Nuha Khalfay won the Kenneth Priestley Award at UC Berkeley’s Inaugural Dean of Students Outstanding Leadership Awards on Tuesday.
ASUC External Affairs Vice President, or EAVP, Nuha Khalfay won the Kenneth Priestley Award at UC Berkeley’s Inaugural Dean of Students Outstanding Leadership Awards on Tuesday.
featured article