Prize Recipient

Nitin Samarth
The Pennsylvania State University

"For seminal contributions to semiconductor spintronics through the development of atomically engineered materials."

Nitin Samarth is Verne M. Willaman Professor of Physics and Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, where he also serves as Associate Director of the 2D Crystal Consortium, an NSF-funded Materials Innovation Platform user facility. Samarth is known for pioneering the molecular beam epitaxy of diverse families of spin-based quantum materials, launching two research areas of contemporary importance: semiconductor spintronics and topological spintronics. The principal discoveries enabled by these materials are the observation of long-lived spin coherence in semiconductors and efficient spin-charge conversion in topological insulators. Samarth received his undergraduate (MS) degree in physics from IIT Bombay (India) in 1980 and earned his Ph.D. in 1986 at Purdue University in experimental condensed matter physics under the guidance of J.K. Furdyna. After postdoctoral work at the University of Notre Dame, Samarth joined the physics faculty at Penn State where he also served as Downsbrough Department Head from 2011-2023. Samarth is a Fellow of the APS and AAAS. His other honors include Penn State’s Faculty Scholar Medal in the Physical Sciences and George Atherton Excellence in Teaching Award, and Outstanding Alumnus Awards from Purdue University and IIT Bombay. He has served on the elected chair-line of the APS Division of Materials Physics and currently serves on the chair-line of the APS March Meeting.