Nobel Prize Winner Moungi Bawendi Draws Record Crowd: Schiller鈥檚 2024-2025 Distinguished Lecture Series
Maura Kelly | March 2025
After failing his first chemistry exam as an undergraduate at Harvard, Dr. Moungi Bawendi did not foresee himself continuing his studies there鈥攍et alone becoming a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry a few decades later. 鈥淚 went home for Thanksgiving and cried quite a lot with my parents,鈥� says Bawendi, Lester Wolfe Professor of Chemistry at MIT. As he tells SchillerNow, he felt like an outsider at Harvard, where many of the other science majors had gone to elite science camps. But after his parents convinced him to return to school, he made up his mind not to fail any more tests鈥攁nd by studying harder, and timing himself on problem sets, he never did.聽
His perseverance paid off in the long-term too: In 2023, Bawendi was awarded the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work on quantum dots鈥攏anoparticles made of semiconductor material that allows them to absorb and emit light, which are so minuscule that quantum mechanics govern their properties. On February 19, an overflow crowd of about 140 people turned out to listen to Bawendi discuss his life and work鈥攖he final talk in the 2024-2025聽Distinguished Lecture Series聽hosted by the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. The record crowd learned about the method he developed for producing high-quality, uniformly-sized quantum dots鈥攁n advancement that will speed innovation by making it easier to test novel applications of the dots in fields like electronics, displays, and medicine; and to make products like thinner solar cells and flexible (or bendable) electronics.
Core faculty member Professor Jier Huang suggested that the Schiller Institute host Bawendi, because she felt she and her students would benefit from hearing more about his pioneering work. Executive Director Laura J. Steinberg considered Huang鈥檚 recommendation by both reading up on Bawendi and watching video clips of him speaking鈥攁nd came away deeply impressed. 鈥淲hat I saw was a compassionate man with a gift for encouraging scientists and a desire to explore the humanity in science,鈥� she says.聽
Knowing that Nobel laureates get a lot of requests, Steinberg crafted her invite to Bawendi carefully, explaining that the institute is dedicated to research, teaching, and public impact in the areas of energy, environment, and health, with an emphasis on energy technology and climate science鈥攁 priority demonstrated by the number of Core faculty members who are deeply involved in researching those subjects (At the time of Bawendi鈥檚 invite, all three of the Core faculty members鈥�Huang, Yi Ming,听补苍诲 Hanqin Tian鈥攚ere scientists who researched energy technology or climate science, and the Schiller Institute subsequently hired a fourth Core faculty member, environmental economist Edson Severnini).听
鈥淲e hope you would use this opportunity to discuss both your research and its wider ramifications for society,鈥� she wrote.聽
Bawendi graciously accepted鈥攁nd the Boston College community enthusiastically showed up for him. Such a large number of people were interested in coming that the Schiller Institute had to scramble to accommodate them. 鈥淲hen we had more than 80 RSVPs by Monday afternoon, two days before the event, we looked into moving to a bigger venue,鈥� says Kaley McCarty, Assistant Director of Programs for the Schiller Institute. She and her team secured a lecture hall inStokes, which seats 88 people鈥攂ut on the day of Bawendi鈥檚 talk, at least twenty more people stood or sat on the stairs in Stokes, while another thirty watched a telecast from the Schiller Institute Convening Space.聽
During his day at Boston College, Bawendi gave a talk that left Steinberg 鈥渢hrilled.鈥� She says, 鈥淗e offered a highly personal yet scientific perspective on innovation, with self-effacing and engaging delivery. And he generously followed his talk by mingling with attendees during the lunch reception that followed."聽
Bawendi鈥檚 humanity鈥攈is warmth and humility鈥攁lso comes across in the value he puts on talking to all sorts of people, even those who aren鈥檛 scientists. 鈥淪o many of my collaborations have been because I鈥檝e gone to a meeting completely unrelated to what I do, and I start chatting with someone,鈥� he tells SchillerNow. 鈥淎nd I say, 鈥楾hat is so interesting, let鈥檚 talk more.鈥� Or, 鈥楲et鈥檚 have our students talk to each other.鈥欌�� He points out that one of his projects began after a colleague who was being treated for prostate cancer introduced Bawendi to his oncologist, who happened to be doing research on imaging.聽鈥淲e had coffee together and started talking and that started my medical imaging career,鈥� Bawendi explains. He adds, 鈥淭his idea that we can all go remote and work remotely and there is no point to seeing each other in person? That freezes the wheels of innovation.鈥澛�
Asked about whether he expected to receive a Nobel, Bawendi responded, 鈥淚t was a complete shock.鈥� He went on to say, 鈥淚 thought there would be a prize for the field, but I didn鈥檛 think I would be part of it.鈥� The Nobel Committee believed he should be, however; they decided that by inventing a way to make high-quality, easy-to-reproduce quantum dot material, Bawendi changed his field.聽聽
As for whether he has any dream applications for his work, Bawendi says he has a lot. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 not smart enough, or I don鈥檛 have the tools, to do them,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y brain doesn鈥檛 work like an organic chemist鈥檚 works. So a photocatalyst should be do-able, I just don鈥檛 know how to do it; taking quantum dots and creating novel super-structures with novel qualities should be do-able.鈥�
Other recent speakers in the series have included Philippe Ciais, one of the top five most influential scientific authors on climate change, as well as one of the world鈥檚 most-cited experts on Geosciences and Ecology. (His H-index number is 216!) He has done groundbreaking work on assessing how the natural carbon cycle is destabilized due to climate change鈥攊ncluding how extreme events may trigger disruptions in biological carbon reservoirs. Ciais, a senior researcher at Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l鈥橢nvironnement in Saclay, France, has been studying terrestrial greenhouse gas fluxes for over two decades. During his visit to Boston College, he discussed recent and future changes in the carbon budget鈥攖he maximum amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that can be emitted into the atmosphere while limiting global warming.聽
January鈥檚 distinguished speaker was V. Balaji, a scientist who spent 25 years at Princeton University. For much of his time there [twenty years], he was the head of the Princeton-based Modeling Systems Division at The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration鈥檚 Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, an international pioneer in climate modeling. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic organization that accelerates scientific knowledge and breakthroughs for the betterment of humanity.