Chair

Carlos Silva Acuña

Full Professor

Director of the Institut Courtois

Education

Ph.D. in Chemical Physics, University of Minnesota, August 1998, under the supervision of Prof. Paul F. Barbara

BA in Chemistry and Physics, Luther College, June 1992

Academic Appointments

Université de Montréal

Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Light-Matter Interactions, 2023 – present
Director of the Institut Courtois, 2023 – present
Institut Courtois Research Chair, 2023 – present
Professor, Department of Physics, 2023 – present
Professor, Department of Chemistry, 2024 – present
Professor and University Research Chair, Department of Physics, 2015 – 2018
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair, Department of Physics, 2009 – 2015
Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair, Department of Physics, 2005 – 2019

Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Affiliate Professor, School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, 2023 – present
Professor by Courtesy Appointment, School of Materials Science and Engineering, 2019 – present
Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2017 – 2023
Professor, School of Physics, 2017 – 2023

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

Ciudad Universitaria, CDMX, México
Visiting professor, Institute of Materials Research, 2024 – present
Visiting professor, Institute of Materials Research, 2022 – 2023

Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV)

Mérida, Yucatán, México
Honorary Professor, Department of Applied Physics, 2021 – present
Visiting Professor, Department of Applied Physics, 2019 – 2020

Imperial College London

London, United Kingdom
Visiting Professor, Experimental Solid-State Physics, Department of Physics, 2011 – 2020

Italian Institute of Technology (Center for Nano Science and Technology@PoliMi)

Milan, Italy
Visiting Professor, 2015 – 2015

University of Cambridge

Cambridge, United Kingdom
EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow, Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, 2001 – 2004
Postdoctoral Research Associate, under the mentorship of Prof. Sir Richard H. Friend, The Cavendish Professor of Physics

Carlos Silva is a Full Professor in the Department of Physics at the Université de Montréal. He is an expert in the field of ultrafast and nonlinear spectroscopy of advanced materials.

With a double bachelor’s degree in physics and chemistry, as well as a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the Unviersity of Minnesota, under the mentorship of the late Prof. Paul F. Barbara. He was a postdoctoral research associate under the guidance of Prof. Sir Richard Friend at the Cavendish Laboratory, the University of Cambridge, where he developed his program on ultrafast spectroscopy of materials. He then served as Advanced Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge and Nonstipendiary Research Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. As a professor in the Department of Physics at UdeM from 2005 to 2018, he obtained a Canada Research Chair in Organic Semiconductor Materials. Since 2017, he was professor with joint tenure in the Schools of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Physics, as well as Professor by Courtesy Appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was notably co-director of the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and of the American Physical Society.

Diversity, equity and broadening participation in STEM are fundamental to Professor Carlos Silva, which is evident when examining the history of his group. Professor Silva recognizes that the ultimate objective of excellence in scientific research and academic endeavour depends on the quality of the pool of talent from which we recruit.

Expertise

Semiconductors Materials

Strongly Correlated Quantum Materials

Optical Properties of Materials

Material Science

Ultrafast & Coherent Spectroscopy

Quantum Mechanics

Distinctions

7/23 Canada Excellence Research Chair in Light-Matter Interactions
7/23 Institut Courtois Director’s Research Chair
9/19 Fellow of the American Physical Society
6/18 Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
6/16 Brockhouse Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
9/14 Université de Montréal Research Chair in Organic Semiconductor Materials
11/11 Visiting Professorship, Leverhulme Trust (UK) for Imperial College visit
06/10 Herzberg Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists
01/05 Canada Research Chair (renewed 01/10), Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (Canada)
12/01 Advanced Research Fellowship, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK)
10/01 Nonstipendiary Research Fellowship, Darwin College, University of Cambridge
10/97 Overend Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Physical Chemistry, Univ. of MN
9/96 Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Univ. of MN
4/94 John Wertz Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Chemical Physics, Univ. of MN
8/92 Fulbright/Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Graduate Fellowship
5/92 Institute of American Chemists Student Award
9/89 Encyclopaedia Britannica/Institute of International Education Scholarship