Professor Birgeneau received his Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University in 1966 with Professor Werner Wolf. He was on the faculty of Yale for one year and then spent one year at Oxford University. He was at Bell Laboratories from 1968 to 1975 and then went to MIT in September 1975 as Professor of Physics. In 1988 he became head of the department and in 1991 became Dean of Science at MIT. In 2000, he became President of the University of Toronto. In 2004 he became UC Berkeley’s Chancellor and joined the Physics faculty. He concluded his service as Chancellor at the end of May 2013 and is now the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Distinguished Professor of Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, and Public Policy. Professor Birgeneau is the co-chair of the Lincoln Project with Mary Sue Coleman, the President Emeritus of the University of Michigan. The Lincoln Project is an initiative of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences which advocates for the importance of public colleges and universities and devises strategies to increase their funding.
Area of Interest
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Quantum Physics
- Materials Engineering
- Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry
- Nanotechnology
