UW–Madison chemistry professor Martin Zanni elected to National Academy of Sciences

University of Wisconsin–Madison chemistry professor Martin Zanni has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences.

Election to the academy is a prestigious honor — one of the highest a scientist can receive. Only 120 American and 30 international scientists are elected to the academy each year for what the academy describes as their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Zanni is an exemplary researcher and teacher. He pioneered a technique called ultrafast two-dimensional spectroscopy, which allows the very fast motions of molecules to be watched, albeit abstractly. He and his students use this technique to study a protein that kills the pancreas in individuals who have Type 2 diabetes and to study how energy flows within solar cells to make electricity, as well as many other topics. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the intellectual property agency associated with UW–Madison, has patented eight ideas that have grown out of Zanni’s research.

Dozens of UW–Madison undergraduates and PhD students from around the world come to Madison to work with Zanni and his research group. They typically graduate with jobs in high-tech companies or become professors themselves. With one of the researchers in his group, Zanni started a company in Madison, PhaseTech Spectroscopy Inc., that commercialized some of his technologies and has now sold instruments across the world.

Zanni has received many awards and honors for his scientific achievements, including his 2020 election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and his 2024 induction to the American Chemical Society. Zanni has also received recognition for exemplary teaching. He received the Benjamin Smith Reynolds Award for Excellence in Teaching Engineers and has been selected as an honored professor every time he has taught freshman chemistry.