Here is Part 2 of Alex Diodati’s journey from science to motorsport where he explains how he wants racing to help communicate science. You can read Part 1 of Alex’s journey here.
“The strong result of 2022 gave me confidence and motivation to pursue the next challenge: Club Racing and working my way up the racing ladder. 2023 was a lot of building and learning just what it meant to be sponsored, making connections, and of course doing some great science along the way. I really wanted to find a way to blend the two together though.”
In 2023, this was accomplished as Alex became part of the Scientist in Every Florida School Program, a statewide initiative that spawned from University of Florida as a means to excite and engage kids in science by bringing in scientists to local schools across the state. As of now, Alex has visited several schools, speaking to well over a thousand kids between K-12 grades.
“It has been an absolute blessing to be part of the SEFS program. It is a sad thing, because kids these days have an image of a scientist that is either a character from the Big Bang Theory, not in a good light, or someone like Einstein in a lab coat. Never do they expect to see someone who is a scientist in their 20s or early 30s, driving go karts and racing cars. It’s not that being like someone from the Big Bang Theory or looking like someone like Einstein in a lab coat is a bad thing, don’t get me wrong. If that’s who you are go for it. But in shows its used as comedy to poke fun at nerds, and kids are impressionable. If being a nerd means getting made fun of, who wants to do that? My mission is you can be whoever you want to be and still be a scientist. You don’t have to be either of the two stereotypes only.”
Part of his devotion to STEM education is doing live demos of racing and the way chemistry and physics are used in motorsport. Alex uses a variety of unique demonstrations to show how science and racing blend. From lighting gasoline on fire to show how combustion reactions work, correlating metabolism to an engine, Newton’s Laws and laws of inertia to describe vehicle dynamics and even bringing his own go kart to schools to drive around and show kids for a live demonstration, he has one goal in mind: hook them on science.
“It is very humbling and fulfilling to see the excitement on their faces. I tell all of them: the physics and science they learn in their class is directly applicable to how a race car works. All I hope is if I can motivate one kid out there, who knows what they will achieve with that little push.”
For the 2024 season, Alex initiated a campaign to run in South Atlantic Road Racing Championship (SARRC), the most successful regional race series in all of SCCA. Each year, the series has 25 races and over 4000 total entries, making it one of the ultimate proving grounds for developing racing drivers and for climbing the racing ladder. It kicked off to a great start with a victory in his first race driving a Formula 600 prepared my Clint McMahan and sponsored by Julius Curry, a former NFL player and owner of Cury Motorsports.
However, the rigor of completing his doctoral work reared its head, and priorities had to shift for the rest of 2024 and making the transition to a postdoctoral researcher.
Since 2024, he has continued work in my field as a postdoctoral scientist and have focused on training and providing those in earlier years of their education in Christou lab with a strong foundation. The passing of the metaphorical torch, shall we say to another generation of scientists.
As his FSAE days, all good things must come to an end in pursuit of other and higher ventures. 2024 was no more than two years ago, so the ultimate question becomes what has 2025 brought?
“I completed my Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Florida in later 2024, successfully defending my dissertation ‘Design and Synthesis of Molecular Magnetic Quantum Materials’. My research was focused on developing systems of molecular qubits for applications ranging from quantum computing to quantum sensing. Now, I am the lead on a lot of exciting projects that involve actually using molecules in functioning quantum devices.”
“2025 was an incredible year… I got engaged to my lovely fiancé Vanisa, and spent a lot of the time traveling for conferences and performing experiments at the National High Field Magnetic Lab. It really sucked because yes, racing did take a significant back burner, but that is life sometimes. So far, 2026 I have spent learning how to get good at managing my own karting program which has brought a few podiums and good results.”
By managing his own karting program, he means everything: Engine building, set up, etc. All of those skills from FSAE he is using in LO206 karting at the local level. Like his autocross days, budget has been a restriction.
“Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say. If I got to build my own engines and spend a day at the track literally driving back and forth on a straightaway just to get that data so I can see if I have things optimized, I’ll do it. I love the learning and I love the process sometimes for than the overall result.”
The scientific method at play, even in his racing endeavors.
Now mostly through 2026, Alex is ready to revitalize his racing endeavors now that he is fully settled in his new position and made headway scientifically. Currently, he has published two scientific papers, one recently that has achieved “Hot Paper of the Month” in the journal Dalton Transactions. He currently is in the process of submitting three more, one in the prestigious journal Nature Chemistry, one in the top tier journal Science, and another in Dalton. He is also pursuing opportunities in Europe applying for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie scholarship for specialized training in quantum materials.
“It’s all about finding that balance, and after taking a year or two to focus on myself, and my career, I am fully committed to revitalizing my racing endeavors and wish to fully pursue my alternative career in professional racing.
“My ultimate dream is to blend my two passions together, using racing as a platform for scientific communication. I want to show kids, and maybe some adults too, that being in STEM is more than just wearing a lab coat and safety goggles. I am always looking for more of these opportunities and people to work with!”
With his results in karting, autocross, Formula SAE, and SCCA so far, his long-term objective is to eventually race in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and merge his passions of racing and science together. Alex is actively looking to represent and help expand brands that share his values, and want to be part of his amazing, and maybe a bit wild, journey. “Never give up on your dream. I look at the keeper of Cape Verde, Vozinha. The guy is 40 and he made it to the world cup because he never gave up. It’s never too late, and just because someone isn’t a teenager doesn’t
Author: Alex Diodati
A die-hard racer at heart, Alex is also a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Florida researching next generation molecular technologies that can be used for quantum computing.
