Jonathan Spanier, PhD

Spanier directs the Mesoscale Materials Laboratory in the College of Engineering, where his research focuses on designing, preparing and characterizing new materials. His current work includes developing materials to advance photovoltaic cells and energy storage.

With an extensive background in materials science, applied physics and physical chemistry, Spanier is pioneering the use of ferroelectrics, multiferroics, complex oxides, atomic layer deposition, nanowires and thin films in energy conversion and storage. He held research and technical staff positions at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in physical acoustics and in the semiconductor device industry before completing his doctorate degree and moving on to a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard. Spanier also served as a visiting lecturer at the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.