Duncan Honors Nordlander

Duncan Honors Nordlander

BY Dana Durbin
Rice News Staff
May 13, 1999

Professor of Physics Peter Nordlander can do it all: he’s a prominent researcher, outstanding teacher and mentor.

So it’s not surprising that Nordlander is the recipient of the

Charles W. Duncan Jr. Achievement Award for Outstanding Faculty

. The award was established to recognize a tenure-track or tenured member of the faculty with 10 or fewer years of service for outstanding performance in both scholarship and teaching. Its recipient is determined by the president upon recommendations of the Deans Council. Last year was the first year the award was given.

With nine years under his belt as Rice professor, Nordlander joked that he received the award just in the nick of time: one more year here and he wouldn’t be eligible for it.

Nordlander excels in both teaching and research, according to Kathleen Matthews, dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences.

As a professor, Matthews described Nordlander’s teaching style as “lively” and said that he is able to generate interest in the material among an audience normally resistant to physics.

“His ability to convey information effectively and to elicit curiosity are the marks of excellence in teaching,” she said.

He developed the course Concepts in Physics for nonscience majors and has taught a wide range of courses, from Physics for Poets to the graduate level Solid State Physics.

Nordlander’s research area is theoretical physics with a strong focus on condensed-matter physics. The most immediate application of his research, according to Nordlander, is the singular electron transistor, a new type of transistor expected to be the basis of the future of transistor electronics.

His research also involves nanoscience, particularly the study of the electrical transport properties of nanoshells and how they behave in a variety of environments.

“His productivity and breadth are remarkable, and he has made important contributions in several different areas of physics,” Matthews said.

In addition to his teaching and research, Nordlander is considered an effective mentor to graduate students, Matthews said. His guidance and insight to students is important as they develop their research style and approach.

Nordlander received his master’s of science engineering from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and went on to obtain a Ph.D. in theoretical physics there. He served as a docent at Chalmers in 1991.

He joined Rice in 1993 as an associate professor, and was made a full professor in 1997. He is a member of the American Physical Society and the American Chemical Society. In 1985, Nordlander received the SKF Corp. Thesis Award.

The Sweden native described Rice as a “wonderful institution” and quipped that he enjoys Houston’s climate–even the hot summers, a far cry from what he experienced in his homeland.