Peter T. Smith

Peter T. Smith received a BS in Chemistry from New York University in 2014 performing research on peptidomimetic molecules under the guidance of Prof. Kent Kirshenbaum. In 2020 he completed his PhD in Chemistry as an NSF Predoctoral Fellow at University of California, Berkeley with Prof. Christopher J. Chang. Peter's graduate research focused on electrochemical and photochemical catalytic transformations of small molecules such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water into value-added products. This work took inspiration from homogeneous, heterogeneous, and biological catalysis to create hybrid platforms with selected benefits from each field, including atomically precise design, high surface area, and guided substrate delivery

Subsequently, Peter joined Prof. Chad A. Mirkin's group at Northwestern University in the Department of Chemistry and the International Institute for Nanotechnology where he developed ultrahigh-throughput methods for the synthesis of nanoparticle megalibraries. Using nanolithography, such megalibraries can contain millions of unique nanoparticles on a single substrate. In addition to synthesis methods, Peter established techniques for complementary high-throughput catalyst screening of megalibraries to discover high-performing new materials for a range of reactions.

Peter joined the University of Georgia Department of Chemistry in 2025 as an Assistant Professor. His research group explores catalyzing sustainable synthesis using electricity and light. Discovering catalysts for sustainable chemical synthesis and energy storage necessitates exploration of new design spaces and strategies for the control of multi-step electron transfers to break and form bonds. By creating new tandem catalysis platforms and ultrahigh-throughput experimentation methods, we will rapidly uncover molecular and materials design rules for improved charge manipulation. This knowledge will be used to study multi-catalytic cycles, molecularly modified materials, tandem electron delivery, and varied chemical inputs for electrocatalytic synthesis from abundant or waste feedstocks.