Claudia Turro

Claudia Turro is the Chair and Dr. Melvin L. Morris Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University (OSU), within the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds editorial roles, including Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Her research focuses on inorganic photochemistry, excited state processes, and their applications in solar energy conversion and photochemotherapy.

Education: B.S. (1987) and Ph.D. (1992) from Michigan State University. Postdoctoral training at Columbia University under Nicholas J. Turro. Joined OSU in 1996. Notable awards include National Academy of Sciences membership (2024), American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellowship (2024), and multiple ACS awards.

Research spans transition metal complexes for light-driven reactions in cancer therapy, solar fuels, and sensing. Key contributions include dirhodium and ruthenium complexes for hydrogen production and photodynamic therapy. Her group employs ultrafast spectroscopy and nanosecond transient absorption techniques.

Awards:

• 2024: National Academy of Sciences Membership
• 2024: American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellowship
• 2019: Harlan Hatcher Distinguished Faculty Award
• 2014: Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring Award

Advising & Grants: Supervised 10+ PhD graduates (e.g., Bryan Albani, Lauren Loftus) and currently mentors 12+ students. Funded by NSF (CHE-1800395), DOE (BES DE-SC0020243), and others. Recent work includes dirhodium/NiO photocathodes for H₂ evolution under red light.

Labs/Teams: Turro Research Group includes postdocs (e.g., Rajani Thapa Magar) and graduate students (e.g., Spencer Burton, Piyush Gupta). Active in collaborative projects with Yiying Wu's group (OSU) on photocatalytic materials.