Dr. Ioannis Spanopoulos, assistant professor of the Department of Chemistry and principal investigator of The Spanopoulos Group at USF, has been invited to join the prestigious international honor society of science and engineering, Sigma Xi.
Dr. Ioannis Spanopoulos, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. (Photo courtesy of Ioannis Spanopoulos)
Membership to Sigma Xi is by nomination from two current society members only, with the nominee exhibiting noteworthy achievement as an original investigator in a field of pure or applied science, demonstrated by the number and quality of peer-reviewed publications, Spanopoulos explains.
Sigma Xi, also known as the Scientific Research Honor Society, is one of the oldest and largest scientific organizations in the world, with a history of service to science and society for more than 125 years, according to their website, and is composed of scientists and engineers from around the globe whose research is focused in areas of science and technology. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members.
Sigma Xi chapters can be found at colleges and universities, government laboratories, and industry research centers. The USF chapter was chartered in 2018.
Spanopoulos currently has 80 publications, an h-index of 43, 6,487 citations, and
is among the top two percent of most cited researchers world-wide for the year 2022
(single year).
“Sigma Xi offers its members professional development training, leadership and mentorship
opportunities, but also multiple options to serve the community,” he said. “This is
materialized by recognizing specific achievements through multiple awards, by promoting
public understanding of science (communication) and impact on policy, by promoting
responsible conduct of research and scientific integrity, as well as STEM education.”
His current research focuses on using his synthetic skills to develop next-generation, multifunctional materials for energy and environmental-related applications.
“Our success will allow us to address current material deficiencies for terrestrial and space applications,” he said.
Spanopoulos and his colleagues have created two new families of materials: the porous metal halide semiconductors (PMHS) and the crystalline fullerene-based metal halide semiconductors (FMHS), both of which set new paradigms in advanced materials discovery and innovation.
“One of the directions we are currently focusing on pertains to evaluating our new materials against select agents, targeting applications spanning from water disinfection and coatings for medical devices to Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) mitigation,” he said.
His membership in Sigma Xi, which began in March 2024, is for a lifetime.
“I am pleased about that invitation because it means that members of Sigma Xi recognized my contribution to science and the potential impact of my work on society,” he said.