Zuzanna S. Siwy
Biography
Zuzanna S. Siwy, Ph.D., is Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Chemistry, and Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from Silesian University of Technology in Poland in 1997 and completed postdoctoral research at Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung in Germany and the University of Florida before joining UC Irvine in 2005. Siwy's research focuses on ionic transport through nanopores and nanochannels, with particular emphasis on developing synthetic nanopore systems that mimic biological ion channels and exploring applications in biosensing, nanofluidics, and energy conversion.
Siwy is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2009, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2009-2010, and was named an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow from 2007-2009. She has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles with an h-index of 67 and holds multiple patents related to nanopore technology and nanodevices.
Siwy has supervised 18 doctoral students to completion and has served in various leadership roles at UC Irvine, including as co-director of the Chemical and Materials Physics Program from 2013 to 2018 and as equity advisor in the School of Physical Sciences from 2013 to 2015. She serves on the editorial board of ACS Nano and was previously an editor of Physics Letters A. Her work has been featured on journal covers and highlighted in publications including Nature Nanotechnology, Science, and Physical Review Focus.
Return to topEducation
- Habilitation in Chemical Physics, Polish National Committee of Science, 2004
- PhD in Chemical Sciences, Silesian University of Technology, 1997
- MSc Eng. in Technology of Polymers, Silesian University of Technology, 1995
Distinctions
- AAAS Fellow, 2019
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2009-2010
- Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2013
- PECASE Award (Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers) nominated by NSF, 2009
- Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2001
- Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 2007-2009
- Celebrating Women in Science: Women in Materials Science, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018
- The Chancellor's Professor, UC Irvine, 2021
- Fellow of the Foundation for Polish Science, 2000
- Prize of the Polish Minister of Education for the PhD Thesis, 1998
Areas of Expertise
- Nanofluidic Transport Phenomena
- Ion Current Rectification
- Synthetic Nanopore Fabrication
- Single Molecule Detection
- Concentration Polarization Dynamics
- Electrokinetic Gating Mechanisms
- Resistive-Pulse Particle Sensing
Recent Publications
- Alanis, K., Silva, S.A., Singh, S., Lin, K., Schaeffer, T., Omadoko, O., Fourkas, J., Baker, L.A., Siwy, Z.S., “Chiral Electrokinetic Phenomena in Single Nanopores” (opens in new tab), Electroanalysis, vol. 37, pp. e202400172, 2025.
- Cain, D., Cao, E., Vlassiouk I., Schaeffer, T., Siwy, Z.S., “Ion Concentration Polarization Causes a Nearly Pore-Length Independent Conductance of Nanopores” (opens in new tab), Faraday Discussions, vol. 257, pp. 344-359, 2025.
- Wawrzkiewicz-Jalowiecka, A., Krasowska, M., Strzelewicz, A., Cho, A.D., Siwy, Z.S., “Asymmetric Nanopores Sustain Hours Long Stationary Ion Current Instabilities with Voltage Controlled Temporal Patterns and Predictability” (opens in new tab), Measurement Journal of the International Measurement Confederation, vol. 249, pp. 116950, 2025.
- Cao, E., Siwy, Z.S., “Leaving Constraints of Single Nanopores and Designing Biomimetic Nanopore Arrays” (opens in new tab), Current Opinion in Electrochemistry, vol. 51, pp. 101677, 2025.
- Cao, E., Siwy, Z.S., “Heterogeneous Nanopore Arrays – Selective Modification of Nanopores Embedded in a Membrane” (opens in new tab), Advanced Materials, vol. 37, pp. 2418987, 2025.
- Ramirez, P., Portillo, S., Mafe, S., Siwy, Z.S., Cervera, J., “Characterization of Negative Differential Resistance in Asymmetric Nanopores Obtained from Two Soluble Electrolytes” (opens in new tab), Journal of Chemical Physics, vol. 162, pp. 194707, 2025.
- Abu-Rjal, R., Siwy, Z.S., Green, Y., “Electrical Response of Nanofluidic Systems Subjected to Viscosity Gradients” (opens in new tab), Physical Review E, vol. 111, pp. 065105, 2025.
- Cho A.D., Wawrzkiewicz-Jalowiecka A., Dewi E.P., Tang S., Cain D., Cao E., Martens C., Schaffer T.E., Cervera J., Ramirez P., Mafe S., Siwy Z.S., “Nanopores with Ionic Memory in Oscillating Ion Current Signals” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 147, pp. 47559-47572, 2025.
- Cao, E., Cain, D., Silva, S., Siwy, Z.S., “Ion Concentration Polarization Tunes Interpore Interactions and Transport Properties of Nanopore Arrays” (opens in new tab), Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 34, pp. 2312646, 2024.
- Ciesla M., Dybiec B., Krasowska M., Siwy Z., Strzelewicz A., “Numerical Modeling of Anisotropic Particle Diffusion through a Cylindrical Channel” (opens in new tab), Molecules, vol. 29, 2024.
