Professor Andries Meijerink (50) received his degree in Chemistry (Cum Laude) in 1986 at the Utrecht University in The Netherlands. He continued with his PhD research at the same university where he worked in the group of Prof. George Blasse on the luminescence of new x-ray storage phosphors. After receiving his PhD degree (Cum Laude) in 1990 he joined the group of Prof. John Wright at University of Wisconsin in Madison as a post-doctoral fellow. Back in The Netherlands he worked in the field of luminescence spectroscopy as an associate professor. At the age of 32 he was appointed at the chair of Solid State Chemistry in the Debye Institute of the Utrecht University. From 2004 to 2007 he served as Dean of Chemistry. In addition to fulfilling this administrative responsibility he leads an active research group that focuses on the optical spectroscopy of lanthanide ions in solids and of nanocrystalline semiconductor quantum dots. In the field of lanthanide ions his recent work involves fundamental research on finding new concepts also related to applications in solar cells, LEDs and scintillators. The research on nanocrystalline quantum dots is aimed at unraveling the influence of quantum confinement and surface effects on the electronic structure of quantum dots through optical spectroscopy and using the quantum dots as labels in bio-imaging. The research has resulted in over 280 publications and 10 patents. The work is highly cited (H-index 58) and is presented at many international conferences in invited and key-note lectures. For his research Andries Meijerink has received national and international recognition, including prestigious awards like the DSM Award for Chemistry and Technology (1989), the Shell Incentive Award (1995), the Gold Medal of the Royal Dutch Chemical Society (1999) and the Centennial Award for Luminescence and Display Materials from the Electrochemical Society (2002). In 2009 he was elected into the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW).

James Utterback’s research focuses on ultrafast optical spectroscopy and microscopy of energy relaxation and transport in materials for optoelectronic applications.

CNRS Researcher | Researcher; Institute of Nanosciences of Paris; Sorbonne University | 2023 – present
Postdoctoral Fellow | Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow; University of California, Berkeley | 2019 – 2022
PhD in Chemistry | NSF Graduate Research Fellow; University of Colorado, Boulder | 2013 – 2018
B.S. in Physics | Goldwater Scholar & Undergraduate Research Fellow; University of Oregon | 2007 – 2011