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Northwestern Research Center to Focus on the Power of Light

Press Releases | September 25, 2019
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EVANSTON, Ill. --- Light-matter interactions are at the forefront of Northwestern University’s newest research initiative, the Photo-Sciences Research Center (PSRC) announced today. The center, housed within the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), aims to facilitate new, non-obvious collaborations among researchers in chemistry, physics, engineering, biology, and medicine. Emily Weiss, the Mark and Nancy Ratner Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, by courtesy, at Northwestern University, leads the initiative.

“ISEN is thrilled to welcome PSRC into our research portfolio,” said Michael R. Wasielewski, Executive Director of ISEN and Claire Hamilton Hall Professor of Chemistry. “Under Emily’s leadership, PSRC is positioned to lead the way forward in quickly evolving fields with significant implications for a broad range of industries.”

The mission of the PSRC is to use the energy and interrogating power of light to push back the frontiers of chemistry, physics, and biology. The three research focus areas: photonic qubits, ultrafast biology, and photocatalysis, will maximize and stretch the power of cutting-edge technology and emerging scientific advancements. 

“The PSRC is about taking light and converting it to another form of energy, using it to transmit information, or using it to interrogate dynamic systems with unprecedented temporal precision” explained Weiss. “PSRC aims to produce fundamental science, and eventually technologies, that support a mission of sustainability and energy production.”

The center builds on, and broadens, the scope of Weiss’ previous work, which led to new understanding of the mechanisms of conversion of energy and the behavior of quantum confined systems, and the design and synthesis of nanostructures that are new combinations of organic and inorganic components. 

The center is based in the Technological Institute on the Evanston Campus at Northwestern and joins ISEN’s existing research centers: the Center for Advanced Materials for Energy and the Environment (CAMEE), the Center for Catalysis and Surface Science (CCSS), the Center for Light Energy Activates Redox Processes (LEAP), and the Solar Fuels Institute (SOFI).

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Press Contact:
Julianne Beck, 847-467-1366; julianne.beck@northwestern.edu

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