Pedro Prieto

Universidad del Valle

Member-at-Large

Pedro Prieto born in Bogotá, Colombia, in June 29th 1951. He holds a Physicist degree, in 1974 and a Magister Scientiae degree in Physics from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 1978 working on Silicon Oxide Thin films. He received the “Doktor der Naturwissenschaften” Dr.rer.nat. From Rheinische Westfaliche Hochschule RWTH-Aachen Germany in 1982 for the doctoral thesis: ¨Neutronenkleinwinkelstreuung an Guinier - Preston - Zonen in Aluminium - Kupfer - Legierungen¨ (Small Angle Neutron Scattering on Guinier-Preston Zones in AlCu Alloys).

He joined the Universidad del Valle Cali, Colombia, in 1974. He became “Full Professor” at the Physics Department of the Universidad del Valle in 1986. Presently, he leads the Thin Films Research Group, which he established in 1978 Most of Prieto’s career has been devoted to R&D of materials science and electronic devices, particularly amorphous semiconductors, solar cells, High Temperature Superconductor materials , HTC Electronic Devices and Hard Coating Materials. The Thin Film laboratory began with the study of amorphous metallic alloys and through a COLCIECIAS research project (1983-1987) with Hydrogenated Amorphous-Si thin films. Since 1989 he is working on the development of high-temperature superconductor devices based on superconducting thin films, in Magnetic materials in PZT - ferroelectric thin films and in Hard Coating Materials. 

Prof. Prieto has authored or co-authored over 100 scientific publications. He is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (1988), Guggenheim Fellow (1998) and 2000-American Physical Society Fellow “For forefront research in the Josephson Junction effect in high temperature superconductors and outstanding contribution to the development of physics in Latin America.”

Member of the Sociedad Colombiana de Física (Colombian Physical Society, American association for Science advance, American association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society. At present, he is also editor in chief of the Colombian Journal of Physics, and current member of the directory of the Latin American Physics Center (Centro Latinoamericano de Física) CLAF.