Dr. Eric Mazur
Eric
Mazur is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied
Physics at Harvard University. An internationally recognized
scientist and researcher, he leads a vigorous research
program in optical physics and supervises one of the the
largest research groups in the Physics Department at Harvard
University.
After obtaining a Ph.D.
degree in experimental physics at the University of Leiden
in the Netherlands in 1981, Dr. Mazur came to Harvard
University in 1982. In 1984 he joined the faculty and
obtained tenure six years later. Dr. Mazur has made
important contributions to spectroscopy, light scattering,
the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with materials,
and nanophotonics.
In 1988 he was awarded
a Presidential Young Investigator Award. He is Fellow of the
Optical Society of America and Fellow of the American
Physical Society, and has been named APS Centennial Lecturer
during the Society's centennial year. In 2007 Mazur was
appointed Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. In 2008 Mazur
received the Esther Hoffman Beller award from the Optical
Society of America and the Millikan Medal from the American
Association of Physics Teachers. Dr. Mazur has held
appointments as Visiting Professor or Distinguished Lecturer
at Princeton University, Vanderbilt University, the
University of Leuven in Belgium, National Taiwan University
in Taiwan, Carnegie Mellon University, and Hong Kong
University.
In addition to his
work in optical physics, Dr. Mazur is interested in
education, science policy, outreach, and the public
perception of science. He believes that better science
education for all -- not just science majors -- is vital for
continued scientific progress. To this end, Dr. Mazur
devotes part of his research group's effort to education
research and finding verifiable ways to improve science
education. In 1990 he began developing Peer Instruction
a method for teaching large lecture classes interactively.
Dr. Mazur's teaching method has developed a large following,
both nationally and internationally, and has been adopted
across many science disciplines.
Dr. Mazur has served
on numerous committees and councils, including advisory and
visiting committees for the National Science Foundation, has
chaired and organized national and international scientific
conferences, and presented for the Presidential Committee of
Advisors on Science and Technology. He serves as consultant
to industry in the electronics and telecommunications
industry. In 2006 he founded SiOnyx, a company that is
commercializing black silicon, a new form of
silicon developed in Mazur's laboratory. Mazur is currently
Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for SiOnyx. Mazur
is Chairman of the Instructional Strategy Advisory Group for
Turning Technologies, a company developing interactive
response systems for the education market. He also serves on
the Scientific Advisory Panel for Allied Minds, a pre-seed
investment company creating partnerships with key
universities to fund corporate spin-outs in early stage
technology companies, and on the Scientific Advisory Board
for the Lifeboat Foundation, a nonprofit nongovernmental
organization dedicated to encouraging scientific
advancements.
Dr. Mazur is author or
co-author of 226 scientific publications and 12 patents. He
has also written on education and is the author of Peer
Instruction: A User's Manual (Prentice Hall, 1997), a
book that explains how to teach large lecture classes
interactively. In 2006 he helped produce the award-winning
DVD Interactive Teaching.
