On December 19, the Biden administration honored University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos and Cornell University Professor of Chemistry Héctor D. Abruña with the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award. The United States bestows this prestigious science and technology award to researchers and policymakers whose work serves humanity.
“This year’s award winners have used science and technology to transform what is possible by expanding the boundaries of knowledge,” said White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar.
Alivisatos, who is also UChicago’s distinguished service professor of chemistry, was honored for his work on producing nanocrystals and polymers, critical materials in the development of “energy-efficient technology, optical devices, and medical diagnostic technology,” according to the White House press release.
Abruña received the award “for revolutionizing the fundamental understanding of electroanalytical chemistry and innovating characterization for development of batteries, fuel cells, and energy materials.” These are important technologies needed to meet U.S. decarbonization and renewable energy goals, Cornell explained.
Established in 1956, the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award memorializes Enrico Fermi, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and UChicago professor who led a team at the university’s campus to achieve the first nuclear chain reaction in 1942. Both Alivisatos and Abruña will share the award with John H. Nuckolls, the former director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Alivisatos’s and Abruña’s recognition highlights how America’s leading research universities are at the forefront of technological innovations that address global health, climate, and security threats.
Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe is editorial and communications assistant at AAU.