Rate My Professor Paul Alivisatos

University of California, Berkeley

Chemistry Engineering Physical Chemistry Materials Chemistry Nanochemistry Nanotechnology Materials Engineering

5.0

1 review · out of 5

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5.04/23/2026

Creates dynamic and thought-provoking lessons.

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About Paul

A. Paul Alivisatos is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served on the faculty from 1988 to 2021 and also held a professorship in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1981 and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. Throughout his career at Berkeley, Alivisatos occupied several prominent administrative positions, including Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, Vice Chancellor for Research from February 2016 to August 2017, Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2009 to 2016, founding Director of the Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute, and founding Director of the Molecular Foundry, a U.S. Department of Energy Nanoscale Science Research Center. As the Samsung Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, he made groundbreaking contributions to the fundamental physical chemistry of nanocrystals, investigating scaling laws that govern their optical, electrical, structural, and thermodynamic properties, such as band gap increasing as 1/r² and melting temperatures decreasing as 1/r.