When Giovanni Fanchini arrived in London, Ont. for the first time, he accidently left his travel kit at the airport.
The kit had a lot of sentimental value because it was given to him by his grandmother many years ago. ‘Don’t worry,’ Fanchini’s fiancée told him, ‘if something you love is left somewhere, you have to go back to that place.’
While he was never reunited with his travel kit, he has since made the city his home as the newest faculty member in the Physics and Astronomy Department at The University of Western Ontario.
Fanchini, 39, is a supervisor for the physics honours research course and will be teaching an undergraduate course in the winter term. He is settling down in London after travelling for the past few years, but he is still a long way from his home country.
Born in northwestern Italy, Fanchini spent his childhood in Italy and France. His family moved often because of his father’s job in banking. During his early years Fanchini developed a love for travel.
Travel, says Fanchini, is an important part of his life, from meeting new colleagues and finding new ideas to exploring new opportunities for collaborations. His research interests have allowed him to visit many countries, including India, Mexico and China.
However, there were a number of years where Fanchini stayed in one place. He studied at the University of Turin in Italy for more than 10 years.
“It’s my second home.”
After completing undergraduate and master’s degrees in engineering, he finished his PhD in physics in 2003. Just over a year ago, Fanchini completed his postdoctoral fellowship in carbon-based nanomaterials at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Rutgers is where Fanchini met his fiancée, Jannica. She is a professor at the Abo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. Despite the distance between them, Fanchini is confident they will be reunited soon because of their love for travel.
Australia was one of Fanchini’s most recent destinations. He spent a year doing research on organic solar cells for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
Now as an assistant professor in the Physics and Astronomy department, Fanchini is focused on establishing himself at Western.
“My priority is to set up good research and a good level of training,” he says.
Fanchini is also a junior researcher for the Canada Research Chair program and devotes a lot of his time to his research in carbon-based nanomaterials.
“I believe that it’s very important that the teacher also be a researcher.”
Fanchini says he was attracted to Western because of its ample resources. He felt the university would be a good environment to conduct his research.
“The physics department has a great deal of opportunities … There are some very good large-scale facilities here – like the nanofabrication lab.”
Fanchini is mentoring four students, one of whom is Muhammad Shafiq, a first-year PhD student from Pakistan. Shafiq says two things about Fanchini have stood out since he started working with him in September.
“He is very energetic and very enthusiastic. He wants things to be done as quickly as possible,” he says with a laugh.
Under Fanchini’s supervision, Shafiq is experimenting with a material called graphene, a thin layer of carbon that could be used to develop cheap and efficient solar cells on a large scale.
Shafiq and Fanchini meet once a week to discuss their research progress, but they also have many informal meetings.
“He’s always available. If I knock on his door and need any help, he will come help me,” says Shafiq.
For Fanchini, interacting with and assisting students like Shafiq is one of the most gratifying parts of his job.
“If you really realize that you are helping the student, that is a good reward.”
Giovanni Fanchini
Hobbies: skiing, hiking, reading history books
Favourite place in London: Covent Garden Market
Next travel destination: Nigeria
The writer is a master’s student studying journalism.