Alexandra Navrotsky

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Navrotsky is a distinguished physical chemist who works in geoscience and materials science. She started her academic career in chemistry at ASU in 1969. After appointments at Princeton and UC Davis, Navrotsky returned to ASU on Oct. 1, 2019, to head the new one-of-a-kind Center for Materials of the Universe. Navrotsky is a professor, in both the School of Molecular Sciences in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Navrotsky's research interests lie at the intersection of solid state chemistry, geochemistry and materials science. Navrotsky has published nearly 1,000 papers on topics ranging from oxide superconductors to silicates deep in the Earth's mantle. Her research is mainly focused on the structure and the stability of both natural and synthetic materials along with their dependence on temperature and pressure. She also investigates the role of nanomaterials in geochemical processes and in pollutant transport. Among her many awards, she has received the prestigious V.M. Goldschmidt Award from the Geochemical Society, the Roebling Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America and the Harry H. Hess Medal from the American Geophysical Union. She is also an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society, the American Ceramic Society, the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Navrotsky earned her PhD in physical chemistry at the University of Chicago.