Luis M. Campos is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Campos leads a research team focused on nanostructured materials, macromolecular systems, and

single-molecule electronics Molecular scale electronics, also called single-molecule electronics, is a branch of nanotechnology that uses single molecules, or nanoscale collections of single molecules, as electronic components. Because single molecules constitute the smalle ...

Early life and career

Campos was born in

Guadalajara, Mexico Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaja ...

. He remained in his hometown until the age of 11, where he moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Campos attended

California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

, graduating with a

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in chemistry in 2001. After completing his undergraduate degree, Campos conducted research at

King’s College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

on theoretical organic photochemistry Campos attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA) as a graduate student, where he worked under Prof. Miguel García-Garibay and Prof.

Kendall Houk Kendall Newcomb Houk is a Distinguished Research Professor in Organic Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research group studies organic, organometallic, and biological reactions using the tools of computational chemistry. ...

’s supervision. During his doctoral studies, Campos also performed research at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

with Prof. Donald G. Truhlar during the summer of 2003, and at the

Johannes Kepler University Linz The Johannes Kepler University Linz (German: ''Johannes Kepler Universität Linz'', short: ''JKU'') is a public institution of higher education in Austria. It is located in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. It offers bachelor's, master's, d ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

with Prof. Niyazi Serdar Sarıçiftçi in 2004 and 2005. Campos was awarded an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship, a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship, and the Saul & Silvia Winstein Award during his graduate studies. He received a Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2006. Campos then conducted postdoctoral research from 2006 to 2010 at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

, where he worked with

polymer chemist A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and ...

Prof.

Craig Hawker Craig Jon Hawker (born 11 January 1964) is an Australian-born chemist. His research has focused on the interface between organic and polymer chemistry, with emphasis on the design, synthesis, and application of well-defined macromolecular struc ...

on functionalization and cross-linking of polymers using the

thiol-ene reaction In organosulfur chemistry, the thiol-ene reaction (also alkene hydrothiolation) is an organic reaction between a thiol () and an alkene () to form a thioether (). This reaction was first reported in 1905, but it gained prominence in the late 1990s ...

. Campos has started his independent academic career in 2011 as an Assistant Professor in the Columbia University Department of Chemistry. In 2016, he was promoted to Associate Professor. In 2023, he was promoted to Professor.

Research

Campos research group explores molecular, macromolecular, and

nanostructured A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure at nanoscale. In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dime ...

materials that allow for advanced functional systems to be formed. The group is trained to adjust such materials using molecular design. Campos’ main strategy is to be able to understand a structure in order to better produce materials to help advance biology, engineering, physics, and processing.

Nanostructured materials

Nanostructured materials deal with

block copolymers In polymer chemistry, a copolymer is a polymer derived from more than one species of monomer. The polymerization of monomers into copolymers is called copolymerization. Copolymers obtained from the copolymerization of two monomer species are some ...

and assembles themselves. Campos and colleagues developed

copolymers In polymer chemistry, a copolymer is a polymer derived from more than one species of monomer. The polymerization of monomers into copolymers is called copolymerization. Copolymers obtained from the copolymerization of two monomer species are some ...

that can self-assemble into different

nanoparticles A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 1 ...

. The research aspires to develop a light-weight, energy efficient devices from the polymers by understanding how to control architecture of these block copolymers.

Molecular and macromolecular systems

Campos and colleagues also work on the development of chemistry for the next generation

solar cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

technologies. Specifically, they have made several important contributions to making

singlet fission Singlet may refer to: * singlet state, in theoretical physics, a quantum state with zero spin * Singlet fission, in molecular photophysics * in spectroscopy, an entity appearing as a single peak; see NMR spectroscopy * in optics, a single lens elem ...

materials that can create triplet pairs. By controlling the molecular structure of the organic molecules they synthesize, the physical properties of the molecules can be manipulated. This material is utilized to generate parts required for organic

photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

Single-molecule electronics

Studies involving single-molecule transport demonstrate how particular designs lead the synthesis of macromolecular materials. This also allows for chemists to adjust the functionality of a chemical. This research allows for exceptional transport technology.

Awards and honors

Campos has received recognition for his academic work. He has received several awards throughout his post-graduate career. Such awards include the 2016 ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, 2016

C&E News ''Chemical & Engineering News'' (''C&EN'') is a weekly news magazine published by the American Chemical Society, providing professional and technical news and analysis in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering.ONR Young Investigator Award, 2015

Cottrell Scholar Award Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) is an organization in the United States devoted to the advancement of science, funding research projects in the physical sciences. Since 1912, Research Corporation for Science Advancement has id ...

, and the 2014

NSF CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...

. He has served as an associate editor of the journal ''

Chemical Science Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties ...

'' since 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campos, Luis M. 21st-century American chemists Columbia University faculty California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexican chemists American organic chemists