Emilio Méndez

Emilio Mendez is Professor of Physics at Stony Brook University

He previously directed the Department of Science and Technology at Brookhaven National Laboratory

After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Madrid (Spain), Méndez left for the U.S. to continue his education in physics, earning a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979. He then took a postdoctoral position at IBM’s TJ Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, where he was dedicated to research, after which he was part of the strategic planning group and was a line manager.

In 1995 he joined Stony Brook University as a professor of physics, and in 2004 he was appointed Director of the Undergraduate Program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Mendez’s research at IBM was about finding ways to make faster transistors and computer chips, as well as more efficient lasers. He is currently studying, among other materials, carbon nanotubes, cylindrical carbon molecules with novel properties that can improve future electronic and optical devices.

As a member of the American Physical Society, Méndez has received several awards for his scientific contributions, including the 1998 Prince of Asturias Award and the 2000 Fujitsu Quantum Device International Award.