William J. Pietro

William (Bill) Pietro was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of New York in Brooklyn, acquiring his first taste of scientific research with an award winning undergraduate thesis in biochemistry that resulted in two papers published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Bill received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Irvine where, as a graduate student, he published his first book. He then enjoyed a postdoctoral position at Northwestern University working with Professors Tobin Marks and Mark Ratner on theoretical aspects of phthalocyanine-based conductive polymers. Bill then joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where his research group discovered the first working molecular diode.

In 1990, Bill took a brief hiatus from academia to become one of the founding members of Wavefunction, Inc, then returned to academia a year later, joining the faculty of York University. At York, Bill's research group pioneered the field of surface-functionalized semiconductor nanoparticles, and demonstrated core-mediated electronic communication between surface groups, a necessary criterion for the eventual creation of nanoparticle-based electronic devices. His current experimental research focuses on the effects of strong electric fields on nanoparticle and crystal formation, nanoparticle-based catalysts for flow synthesis, and novel nanoparticles for chemical separations. Bill's theoretical research involves transition metal electrochemistry, azobenzene-based molecular switches, and the application of machine learning to chemical process optimization.