91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳

Biography

Ignacio Franco is a professor of Chemistry and Physics at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳.  Ignacio received his B.Sc. in chemistry from the National University of Colombia in 2001. In 2002, after completing the diploma program in condensed matter physics at The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, he moved to the University of Toronto to pursue a Ph.D. in theoretical chemical physics under the guidance of Paul Brumer. In 2008 he joined Northwestern as a postdoctoral fellow in the groups of Mark A. Ratner and George C. Schatz. In 2011, he moved to Berlin to take a position as group leader and Humboldt research fellow in the Theory Department of the Fritz Haber Institute. In 2013, he joined the chemistry faculty as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2019 and to professor in 2024. Ignacio is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award of the American Chemical Society, the Leonard Mandel Faculty Fellowship, the Curtis Provost Teaching Award for Nontenured Faculty and the College Award for Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring

Research Overview

Research in the Franco group is in the general areas of quantum dynamics, quantum information science and quantum control. The work of our group encompasses the development of new theories and simulation methods, the efficient implementation of these methods on high-performance computers, and the application of the resulting tools to identify new phenomenology, understand and stimulate experiments. We work closely with experimental groups and strive to perform theory that stimulates experimental progress. We are particularly interested in exploring frontiers in molecular and material science where non-trivial quantum-mechanical effects play an important role.