Candidate for Member-at-Large

Curriculum Vitae

Gabriel Cwilich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he got his undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Buenos Aires. He moved  to the US  in 1983, and obtained a PhD at Rutgers University in Condensed Matter Theory, on quantum transport and weak localization. After spending some time at the Institute for Physical Science and Technology of the University of Maryland at College Park, and at Washington University in Saint Louis he joined the faculty of Yeshiva University in 1991, where he is an Associate Professor in the Physics Department. He was the Chair of  the Physics Department (1998-2000) and Head of the Physical Sciences cluster (2000-2006), and co-director of the Advanced Scientific Computation Laboratory (1998-2003)

He has visited several times the International Center for Theoretical Physics (Trieste) and the Aspen Center for Theoretical Physics, and he had sabbatical appointments at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid,  the Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée (CNRS – Nice), and  was a visiting scientist  at the Laboratoire de Modélisation des Systèmes Complexes (CNRS and   Université Joseph Fourier- Grenoble), and visiting professor at the University of Chile (Santiago).

His main areas of interest are the physics of disordered materials,  spin glasses, complex systems, statistical models of diffusion and random walks and transport in nanostructures.

He has lately been involved in studying the relationship between physics and the arts, in particular the theater, and he has been scientific advisor to several theatrical productions in New York City and to the SLOAN foundation and the Ensemble Studio Theater (EST)  in  their joint program to foster the representation  of science and technology in the theater.  He lectured extensively on science and theater in several Universities in Chile.

He has been a member of the Board (and Treasurer for eight years) of ANACITEC (Argentine North American Association for the Advancement of Science Education and Culture), and a founding member of the Argentine Forum of New York,  and of the ECODAR  (Encounter of Cooperation between the Diaspora and Argentina), and consultant on the science curriculum for elementary and middle  education for the National Ministry of Education of the Argentine government (1994-1995).

He has organized several international conferences in the US and in Latin America, and has lectured extensively in the Americas and Europe.  

Candidate's Statement

Stating that Physics has always been a real international enterprise is a truism, and those who have been involved throughout their professional careers in collaborations and discussions with colleagues from many countries are well aware of it, and fully appreciate the fact that the success and thriving of Physics in any one country is now more than ever inextricably linked to the global health of our profession. But it took me the last eighteen months of being heavily involved in the organization of a Pan-American Scientific Institute, and working in close contact with the leadership of the Physics communities in several Latin-American countries to come to appreciate the true extent of those words, and realize how much we all really share in terms of struggling with similar difficulties and pursuing the same goals, and how much we can help each other. Multiplying the programs that allow this type of exchanges to take place, and involving and educating our students early on in them, should be one of our main preoccupations. 

Also the subject of human rights and their defense in our profession should be one of our constant concerns. I was lucky, during my formative years in Physics in the early eighties, to be close to Joel Lebowitz at Rutgers, and to be inspired by him, by seeing him devote his time generously and selflessly to come to the defense of persecuted scientists across the globe and across the political spectrum, from those in my native country Argentina to Sakharov, worrying about their rights and their personal wellbeing and even that of their families. His example showed me how crucial and effective the action of one single determined, passionate individual can be. I hope that, if elected, I can live up to the standards he taught me.