Physics of Crystal Growth

Alberto Pimpinelli has been Executive Director of the Rice Quantum Institute at Rice University, Houston, since September 2012, and is full Professor in the Physics Department at the Universite Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, France (on leave) and Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. From 2008 to 2012 he was one of the Attaches for Science and Technology of the French Embassy in the US. Trained as a theoretical physicist, Alberto Pimpinelli obtained his PhD from the University of Parma (Italy) with a thesis dealing with statistical physics models of magnetism in insulating systems. His interests shifted towards crystal surfaces and crystal growth when, thanks to fellowships of the Accademia dei Lincei and the European Union, he left Italy for the Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires and then the Laue Langevin Institute in Grenoble (1991-97). In 1997, he was appointed Professor at the Universite Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, where he taught statistical and solid state physics, as well as introductory courses in nanosciences. In 2004 he was invited to the MRSEC at the University of Maryland, where he was appointed Visiting Professor the following year. He has acted as a reviewer for many institutions and scientific agencies (MNEST, ANR, NSF, EU, EC, and the Romanian government). He has authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific papers and book chapters, and has been invited to talk at many international conferences.