Laura Gagliardi is the Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. She was born and raised in Italy. She earned her Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry at the University of Bologna in 1997. She was then postdoctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge, UK. Gagliardi became an assistant professor at the University of Palermo in 2002. In 2005, she became associate professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, and in 2009 she joined the University of Minnesota as a professor of chemistry. In 2020, she joined the University of Chicago.
Gagliardi is a theoretical quantum chemist who is internationally known for her contributions to the development of electronic structure methods and their use for understanding complex chemical systems. Particularly impressive and impactful has been her work in the challenging area of strongly correlated systems. Moreover, Gagliardi models energy-relevant phenomena like carbon capture and water harvesting.
Gagliardi has received many recognitions, including the Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 2020 and the Humboldt research award in 2018. She is an Elected Member of the USA National Academy of Sciences (2021), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020), and Academia Europaea (2018).
