Smaranda Marinescu

Prof. Smaranda Marinescu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC). She holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from MIT and conducted postdoctoral research at Caltech with NSF support. Her research focuses on developing biologically inspired catalytic systems to convert solar energy into chemical bonds, addressing challenges in H₂ evolution, CO₂ reduction, and sustainable energy storage. Currently, she is a Humboldt Research Fellow collaborating with Prof. Serena DeBeer at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, leveraging synchrotron techniques like XAS/XES spectroscopy to study cobalt- and sulfur-based compounds. This collaboration aims to advance electrocatalytic complexes and MOFs for scalable renewable energy applications.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry, MIT
• Postdoctoral Fellowship at Caltech (NSF-funded)

Research Interests: Her work bridges inorganic chemistry and environmental sustainability, emphasizing catalyst design for energy conversion. Key areas include:

• Photocatalytic systems for solar-to-chemical energy
• CO₂ reduction pathways
• Hydrogen evolution reactions
• Applications of metal-organic frameworks

Awards & Grants:

• Humboldt Research Fellowship (2023-2024)
• NSF Center for Chemical Innovation Program Fellowship

Advising & Collaboration: Leads the Marinescu Group at USC, mentoring students who contribute to groundbreaking discoveries in emerging energy fields. Her international collaboration with the DeBeer Group at Max Planck combines experimental and spectroscopic expertise to accelerate clean energy solutions.

Future Work: Aims to advance scalable energy storage systems while maintaining teaching and mentorship roles at USC during her research visits to Germany in 2023-2024.