Stephen Wilson

Stephen Wilson received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Tennessee in 2007 and then worked as a postdoc in the Materials Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab through 2009. He served on the faculty of the Physics Department at Boston College from 2010-2014, after which he joined the faculty of the Materials Department at UC Santa Barbara. He is currently serving as Professor and Associate Chair of Materials at UCSB where he also co-directs the NSF’s Quantum Foundry. Stephen’s research program focuses on the synthesis and advanced characterization of novel quantum materials, ranging from unconventional superconductors to quantum magnets.

Wilson's research involves the exploration of magnetism, lattice dynamics, and electronic phase behaviors in spin-orbit driven phases of matter, unconventional superconductors, and, more broadly, emergent phenomena in correlated electron materials. Specific areas under investigation include spin-orbit assisted Mott state in iridium oxides, topologically nontrivial electronic states, high temperature superconductors, symmetry breaking in itinerant magnets, and quantum criticality near electronic instabilities.