Pavle Radovanovic awarded the 2023 Research Excellence in Materials Chemistry

Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Pavle Radovanovic

Dr. Pavle Radovanovic won the 2023 Award for Research Excellence in Materials Chemistry from the national Canadian Society for Chemistry. The award acknowledges his outstanding contribution to materials chemistry.

Radovanovic, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, is rising star in nanoscience and nanotechnology. His work is notable for both its breadth and depth as well as its undeniable quality and impact. He has established a strong international reputation in his field and his findings are influencing fields beyond his main research areas.

"The impact of Pavle Radovanovic’s contributions to understanding the physical properties of low dimensional materials is matched equally by the contagious, enthusiastic curiosity that he brings to the laboratory every day," said John Corrigan, Chemistry Chair.

His lab combines fundamental research, applied research and industry partnerships to investigate multifunctionality at the nanoscale and the application of multifunctional nanostructures for energy-efficient and sustainable technologies. 

The overall theme of his research program is understanding fundamental principles governing the coexistence of and correlations among different properties in complex nanostructured materials, which are often considered to be mutually exclusive. Simultaneous control of multiple functionalities at the nanoscale could lead to radically new approaches to energy conversion, and sustainable energy-efficient information technologies, photonics, and catalysis.

His research has been published in some of the highest ranking journals and he also holds four patents. His work is opening exciting avenues especially in room temperature, quantum information processing and sensing. He also developed a new class of hybrid white light emitting nanostructures (NanoLiteTM), which has paved the way to low-cost, efficient and sustainable solid-state lighting technologies.

His research has been recognized by a number of honours and awards, including the 2019 Keith Laidler Award (CSC), Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award (NSERC), Tier 2 Canada Research Chair, Early Researcher Award (Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation), and Mobility Award (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs). He is an elected Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials, and was a Visiting Professor at the University of California-Berkeley.

Radovanovic is the first Waterloo chemist to win the award.

Congratulations, Dr. Radovanovic!