Emily A. Weiss

Emily A. Weiss is the Mark and Nancy Ratner Professor of Chemistry and director of the Photo-Sciences Research Center at Northwestern University. Her research considers the optical and electronic properties of nanostructures, including hybrid organic–inorganic quantum dots. She was a two-time finalist in the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.

Early life and education Weiss earned her undergraduate degree at Princeton University and graduated in 2000. Whilst she initially majored in English, Weiss took courses in quantum mechanics, and became increasingly interested in chemistry. She moved to Northwestern University for her graduate studies, where she earned her doctoral degree under the supervision of Mark Ratner in 2005. She studies colloidal photocatalysis, and in particular, how nanoparticle catalysts can be used to access complicated bioactive compounds. These nanoparticles make use of light to activate surface molecules, which fuse together and form large molecules that can be useful in biology. They outperform the most commonly used complexes as sensitisers for carbon dioxide reduction.

She is part of the Argonne–Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center and Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science. In this capacity Weiss looks to develop new molecular materials through the use of electron ratchets, which switch systems between two electronic states (one where electrons are evenly diffuse and one where they produce a net current).

Awards and honours Her awards and honours include:

2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers 2015 Kansas State University Phi Lambda Upsilon Distinguished Speaker 2015 American Chemical Society Harry Gray Award 2016 Stanford University Distinguished Women in Science Seminar Speaker 2018 American Chemical Society Early Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry 2018 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientist Finalist 2019 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientist Finalist

In 2019 she was included in the National Nanotechnology Initiative's top 30 women in nanotechnology.

Selected publications Her publications include:

She is deputy editor of The Journal of Chemical Physics and on the advisory board of Materials Horizons.