Teri W. Odom

Teri W. Odom is an American chemist and materials scientist. She is the Chair of the Chemistry Department, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry, and a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University.

Odom graduated in 1996 from Stanford University with a B.S. in chemistry. She obtained her Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard University in 2001 under the guidance of Charles M. Lieber. Odom conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard with George M. Whitesides from 2001 to 2002.

Odom was elected as the Chair of the Chemistry Department at Northwestern University, starting from September 1, 2018. Odom is also the Associate Director of International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University. Odom was an inaugural Associate Editor for Royal Society of Chemistry's flagship journal Chemical Science (2009-2013). Odom is a member of the editorial advisory board of ACS Nano, Chemical Physics Letters, Journal of Physical Chemistry, and Nano Letters. She is currently the Executive Editor of ACS Photonics.

Odom was a founding Chair of the Noble Metal Nanoparticles Gordon Research Conference which began in 2010.

Research in Odom group focus on controlling materials at 100 nm scale and investigating their size and shape-dependent properties. Odom group has developed parallel, multi-scale pattering tools to generate hierarchical, anisotropic, and 3D hard and soft materials with applications in imaging, sensing, wetting and cancer therapeutics.

As a result of Odom's nanofabrication tools, she has developed flat optics that can manipulate light at the nanoscale and beat the diffraction limit and tunable plasmon-based lasers.

Odom also conducts research into nanoparticle-cell interactions using new biological nanoconstructs that offer imaging and therapeutic functions due to their shape (gold nanostar).

• U.S. Department of Defense Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow, 2017
• Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), 2016
• Materials Research Society (MRS) Fellow, 2016
• Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists, Finalist (Chemistry), 2016
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014
• IPMI Carol Tyler Award, 2014
• Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellow (Hrdy Fellow), Harvard University, 2011
• Defense Science Study Group Member, 2010
• MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award, 2009
• ACS National Fresenius Award (Phi Lambda Upsilon and ACS), 2008
• NIH Director's Pioneer Award, 2008
• Rohm and Haas New Faculty Award, 2007
• ExxonMobil Solid State Chemistry Faculty Fellowship (ACS Inorganic), 2006
• Cottrell Scholar Award (Research Corporation), 2005
• DuPont Young Investigator, 2005
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2005
• Named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as “one of the world’s top young innovators”, 2004
• NSF CAREER Award, 2004–2008
• David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship, 2003–2007
• Victor K. LaMer Award (ACS Colloids and Surface Chemistry), 2003
• Research Innovation Award (Research Corporation), 2002
• National InstiNRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University, 2001–2002
• NSF Predoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University, 1996–99