Sebastiano Campagna
Education and positions
Sebastiano Campagna was born in Mazzarrà Sant'Andrea, a small village on the northern coast of Sicily, on the 10th of July 1959. He got his Italian Laurea in Chemistry from the University of Messina in 1983. In 1984 he won the Lauro Chiazzese "Prestito sull'Onore" Prize from the Bank Cassa di Risparmio Vittorio Emanuele II, reserved to Sicilian laureates, which allowed him to work within the Photochemistry group of the Dipartimento di Chimica "G. Ciamician", University of Bologna, as a post doc researcher under the supervision of Prof. Vincenzo Balzani, during the period 1985 - 1988.
Around 1990 he started his own research at the University of Messina, but still keeping working in Balzani's team for various periods (about 4-5 months per year) until 1998. In 1998 he was appointed Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Messina, and since 2002 he has been Professor of Physical Chemistry at the same university. Since 2008 to 2012 he has been the Director of the Department of Inorganic, Analytical and Physical Chemistry of the University of Messina.
Prizes and Main Research Projects
1984 - Lauro Chiazzese Prize
1995 - Raffaello Nasini Prize by the Inorganic Division of the Società Chimica Italiana, for his work on the photophysical and redox properties of polynuclear metal complexes.
1996 - Member of Scientia Europaea
1998-2003: Coordinator of the European TMR Research Project "From Molecules to Materials: a Concerted Approach to Nanometer-sized Oligometallic Complexes with Predetermined Configurations and Functions" , short title: Nanometer Size Metal Complexes (Contract no. ERBFMRX-CT98-0226).
2012-(expected 2016) : Coordinator of the National FIRB Research Project "Nanosolar": Photocatalytic Nanosystems for Artificial Photosynthesis and Hydrogen Production by Solar-driven Water Splitting (contract no. RBAP11C58Y)
Other projects and research activities
2000-2002: Scientific supervisor of Marie Curie young researchers grants
1998-2013: Local team leader in many National Research Projects (PRIN)
1994-2012: Team leader in COST Actions (e.d., Supramolecular Chemistry; Functional Molecular Materials; From materials to Devices)
1994-1998: Scientist-in-charge of bilateral research and teaching projects (Italy-Russia; Italy-Belgium).
2005-2011: Chairman of the Italian Group of Photochemistry (GIF), the Italian branch of the European Photochemistry Association (EPA), and of the Gruppo Interdivisionale di Fotochimica della Società Chimica Italiana (SCI).
Main organizing activities
1999: Chairman of the 13th International Symposium on the Photochemistry and Photophysics of Coordination Compounds (ISPPCC), Lipari, Italy.
2003: Chairman of the 2nd Mediterranean Meeting on Photochemistry, Giardini-Naxos, Italy.
2009: co-founder of SOLAR-CHEM, the Italian Interuniversity Resaerch Center on Artificial Photosynthesis.
He has also been a member of the Scientific Organizing Committees of many national and International conferences, among others:
ISPPCC 2001 (Vezprem, Hungary); ISPPCC 2004 (Hong Kong, China); IUPAC Photochemistry Symposium (Kyoto, Japan); ISPPCC 2005 (Asilomar, USA); ISPPCC 2007 (Dublin, Ireland); FISPHOTON 2009 2nd France-Italy Symposium on Photoscience (Marseille, France); ISPPCC 2009 (Sapporo, Japan); ISPPCC 2011 (Strasbourg, France); International European Conference (Badgestein, Austria); ISPPCC 2013 (Traverse City, USA).
Research Interests and publications
Main interests are within the field of supramolecular photochemistry. In particular:
- Luminescent and redox active dendrimers
- Photophysics and redox properties of transition metal complexes
- Artificial antennae
- Photoinduced electron and energy transfer in multicomponent (supramolecular assemblies
- Photoinduced water splitting
- Luminescent sensors and logic gates
- Design of suitably-functionalized dyes for luminescence imaging and DNA interaction
More than 200 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, 4 edited books and more than 60 invited talks to conferences or to scientific institutions.
Hobbies and personalia
Traveling with Giulia, dauther (until she is too young to decide to travel without me)
Playing guitar
Listen folk-blues music (e.g., the alias of Mr Zimmermann )
Reading comics
Playing volley-ball (once upon a time...)