Alessandra Ricca

Alessandra Ricca is a computational chemist whose research focuses primarily on theoretical chemistry. She researches modeling properties of organic compounds in the gas phase and ices, emphasizing the formation, reactivity, spectroscopy, and optical properties of the researched compounds. In Astrophysics and Analysis at NASA, Ricca studies PAH infrared spectroscopy and nanograins in the interstellar medium. In NASA Solar System Workings, Ricca studies ammonia hydrates on Charon and other icy bodies. In addition to her work at NASA, Ricca is a Senior Research Chemist at the SETI Institute.

Early Life and Education

Ricca was born in Sanremo, Italy to a Italian dad and Swiss mom. Her family was heavily focused on medicine, as her dad was an M.D. and her mother helped him with cancer detection testing. From a young age, she was influenced by her family to become a doctor, as her father was a surgeon and she enjoyed watching the TV series Medical Center. She also has a brother who is five years younger that her.

Ricca has an Italian and Swiss dual citizenship. After spending her early years in Italy, she attended a religious boarding school in Monaco in 9th grade. French was the primary language spoken at the school, and the whole experience was a shock to her, as it was hard to sleep in a room with thirty other girls. She then transferred to Geneva, Switzerland to finish high school and attended college at the University of Geneva. All her classes were in French. In college, she first majored in biochemistry but later switched to chemistry, as biochemistry was a newer field that was relatively hard to learn while chemistry was a field she could actually understand and explain. Initially, however, Ricca wanted to major in medicine, but because she enjoyed problem solving, she realized she was interested in research and began to distance herself from being a practitioner.

Ricca received her Bachelor of Science Degree (B.S.) and Master of Science Degree (M.S.) from the University of Geneva, Switzerland in December 1988 and March 1989, respectively. In July of 1993, she received a PhD. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1993, she received a National Research Council Research Associateship at NASA Ames Research Center, and in 1995, she became a NASA Ames Postdoctoral Fellow. She then became a Postdoctoral Fellow at Kings College, London, UK, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University from 1997 to 1998.

Other Activities

From 2001 to 2008, she was a mentor for students attending summer programs at University of Notre Dame and UC Berkeley. In 2005, she was a reviewer for the National Science Foundation, and from 2006 through 2008, she was a mentor for the Summer Research for Undergraduates Program in Astrobiology at the SETI Institute. She was also a referee for the Journal of Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics, Chemical Physics Letters, and Astrophysical Journal. In addition, she has published many articles and been invited to review articles as well.

Honors and Awards

She won the 1997 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology and 2008 NASA Honor Award. She also won 1999 ELORET Thermosciences Institute Outstanding Achievement Award and the 2000 and 2002 ELORET Superior Achievement Award.