Biographical Sketch Marcos Dantus:
Professor Dantus was born in Mexico and came to the US in 1982 after studying Chemical Engineering for one year. He received a B.A. and M.A. in chemistry from Brandeis University in 1985, and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1991. At Caltech he worked in Ahmed Zewail’s group where he designed and built the first femtosecond laser system to study ultrafast fundamental chemical processes. This work was recognized by the 1999 Chemistry Nobel Prize to Zewail. Dantus worked from 1991 to 1993 on the development of Ultrafast Electron Diffraction as a postdoc in Zewail’s research group. Since joining MSU, his collaborative efforts with scientists across the United States and the world have led to more than 244 scholarly articles and 30 issued patents.
Dantus is an accomplished scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is a pioneer in the use of spectrally and temporally shaped ultrafast pulses and the inventor of revolutionary laser optimization instruments. His research utilizes ultrafast lasers for fundamental scientific measurements and for applications. His entrepreneurial endeavors include the commercialization of instruments that improve the performance of lasers, biodegradable packaging materials, and the development of fuel additives to reduce harmful emissions and improve combustion efficiency. Dantus holds joint appointments in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Dantus’ honors include election as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the Optical Society of America, the American Physical Society. He was recently recognized at MSU with the Technology Transfer Achievement Award in 2019.