Geoffroy Hautier, the Trustee Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering at Rice University, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), one of the most prestigious recognitions in physics. Fewer than 0.5% of APS members are selected for the distinction each year.
Hautier was honored by the APS Division of Computational Physics “for pioneering work in high-throughput computational materials design and discovery, especially in the field of quantum and optoelectronic materials.”
His research bridges quantum mechanics, computation and artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of new materials for energy conversion, quantum information science and other emerging technologies. A member of the Rice Advanced Materials Institute and the Ken Kennedy Institute, Hautier leads a research group that develops first-principles models and large databases to understand and predict the properties of materials.
Hautier is one of the original developers and co-principal investigator of the Materials Project, an open-access database that has transformed how scientists design and share information about materials. He is also co-founder and chief scientific officer of Matgenix, a company that provides machine-learning, high-throughput simulation and data integration services to accelerate materials and chemical innovation.
Before joining Rice, Hautier was the Hodgson Family Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth and a faculty member at Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. He earned his doctorate in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His more than 150 publications have been cited over 40,000 times, and he serves as an associate editor for npj Computational Materials.
“We are at a moment where theory and computation can guide experiments in ways that were not possible before,” Hautier said. “It is deeply rewarding to see how collaboration across disciplines is speeding up the search for materials that can make an impact. I am grateful to the colleagues, students and the broader research community who have shared in this work ⎯ their insights and dedication have been a constant source of inspiration and motivation.”
Hautier’s fellowship certificate will be presented at the annual meeting of the APS Division of Computational Physics.
His election highlights Rice’s growing strength in computational and quantum materials research — a field that blends physics, data science and engineering to accelerate discovery in next-generation materials for sustainable energy, quantum devices and advanced manufacturing.