A. Paul Alivisatos (born November 12, 1959) is an American chemist and academic administrator who serves as the 14th president of the University of Chicago. A scientist of Greek descent who has been hailed as a pioneer in nanomaterials development,^[1][2] and is an internationally recognized authority on the fabrication of nanocrystals and their use in biomedical and renewable energy applications.^[3] He was ranked fifth among the world's 100 top chemists for the period 2000–2010 in the list released by Thomson Reuters.^[4] In 2009, he was named the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory^[5] and in 2014 he was named a laureate for the National Medal of Science.^[6][7] In 2016 he was named Berkeley's Vice Chancellor for Research.^[8] As of July 1, 2017, he became University of California, Berkeley's Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, and then acted as Vice Chancellor for Research on an interim basis.^[9] In February 2021, he was named the 14th president of the University of Chicago. He assumed his role on September 1.^[10]

Alivisatos is also Samsung Distinguished Professor in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research^[11] and Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering at Berkeley. In addition, he directs the Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute (ENSI), a new institute on the Berkeley campus launched by the Kavli Foundation to explore the application of nanoscience to sustainable energy technologies.^[12][13]