Rate My Professor Gil Alexandrowicz

Professor Gil Alexandrowicz is Professor of Chemistry at Swansea University, a position he has held since 2019, following his appointment as Associate Professor there from 2018 to 2019. Previously, he served as Associate Professor from 2014 to 2018 and Senior Lecturer from 2008 to 2014 at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Earlier, he was College Research Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, from 2005 to 2008. Alexandrowicz obtained his BSc and MSc in physics from the Hebrew University and his PhD from the University of Cambridge. His career has focused on the interface between chemistry and physics, particularly surface dynamics and gas-surface interactions.

Professor Alexandrowicz's research interests encompass atomic and molecular beams, surface dynamics, surface diffusion, and molecule-surface collisions. His group develops and applies innovative experimental techniques to investigate phenomena unaddressable by prior methods, such as stopping molecular rotation via coherent ultra-low-energy magnetic manipulations, generating multiple spin echoes in beam spectroscopy for ultra-fast dynamics studies, and measuring surface phonons using molecular spin-echo. Key publications include 'Stopping molecular rotation using coherent ultra-low-energy magnetic manipulations' (Nature Communications, 2022), 'Setting benchmarks for modelling gas–surface interactions using coherent control of rotational orientation states' (Nature Communications, 2020), 'Molecular spin echoes; multiple magnetic coherences in molecule surface scattering experiments' (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2021), 'A Magnetically Focused Molecular Beam of Ortho-Water' (Science, 2011), 'Ultrahigh-Resolution Spin-Echo Measurement of Surface Potential Energy Landscapes' (Science, 2004), and 'Measuring surface phonons using molecular spin-echo' (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2022). He has earned major awards including ERC Consolidator Grant (2018), ERC Starting Grant (2012), Krill Prize from the Wolf Foundation (2012), Landau Fellow (2009), Alon Fellowship (2009), Yanai Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2017), and Schulich Excellence in Teaching Awards (2015, 2016). These honors highlight his contributions to advancing surface science methodologies.