Physics Alumni Spotlight

Dr. Eteri Svanidze, Class of 2009

Dr. Eteri Svanidze received her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Fredonia, majoring in experimental physics and applied mathematics. Upon completing several summer internships, she chose to pursue her graduate degree from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Concentrating in the area of experimental condensed matter physics, her PhD dissertation was focused on design, synthesis, and characterization of itinerant magnets, composed of non-magnetic elements. Upon completion of her graduate studies, she took a brief visiting researcher position at the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Currently, Dr. Svanidze is a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany. Her work focuses on novel uranium-based heavy fermion systems. Eteri’s passion for synthesis of crystals has been clear from an early age, with the very first batch of copper sulfate crystals grown in the fifth grade!

Read about the amazing discovery she made while at Rice University of a material that is 4 times stronger than steel!

 "Titanium + gold = new gold standard for artificial joints"

Crystal structure of beta titanium-3 gold. (Image courtesy of E. Morosan/Rice University)