Masaru Kuno

Masaru Kuno is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, a position he has held since 2016. He joined the university in 2003 as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009, and also serves as a Concurrent Professor in the Department of Physics since 2018. Prior to Notre Dame, Kuno was a Research Scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory from 2001 to 2003 and a Postdoctoral Fellow at JILA/University of Colorado from 1998 to 2001, supported by a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. He earned a B.A. in Chemistry summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998.

Kuno's research specializes in nanoscience and nanotechnology, focusing on the synthesis and optical properties of low-dimensional materials such as quantum dots, nanowires, and perovskites for applications in renewable energy conversion, including solar cells and photocatalysis. His group investigates single nanostructure spectroscopy, photosegregation in mixed-halide perovskites, and anti-Stokes photoluminescence for optical refrigeration. Notable recent publications include "Principles for Demonstrating Condensed Phase Optical Refrigeration" in Nature Reviews Physics (2025), "Photoremixing of Photosegregated Formamidinium/Cesium Lead Iodide/Bromide Thin Films Under Pulsed Laser Excitation" in ACS Energy Letters (2024), and "Resonant Multiple-Phonon Absorption Causes Efficient Anti-Stokes Photoluminescence in CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals" in ACS Nano (2024). Highly cited works encompass "Progress, challenges, and opportunities in two-dimensional materials beyond graphene" (2013) and quantum dot solar cell studies from 2006 and 2008.

In recognition of his contributions, Kuno has received the 2022 Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the 2006 Cottrell Teacher Scholar Fellowship, the 2005 NSF CAREER Award, and was a Corning Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellow.

Professional Email: mkuno@nd.edu