In January, 2012, the MSE Department welcomed two new faculty members, Assistant Professor Ludovico Cademartiri and Adjunct Assistant Professor Rebecca Cademartiri. Ludovico came to Iowa State from a post-doctoral research appointment at Harvard University where he worked with Prof. G.M. Whitesides on electric and acoustic control of flames, large-scale molecular junctions, and germination and root development. Rebecca also came to the department from a post-doc appointment with Dr. Whitesides at Harvard where she studied macroscopic electrostatic models for crystallization and paper-based devices for low-cost diagnostics.
Ludovico’s Ph.D. degree in chemistry was awarded in 2008 by the University of Toronto under the supervision of Prof. G.A. Ozin. At Toronto he studied synthesis and characterization of colloidal nanostructures, polymer-like behavior in inorganic nanowires, synthesis and characterization of C60-based self-assembled mesoporous materials, photonic quasicrystal design and fabrication, and plasma processing of nanocrystal solids. His Laurea Magistrale degree (cum laude) in materials science was received in 2002 from the University of Parma.
Rebecca’s Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry was received from Potsdam University in 2005 on research conducted in equal parts at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and the University of Toronto. Her undergraduate diploma in organic chemistry was awarded by Johannes Gutenberg University in 2002. Her dissertation topic was surface characteristics and chirality of mesoporous organosilica materials. In addition to her work at Harvard, she has held post-doctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute, McMaster University, and Tufts University. Her research interests are wide-ranging and include silk-based materials, bacteria detection and cell survival in long-term storage situations, and porous silica nanoparticles and monoliths.
Ludovico has three primary research interests: (1) developing dissipative systems to study out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics, (2) developing tools for detection, analysis, and rationalization of development and chemical communication in plants, and (3) structure-property relations in metals. He twice received the Materials Research Society Graduate Student Award as well as the American Chemical Society’s Young Investigator Award. He received the Governor General Gold Medal, awarded to the graduate student with the highest academic standing at the University of Toronto. The Canadian Society of Chemistry selected him to receive its Chemistry Doctoral Award and its Prize for Graduate Work in Inorganic Chemistry. He also received honorable mention in the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Prize for Young Chemists.
Ludovico is co-author of two textbooks:
- “Nanochemistry – a Chemical Approach to Nanomaterials – 2nd ed.” by Ozin, Arsenault, and Cademartiri, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2009, 820 pages.
- “Concepts of Nanochemistry” by Cademartiri and Ozin, Wiley-VCH, 2009, 282 pages.
He has also written a chapter in another text as well as six articles in conference proceedings. He is lead author or co-author of 23 articles in peer-reviewed journals; these include such prestigious journals as Nature Materials, Langmuir, Advanced Materials, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Six of his peer-reviewed articles were featured as the cover stories of those issues. His publication h-index factor is 14, a notably high value for such a young scientist.
Each Dr. Cademartiri will teach a course in Fall, 2012. Rebecca is teaching Mat E 215L, the lab component of Mat. E.’s first introductory sophomore course titled “Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering”. Ludovico will teach Mat E 311, “Thermodynamics in Materials Engineering” in the fall semester.
The Cademartiri’s make their home in Ames. Rebecca’s hobbies include cooking, reading and jewelry making. She also looks forward to having a workshop to tackle all the projects around the house. Ludovico’s hobbies include Italian cooking, playing guitar, and composing music. He also looks forward to the gardening and landscaping opportunities offered by what he described as, “this beautiful and spacious part of the country.”