Chiara Trovatello Wins Italian L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women and Science Prize

The Columbia postdoc is recognized for her work on photonics and quantum entanglement.

June 17, 2024

Congratulations to Chiara Trovatello, an experimental physicist and postdoc at Columbia working with mechanical engineer Jim Schuck. The native of Siracusa, Italy, has received one of six 20,000 Euro prizes from the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science-Italy program. The annual award supports young, female scientists from Italy who are working in life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and computing, engineering, and technologies.

Trovatello received her PhD in Physics from Politecnico di Milano in 2020. She joined the Schuck lab with the support of Columbia’s Department of Energy-funded Energy Frontier Research Center on Programmable Quantum Materials and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship to study the nonlinear optical properties of two-dimensional materials for exploring the quantum entanglement of particles of light called photons. In collaboration with colleagues at Columbia and Politecnico di Milano, she is working on miniaturizing entangled photon sources, which are currently macroscopic in size, by using innovative ultra-thin materials that promise large generation efficiencies with ultracompact footprints. This project might enable on-chip integration of miniaturized qubit sources in the future, with significant implications for photonic quantum computing.

"Since I started doing research, I have always been mindful of the importance of gender representation in the scientific field, and in general of the richness that diversity can offer us. I have done and continue to do a lot of volunteer and mentoring work, especially for many young female scientists,” said Trovatello. “I see how important it is to create models that rewrite history. For this reason, I really want to thank L’Oréal and UNESCO who, through the For Women and Science program, continue to support us, and to support a truly important cause for everyone."