Heard on Campus: Nanoscience pioneer and Penn State alumnus Chad Mirkin

“We’ve looked at a drop of water in the ocean of possibilities,” said Penn State alumnus Chad Mirkin, director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University. Mirkin gave the 2025 Harold Kohn Endowed Distinguished Chemistry Alumni Lecture on April 21.

Established by alumnus Harold L. Kohn and his wife, Carol K. Kohn, the lectureship honors and celebrates the contributions of distinguished Penn State alumni, to foster a broad interest in the chemical sciences, and provides opportunities for engagement with students, faculty, and the community.

His talk, “Exploring the ‘Matterverse’ Through Nanomaterial MegaLibraries and AI," described over 20 years of research, from the discovery of advanced multielement materials to harnessing AI and machine learning to rapidly discover and synthesize billions of nanoparticles.

“We, as a society, have made and characterized fully about a million inorganic materials, “ he said. “Think about that in the context of 10¹⁴. It’s a lot of work left to be done.”