Two Penn faculty elected American Physical Society Fellows
Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Engineering have been elected by their peers in recognition of their contributions to the field.
Ritesh Agarwal (left), Srinivasa Ramanujan Distinguished Scholar in Materials Science and Engineering, and Douglas Jerolmack, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics.
Each year, no more than one half of one percent of the Society’s membership, excluding student members, is elected to the status of APS Fellow, for outstanding advances in physics through original research and publication or significant innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology.
Ritesh Agarwal is the Srinivasa Ramanujan Distinguished Scholar in Materials Science and Engineering. His research focuses on developing and understanding new electronic and photonic materials, with applications in next-generation computing, sensing, and quantum technologies. He is being recognized by the APS “for pioneering contributions to materials science by engineering novel electronic and photonic materials by combining quantum geometry and topology of bandstructures with precisely defined local defects and elucidation of their properties by developing new nonlinear photogalvanic spectroscopies.”
Agarwal has received numerous honors for his work, including recognition from the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, and is widely regarded for his creative approach to bridging fundamental physics and practical materials design.
Douglas Jerolmack is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics. He is being recognized by the APS for “pioneering investigations into the universal behaviors governing the formation, failure, and flow of soft earth materials,” in addition to his “outstanding leadership in building a soft earth geophysics community.”
Jerolmack is an experimental geophysicist who is a pioneer in the emerging field of Soft Earth Geophysics, which centers on advancing our understanding of Earth’s dynamic surface through the physics of “squishy” materials, soft matter that includes everything from sand and mud to rocks and ice. He also works with roboticists and cognitive scientists to improve how we explore Earth, the moon, and Mars, and with education experts to improve learning and engagement in STEM.
APS is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.
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