Prof. Laura Gagliardi has been elected a Foreign Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, one the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific academies. The induction ceremony for new members was held in Rome on November 12th.
Gagliardi is the Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, with a joint appointment at the James Franck Institute. She is also the director of the Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry and the Inorganometallic Catalyst Design Center.
“I’m very honored by this recognition,” Gagliardi said. “For one, the Accademia is a very prestigious intuition, but I also feel honored because it is in my country of origin. I’ve had tremendous opportunities abroad but I’ve always felt grateful to my country for the education I received there.”
Gagliardi’s research aims to develop novel quantum chemical methods and apply them to study phenomena related to sustainable energies, with special focus on chemical systems relevant to catalysis, spectroscopy, photochemistry, and gas separation. In October, Gagliardi and her team published findings in Science that demonstrated how the metal-organic framework MOF-303 pulls potable water from the air.
The Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi and counted Galileo Galilei among its earliest members. The academy is housed within the Palazzo Corsini in Rome and has long served as a scientific advisor to Italy and the broader global community. Notable members of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei include Louis Pasteur, Albert Einstein, and Enrico Fermi. Giorgio Parisi, who was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, serves at the Academy’s Vice President.
Gagliardi is also a member of the National Academy of Science and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Physical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. She is a member of Academia Europaea, the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, and the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists. She is an associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.