Francesca Casadio joined the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003 to establish and direct a state of the art conservation science laboratory. She is charged with planning and carrying out scientific research in support of the preservation and study of the Museum’s collections. Dr. Casadio is also the founding co-director of the Northwestern University/ Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (NU-ACCESS). She received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry from the University of Milan, Italy.
Casadio has authored over eighty publications in the scientific and conservation literature, and book chapters and essays in museum catalogs. She was the recipient of the L’Oréal Art and Science of Color Silver Prize in 2006. Her work has been featured on air, online, and in print on: the BBC ,The New York Times, Reuters online media, US National Public radio, The Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, Italy’s il Corriere della sera, il Sole 24 ore, Vogue Italia, radio rai, and other media.
GLI Peer Mentor (2018)