Teri W. Odom: The 2024 SPIE Mozi Award
Teri Odom, the Joan Husting Madden and William H. Madden, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University as well as the chair of the university’s chemistry department, is a leading authority in the area of plasmonic nanomaterials. Her groundbreaking research in active plasmonics has helped pave the way for the development of nano-level, tunable, ultrafast, coherent, and directional plasmonic lasing with sophisticated output patterns such as vortex and multiple spots. Significantly advancing the field of active plasmonics – as well as making critical contributions to the fields of nanotechnology, materials science, and chemistry – Odom’s work has impactful implications for a range of applications including sensing, imaging, and quantum information processing.
An SPIE Senior Member, Odom has presented multiple times at SPIE conferences, and has been an active participant of the Society’s Nanoscience + Engineering conference program committee since 2018. In 2021, Odom gave a plenary presentation at SPIE Optics + Photonics. She is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the 2020 Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize for Chemistry and Communication, the 2020 American Chemical Society Award in Surface Chemistry, a 2020 Crain’s Chicago Business Notable Women in STEM recognition; and the 2018 Research Corporation for Science Advancement Cottrell Scholar TREE Award. In 2023, Odom was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
“Professor Odom is a trailblazer in her field,” says National Cheng Kung University’s Department of Photonics Associate Professor Pin Chieh Wu. “Her pioneering research has made significant contributions to the exploration of nanoscale materials with exceptional properties. By manipulating the size and shape of noble metals at the nanoscale, Professor Odom has been able to enhance the value of precious metals, turning them into highly sought-after materials. Furthermore, her ability to control the architectures of ordinary materials across multiple length scales has led to the creation of extraordinary materials. She has also utilized modeling techniques to gain a deeper understanding of the properties of single structures as well as the collective effects of nanoparticle assemblies. The applications of her unique materials span a wide range, including nanomedicine, nano-lasing, photovoltaics, wetting, and imaging. She has already made quite outstanding contributions to the scientific community, demonstrating excellence in academic scholarship as well as making critical advances in the areas of nanophotonics, imaging, and cancer therapies, among others. I expect we’ll see even more great achievements from her in the years to come.”
