Faculty Highlight: Yuri Gartstein

Yuri Gartstein received his PhD in 1988 from the Institute for Spectroscopy of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He worked as a research physicist (organic solid state physics) in Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences from 1982 to 1993.

In 1993 he was invited to the USA for a collaborative research work sponsored by the US National Research Council and was associated with the NSF Center for Photoinduced Charge Transfer at the University of Rochester and with the Xerox Wilson Research Center. He was employed by the Xerox Corporation from 1996 to 2003, where, among other things, he participated in support of a major technology program and received 6 US patents.

He joined the physics department of UTD in 2003. Yuri’s background lies in theoretical condensed matter physics but also includes broader aspects of theoretical/computational physics. His research interests concentrate around theory and modeling of various physical properties of nanostructured systems, particularly in the context of light-matter interaction and processes of charge and energy transfer.

These interests extend to physics of devices on the basis of advanced materials, such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells and electromechanical actuators. He actively collaborates with experimentalists, the best example being a synergistic work on hybrid quantum-dots/silicon nanostructures for photovoltaic applications. Yuri enjoys teaching and delivers courses in electromagnetism, statistical and quantum mechanics at both undergraduate and graduate levels.