Kaxiras Efthymios

Since 1991 he has been a faculty member at Harvard University, where he holds the John Hasbrouck Van Vleck Chair as Professor of Theoretical and Applied Physics in the Department of Physics and as Professor of Applied Mathematics and Physics in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He served as Chairman of the Department of Physics (2020-2023) and Chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics (2017-2020) at Harvard University. He also served, on leave from Harvard University, as Professor and Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Technology at the University of Ioannina, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Research  of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Professor at the Polytechnic University of Lausanne (EPFL) and Visiting Professor at the Polytechnic University  of Zurich (ETH). He became Honorary Professor of the Dept. of Physics of the University of Crete in 2025.

Some of the honours he has been awarded are Distinguished Fellow of the American Physical Society and Chartered Physicist and Fellow of the Institute of Physics (United Kingdom). His research group has developed theoretical methods for modelling solids and liquids, using multiscale approaches, as well as Machine Learning methods and Artificial Intelligence. These methods have been applied to the prediction and elucidation of properties of materials and exploration of the laws governing complex systems. A recent important contribution of his research is the development of the field of 'twistronics', which refers to the manipulation of electronic and mechanical properties of two-dimensional materials. He has published more than 500 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, with over 64 thousands of citations and an h-index of 115 (Google Scholar data, February 2025). He has also authored books on the physics of solids (Atomic and Electronic Structure of Solids, E. Kaxiras, Cambridge University Press), quantum theory of materials (Quantum Theory of Materials, E. Kaxiras and J. D. Joannopoulos, Cambridge University Press), and on applied mathematics (Modern Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engineers, A. Fokas and E. Kaxiras, World ScientificPublishing).