Michele Vittadello
Dr. Vittadello received his Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences in 2003 from the University of Padua in Italy with Dr. Vito Di Noto. In his Ph.D. thesis, he focused on the synthesis and spectroscopic/electrochemical characterization of cationic polymer networks for energy storage and potentiometric transductor applications. He spent two years (2003-2005) as a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Steve Greenbaum at the City University of New York – Hunter College, working on solid state NMR spectroscopy of ion and proton conducting materials for electrochemical power sources (batteries and fuel cells), ion exchange membranes and silicon-based aerogels. He was a post-doctoral research associate at the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (2005-2008) with Dr. Ahmad Safari, working on the development of an energy research program including free-form fabrication of solid oxide fuel cells, direct-write of microbatteries, low temperature fuel cells and piezo-electric materials. While at Rutgers, he was awarded funding by the Rutgers Energy Institute (2007-2008), and worked with Dr. Paul Falkowski on research in photosynthetic bio-hydrogen production. Dr. Vittadello is primarily interested in the investigation of fundamental physical-chemical properties of nanomaterials and biomaterials with potential applications in the fields of energy storage/generation and biotechnology. His work appeared in several articles published in international journals such as, J. Phys. Chem., Macromol. Chem. and Phys., Electrochim. Acta, J. Electrochem. Soc., Solid State Ionics, J. Power Sources, Inorg. Chim. Acta, ChemSusChem, Carbon and Nature Communications. Throughout his research career, he has held teaching positions at CUNY – Borough of Manhattan Community College, The College of New Jersey and at Rutgers University. He has mentored undergraduate and graduate students. In the Fall of 2008 he joined the faculty at CUNY – Medgar Evers College as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry with a joint appointment as a visiting faculty at the Rutgers Energy Institute. He has been appointed (Fall 2008) to the doctoral faculty of The Graduate School and University Center’s Ph.D. Program in Chemistry of the City University of New York. He was promoted to tenured Associate Professor (Fall 2015) and Full Professor (Fall 2019). He has held visiting research positions at Rutgers University and Princeton University. He is the Director of the M.S. Program in Nanoscience at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Dr. Vittadello’s overall research program is aimed at the discovery and development of new energy nanotechnology and materials chemistry for energy and biotechnology applications. This goal will be achieved by: (a) studying the physical-chemical properties of novel nanomaterials, materials and biomaterials significant for energy storage and generation applications; (b) assembling these materials in the form of traditional electrochemical power sources such as batteries and fuel cells and also in the form of semi-artificial devices. Semi-artificial devices involving biological components will provide a blueprint for the improvement of conventional devices, while knowledge of conventional devices will provide an analogy for the assembly and characterization of biohybrid materials and devices.
