Ted Sargent, the Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis Professor of Chemistry, was honored during an investiture ceremony of endowed chairs on April 18.
Sargent, of Northwestern’s Department of Chemistry, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the International Institute for Nanotechnology, is a creative and innovative scholar known for his groundbreaking research in nanoscience. His research has contributed to fundamental advances in nanotechnology and materials chemistry.
Sargent’s approach to research is multidisciplinary and blends state-of-the-art inorganic and physical chemistry. His work has impacted the global nanotechnology community, notably, his development of solar cells and light sensors based on solution-processed semiconductors and colloidal quantum dot optoelectronic devices. He also created exceedingly sensitive light detectors to enable image acquisition in low and infrared components.
Sargent is recognized worldwide for pioneering translational discoveries that have revolutionized engineering applications, including novel engineering devices for energy harvesting, light sensing and emission, and medical diagnosis.
As an international research collaborator, Sargent focuses on solving challenges that impact the broader global community. With the growth of the renewable electricity industry, Sargent’s research seeks solutions that can reduce carbon intensity, including electrification and electrocatalytic technology, and novel ways of harvesting energy. His research on perovskites, colloidal quantum dots, and luminescent solar concentrators to harvest energy has “significantly increased these technologies’ efficiencies, contributing to clean, renewable, flexible, affordable, and storable renewable energy and renewable chemicals,” according to Sargent.
About the Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis Professor chair
Lynn Hopton Davis ’82, ’86 MBA, (’18 P, ’21 P) was an economics major in Weinberg College where she built her foundation for a later career in asset management. She is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of HalseyPoint Asset Management. Lynn’s husband, Greg Davis (’18 P, ’21 P), was previously an investment banker at Citibank and HSBC. In addition to establishing this professorship dedicated to supporting Northwestern faculty working in nanoscience, the Davises have endowed funds for undergraduate scholarships and undergraduate research opportunities in the sciences. They also made a gift to support new space for the Department of Economics in the Global Hub, a state-of-the-art facility that unites business and economics faculty, students, and programs on the Evanston campus, as well as ongoing annual gifts to The Kellogg School of Management.