- Su, Y.S., Hung, W.H., Fauziah, A.R., Siwy, Z.S., Yeh, L.H., “A pH Gradient Induced Rectification Inversion in Asymmetric Nanochannels Leads to Remarkably Improved Osmotic Power” (opens in new tab), Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 456, pp. 141064, 2023.
- Siwy, Z.S., Bruening, M., Howorka, S., “Nanopores: Synergy from DNA Sequencing to industrial Filtration – Small Holes with Big Impact” (opens in new tab), Chemical Society Reviews, vol. 52, pp. 1983-1994, 2023.
- Aluru, N., Siwy, Z.S., “Fluids and Electrolytes Under Confinement in Single-Digit Nanopores” (opens in new tab), Chemical Reviews, vol. 123, pp. 2737-2831, 2023.
- Silva, S.A., Singh, S., Fourkas, J.T., Siwy, Z.S., “Gating Ionic and Fluid Transport with Chiral Solvent” (opens in new tab), Faraday Discussions, vol. 246, pp. 508-519, 2023.
- Mazur, K., Siwy, Z.S., Adamczyk, A., Kuciel, S., “Synergistic Effect of Aramid and Basalt Fibers on Mechanical, Thermal and Dynamic Properties of Polyactide Hybrid Composites” (opens in new tab), Industrial Crops and Products, vol. 198, pp. 116630, 2023.
- Alanis, K., Siwy, Z.S., Baker, L.A., “Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy of Nafion-Modified Nanopores” (opens in new tab), Journal of the Electrochemical Society, vol. 170, pp. 066510, 2023.
- Frey, T.L., Fruehauf, K.R., Lucas, R.A., Polster, J.W., Shea, K.J., Siwy, Z.S., “Electrochemical Probing of Steric, Electrostatic and Hydrophobic Interactions of Large Cations in Polymers of Intrinsic Porosity” (opens in new tab), Journal of the Electrochemical Society, vol. 169, pp. 020566, 2022.
- Combs, C., Seith, D.D., Bovyn, M.J., Gross, S.P., Xie, X, Siwy, Z.S., “Deep Learning Assisted Mechanotyping of Individual Cells through Repeated Deformations and Relaxations in Undulating Channels” (opens in new tab), Biomicrofluidics, vol. 16, pp. 014104, 2022.
- Polster, J.W., Aydin, F., de Souza, J.P., Bazant, M.Z., Pham, T.A., Siwy, Z.S., “Rectified and Salt Concentration Dependent Wetting of Hydrophobic Nanopores” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 144, pp. 11693-11705, 2022.
- Rusell, W.S., Lin, C.Y., Siwy, Z.S., “Gating with Charge Inversion to Control Ionic Transport in Nanopores” (opens in new tab), ACS Applied Nano Materials, vol. 5, pp. 17682-17692, 2022.
Most Cited Publications
- Howorka, S., Siwy, Z.S., “Nanopore Analytics: Sensing of Single Molecules” (opens in new tab), Chemical Society Reviews, vol. 38, pp. 2360-2384, 2009.
- Siwy, Z., “Ion Current Rectification in Nanopores and Nanotubes with Broken Symmetry – Revisited” (opens in new tab), Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 16, pp. 735-746, 2006.
- Vlassiouk, I., Siwy, Z., “Nanofluidic diode” (opens in new tab), Nano Letters, vol. 7, pp. 552-556, 2007.
- Apel P., Korchev Y.E., Siwy Z., Spohr R., Yoshida M., “Diode-Like Single Ion-Track Membrane Prepared by Electro-Stopping” (opens in new tab), Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, vol. 184, pp. 337-346, 2001.
- Siwy Z., Fulinski A., “Fabrication of a Synthetic Nanopore Ion-Pump” (opens in new tab), Physical Review Letters, vol. 89, pp. 198103, 2002.
- Siwy Z., Heins E., Harrell C.C., Kohli P., Martin C.R., “Conical-Nanotube Ion-Current Rectifiers: The Role of Surface Charge” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 126, pp. 10850-10851, 2004.
- Siwy Z., Trofin, L., Baker, L., Kohli P., Trautmann C., Martin C.R., “Protein Biosensors Based on Biofunctionalized Conical Gold Nanotubes” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 127, pp. 5000-5001, 2005.
- Siwy, Z.S., Howorka, S., “Engineered Voltage-Responsive Nanopores” (opens in new tab), Chemical Society Reviews, vol. 39, pp. 1115-11, 2010.
- Vlassiouk, I, Kozel, T., Siwy, Z.S., “Biosensing with Nanofluidic Diodes” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 131, pp. 8211-8220, 2009.
- Siwy Z., Kosinska I.D., Fulinski A., Martin C.R., “Asymmetric Diffusion through Asymmetric Nanopores” (opens in new tab), Physical Review Letters, vol. 94, pp. 048102 (1-4), 2005.
Contact Information
Website: https://www.physics.uci.edu/~zsiwy/
Email: zsiwy@uci.edu
Phone: (714) 712-0027
Address: 210G Rowland Hall
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Last updated on 4/6/2026.