Honoring exceptional scholarly and artistic achievement
The Pierre Agostini Prize has been established to memorialize Professor Agostini’s research achievements that led to him winning the Nobel Prize in Physics (2023) and to highlight Ohio State’s commitment to the promotion of innovative and consequential research and creative expression.
L.S. Fan, Distinguished University Professor and C. John Easton Professor in Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is the first recipient of the Pierre Agostini Prize at The Ohio State University. Fan’s research focuses on creating cleaner, more efficient ways to produce energy, fuels and chemicals while reducing pollution.
“Professor Fan’s innovative and consequential research makes him a worthy winner of the inaugural Agostini Prize. Ohio State is committed to research that helps solve the world’s greatest challenges, and Professor Fan’s science and engineering technology meets at the intersection of energy demand and sound environmental stewardship.”
The Agostini Prize, awarded to only one faculty member annually, is the university’s most prestigious award for scholarly and artistic achievement. It is given to a faculty member whose research or creative work is recognized by their peers to be so groundbreaking and influential that it deserves to be called “world class” and would typically be recognized through national or international awards. It recognizes ground-breaking work that decisively contributes to the progress of one or more fields or changes that field’s direction. The achievement recognized by the Agostini Prize may be of foundational nature for the field(s) of research from which it emerged or stand out for its exceptional contributions in addressing urgent societal issues. The work may have developed in segments over an extended period, or it may be a singular, revolutionary contribution.
The Agostini Prize includes an award of $50,000, split evenly into a cash award and a research budget.
Nomination and Selection
Colleges, through the dean or representative, shall submit a nomination package through the university’s limited submission portal, which should include a nomination letter from the nominee’s department and college, the nominee’s CV, and two letters of recommendation from scholars external to Ohio State. Each college may nominate up to two faculty members in good standing with the college and university and who has worked at Ohio State for at least four years. Nominations will be reviewed and ranked by a faculty committee, and the ERIK senior vice president will make the final decision for the awardee.
