Paul Alivisatos

Energy Secretary Steven Chu noted that Alivisatos is "an incredible scientist with incredible judgment on a variety of issues. He’s level-headed and calm, and he has an ability to inspire people…[and he can] take projects from material science to real-world applications."

Under Alivisatos’ leadership, Berkeley Lab has embarked upon an ambitious period of strategic scientific infrastructure renewal, and shifted its priorities to the more interdisciplinary areas of renewable energy and climate-change research. During his tenure, the Lab began construction on new buildings for computational research, buildings efficiency, solar energy research, and biological science. During this time, the Lab also cleared the legacy Bevatron site and has partially cleared and is working to finish cleaning the "Old Town" site. This has left the Lab better able to contribute to the Department of Energy's mission today, and with room for potential growth on brownfield sites in the future. In addition, Alivisatos has proactively invigorated Berkeley Lab's safety culture, elevated the Lab's community outreach and operational efficiency efforts, and is currently working to build a more diverse and inclusive community within the lab. On March 23, 2015 Alvisatos announced that he is stepping down as Director when a replacement is identified.

The rod-shaped nanocrystal research, coupled with earlier work led by Alivisatos in which it was shown that quantum dots or "qdots"–nanometer-sized crystal dots (spheres a few billionths of a meter in size)– made from semiconductors such as cadmium selenide can emit multiple colors of light depending upon the size of the crystal, opened the door to using nanocrystals as fluorescent probes for the study of biological materials, biomedical research tools and aids to diagnosis, and as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Alivisatos went on to use his techniques to create an entirely new generation of hybrid solar cells that combined nanotechnology with plastic electronics.

Alivisatos’ affiliation with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (or Berkeley Lab) began in 1991 when he joined the staff of the Materials Sciences Division. From 2005 to 2007 Alivisatos served as Berkeley Lab's Associate Laboratory Director for the Physical Sciences area. In 2008, he served as Deputy Lab Director under Berkeley Lab Director Steven Chu, and then as interim director when Chu stepped down to become the Secretary of Energy. He was named the seventh Director of the Berkeley Lab on November 19, 2009, by the University of California Board of Regents on the recommendation of UC President Mark Yudof and with the concurrence of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Prior to Alivisatos’ research, all non-metal nanocrystals were dot-shaped, meaning they were essentially one-dimensional. No techniques had been reported for making two-dimensional or rod-shaped semiconductor nanocrystals that would also be of uniform size. However, in a landmark paper that appeared in the March 2, 2000 issue of the journal Nature, Alivisatos reported on techniques used to select the size but vary the shapes of the nanocrystals produced. This was hailed as a major breakthrough in nanocrystal fabrication because rod-shaped semiconductor nanocrystals can be stacked to create nano-sized electronic devices.

Alivisatos is an internationally recognized authority on nanochemistry and a pioneer in the synthesis of semiconductor quantum dots and multi-shaped artificial nanostructures. Further, he is a world expert on the chemistry of nanoscale crystals; one of his papers (Science, 271: 933-937, 1996) has been cited over 9,100 times. He is also an expert on how these can be applied, for example as biological markers (e.g., Science, 281: 2013-16, 1998; a paper cited over 7,400 times). In addition, his use of DNA in this area (DNA nanotechnology) has shown the surprising versatility of this molecule. He has used it to direct crystal growth and create new materials, as in Nature, 382: 609-11, 1996, and even to measure nanoscale distances (see Nature Nanotechnology, 1: 47-52, 2006).

In addition to those listed above, Alivisatos has held fellowships with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society (1996), and the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Alivisatos returned to UC Berkeley in 1988 as an assistant professor of chemistry, becoming associate professor in 1993 and professor in 1995. He served as Chancellor's Professor from 1998-2001, and added an appointment as a professor of materials science and engineering in 1999.

In 1981, Alivisatos earned a B.A. with honors in chemistry from the University of Chicago. In 1986, he received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked under Charles Harris. His Ph.D. thesis concerned the photophysics of electronically excited molecules near metal and semiconductor surfaces. He then joined AT&T Bell Labs working with Louis E. Brus, and began research in the field of nanotechnology.

Paul Alivisatos (born November 12, 1959) is an American scientist of Greek descent who has been hailed as a pioneer in nanomaterials development, and is an internationally recognized authority on the fabrication of nanocrystals and their use in biomedical and renewable energy applications. He is ranked fifth among the world's 100 top chemists in the list released by Thomson Reuters. In 2009, he was named the Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and in 2014 he was named a laureate for the National Medal of Science. In 2016 he was named U.C. Berkeley's Vice Chancellor for Research. As of July 1, 2017, he is University of California, Berkeley's Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, and will continue on as Vice Chancellor for Research on an interim basis.