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Crespi Honored with Downsbrough Faculty Development Professorship in Physics

Vincent Crespi has been named Penn State's first Downsbrough Professor of Physics.

Crespi, who joined the Penn State faculty in the fall of 1997, is a theoretical physicist whose research is aimed at developing a broad framework of knowledge in condensed-matter physics of materials.  His current focus is on novel semiconductors, structural energics of materials, electron transport, and superconductivity.  A critical aspect of his research strategy is close collaboration with experimentalists.   Among the applications he is interested in are carbon-tubule-based nanodevices, one billionth of a meter in size.  He is studying their synthesis, mechanical properties, and electronic structures, including certain mechanical deformations that have a powerful influence on their electronic properties.  His other research topics include carbon nanotubes, designed to optimize storage of hydrogen, which could supply fuel to nonpolluting vehicles powered by fuel cells.

Crespi earned a bachelorís degree in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 and a doctoral degree in physics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1994.  He was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in graduate-level condensed-matter physics at the University of California at Berkeley from 1994 to 1995 and then a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory from 1995 to 1997, when he joined the Penn State faculty.

Crespi's awards include the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) in 1999, the Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering in 1998, and the Research Innovation Award from the Research Corporation Foundation in 1999.

The Downsbrough Career Development Professorship, supported by a commitment from George and Margaret Downsbrough, was created in 1996 to provide critical financial support and encouragement for faculty starting their academic careers in Department of Physics in the Eberly College of Science.  The award provides recognition of a faculty member's current achievements and potential to achieve eminence.  George Downsbrough, retired president of HRB Singer Corporation, and Margaret Downsbrough, are longtime residents of State College and friends and benefactors of Penn State, including the Eberly College of Science.

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Last update:  15 February 2000