Peter J. A. Nordlander

Peter J. A. Nordlander is the Wiess Chair and Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Materials Science and NanoEngineering at Rice University. His research focuses on theoretical and computational modeling of nanophotonics and plasmonics phenomena, with applications in energy, catalysis, and biomedical engineering. He holds adjunct roles at institutions like the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has been a Hans Fischer Fellow at TUM/LMU Munich.

Education: M.S. (1980) and Ph.D. (1985) in Engineering and Theoretical Physics from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Postdoctoral work at IBM, Bell Labs, and Rutgers preceded his 1989 faculty appointment at Rice.

Research interests include plasmonic nanostructure design, hot carrier dynamics, and light-matter interactions. His group uses FDTD, FEM, and DFT for simulating optical properties of nanomaterials. Recent work emphasizes renewable energy applications, surface-enhanced spectroscopy, and machine learning-enhanced detection systems.

Over 400 refereed publications and 75,000+ citations reflect his impactful contributions. Awards include the Willis E. Lamb Award, Frank Isakson Prize, and 2022 Eni Energy Transition Prize. He serves as a Fellow of APS, AAAS, SPIE, OSA, and MRS.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Nordlander Nanophotonics Group within Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP), collaborating globally on theoretical and experimental projects. Active in training graduate students and postdocs, emphasizing computational modeling and interdisciplinary research.