Hedi Mattoussi is a Tunisian-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

materials scientist and professor at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. His research considers colloidal inorganic nanocrystals for biological imaging and sensing. He is a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

and

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 13,000 materials researchers from academi ...

Early life and education

Mattoussi studied physics at the University of Tunis El Manar, which he completed with honours in 1982. He completed his doctoral research at the

Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie Pierre and Marie Curie University ( , UPMC), also known as Paris VI, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, ...

, where he studied mesomorphic polymers in solution. On completing his PhD, Mattoussi was made a research associate at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

. He moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1987, first joining

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

, then

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Research and career

In 1992 Mattoussi joined the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, where he worked as an assistant scientist in the department of physics. Mattoussi joined the

United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

in 1997, where he served as principal investigator. There he developed inorganic nanoparticles and studied how they interact with biological systems. Mattoussi joined the faculty at

as a professor of chemistry, where he leads a group that study the interfaces between inorganic nanocrystals and biological systems. To this end, he designs and synthesises novel nanocrystals based on semiconductors and metallic nanoparticles, creates multifunctional ligands and studies nanoparticle-bioconjugates. He has used

quantum dot Quantum dots (QDs) or semiconductor nanocrystals are semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size with optical and electronic properties that differ from those of larger particles via quantum mechanical effects. They are a central topic i ...

fluorophore A fluorophore (or fluorochrome, similarly to a chromophore) is a fluorescent chemical compound that can re-emit light upon light excitation. Fluorophores typically contain several combined aromatic groups, or planar or cyclic molecules with se ...

to study the

Förster resonance energy transfer Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), fluorescence resonance energy transfer, resonance energy transfer (RET) or electronic energy transfer (EET) is a mechanism describing energy transfer between two light-sensitive molecules (chromophores). ...

process. Mattoussi serves on the advisory board of ''

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics ''Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing research and review articles on any aspect of physical chemistry, chemical physics, and biophysical chemistry. It is published by the Royal Society of ...

''.

Awards and honours

* 2008 Top Navy Engineer of the Year * 2011 Elected Fellow of the

* 2014 Elected Fellow of the

* 2020 Elected Fellow of the

Selected publications

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattoussi, Hedi Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Tunisian descent Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni Florida State University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Chemical Society American materials scientists