News

Tribute to a Groundbreaking Scientist, Dr. Olga I. Micic

September 21, 2006

It is with heartfelt sadness that we report on the passing of Dr. Olga Micic. Olga was an exceptional, internationally recognized scientist who had interacted and collaborated with NREL colleagues since 1982 under a U.S.-Yugoslavia BiNational Science Agreement. She was an extremely valued member of NREL’s scientific staff. Those of us privileged to work with her came to appreciate Olga's great scientific insights and leadership in the areas of nanoscience and semiconductor quantum dots and nanocrystals.

Olga, working together with A.J. Nozik and his NREL group, conducted some of the earliest research on quantum dots, a scientific area that has grown enormously and is of great current interest and importance. Some of the initial publications on semiconductor quantum dots originated from this collaboration. During the civil strife and the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1990, Olga spent a Sabbatical period at Argonne National Laboratory, where in 1991 she became the first recipient of the U.S. DOE Maria-Goeppert-Mayer Distinguished Scholar Award for Women. After her stay at Argonne, Olga came to NREL in 1993 to continue working with A.J. Nozik and his group as a Visiting Senior Research Associate. In 1993, Olga was appointed as a Senior Scientist and soon thereafter became a Principal Investigator in NREL’s Office of Science/Basic Energy Sciences Program in Solar Photochemistry. In 2001, Olga became a U.S. citizen. In 2002, she was promoted to Principal Scientist.

Olga and her NREL collaborators produced and published many groundbreaking advances in the area of semiconductor nanocrystals/quantum dots; her contributions to NREL’s reputation in basic science were outstanding. We, her NREL colleagues, will sorely miss Olga, both as an outstanding scientist and as our trusted, gentle friend.