The NanoPlasm2024 Prize, in honor of Prof. Daniela Pucci, will be awarded during a special session of the conference

Prof. Daniela Pucci was born in Cosenza (Italy) on March 30 1965. She got the Chemistry Degree (Laurea) Summa cum laude in 1989 at University of Calabria, Italy, under the supervision of Prof. Mauro Ghedini. During her PhD she had several exchange fellowships at University of Milan, Department of Inorganic and Metallorganic Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. E. Cesarotti (November 1989 – June 1990) and University of Paris South, Orsay, France, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, under the supervision of Prof. J. Malthête (1992 – 1993). In 1993 she obtained her Ph.D. degree, the title of her thesis: ‘Chiral Palladiomesogens’.

From 1995 to 1999 she joined University of Calabria, as assistant professor at the Faculty of Science. Since 2001 she became an associate professor at the same University.

Daniela was member of the Center of Excellence CEMIF.CAL, LASCAMM - CNR INSTM, Unità INSTM della Calabria and CNR-IPCF- UOS di Cosenza - Laboratory Licryl, Dipartimento di Chimica e Technologie Chimiche, University of Calabria, where she coordinated several projects and mentored Ph.D., BSc and MSc students. Her main fields of research were organometallic and coordination chemistry, inorganic materials, metallic complexes in medicine, liquid crystals, metallomesogens.

She was a valued member of the Italian Chemical Society and International Society of Liquid Crystals. Daniela organized several scientific symposiums and workshops. She published more than 75 articles and gave more than a hundred talks at international scientific conferences. She was an inspiring guide for the students, beloved by her colleagues, students and post-doc scholars that worked in her laboratory.

Daniela spent her last sabbatical semester (Fall 2013) of research in USA, at the Nanoplasm Laboratory – Case Western Reserve University, in the framework of a collaborative project with her friend and colleague Prof. Giuseppe Strangi. She was one of the organizing member of the first edition of NanoPlasm Conference.

Daniela passed away on April 24, 2014.

In 2018 it was awarded to Prof. Silvia Vignolini, for her exceptional achievements reached in the field of bio-inspired photonics. Her recent advances in the fabrication of bio-mimetic photonic structures using cellulose-based architectures enables to create novel photonic structures using low cost materials.
 
In 2016 the Prize was awarded to Prof. Nicole Steinmetz, Case Wester Reserve University (USA), for extraordinary  achievements in nanotechnology and nanoscience  leading to groundbreaking findings that may potentially revolutionize cancer  research and nanomedicine via original and visionary scientific approaches.

In 2014 the "Daniela Pucci Prize" was awarded to Prof. Alexandra Boltasseva. She wrote these words: "It is a great honor to receive this prize - and a great responsibility too. Prof. Pucci was a talented researcher, a passionate teacher and a great human being. She is greatly missed. I will do my very best to carry her passion for science, her love for life, her spirit and her dreams."