Peter Harrowell

Professor Peter Harrowell is the Professor of Theoretical Chemistry in the School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, at the University of Sydney. He obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Sydney and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1986. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Colorado State University, he returned to the University of Sydney. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Utrecht, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, Peking University, Tohoku University, and the Weizmann Institute in Israel. Harrowell chaired the 2011 Gordon Research Conference on Liquids and has served on various international conference committees. In 2019, he received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research in the Faculty of Science.

Harrowell's research focuses on statistical mechanics in chemistry, soft condensed matter, theory and design of materials, structure and dynamics of materials, nucleation, crystal growth, rheology of ordered materials, transitions in nonequilibrium systems, and computer simulations. His theoretical and computational studies address the glass transition, crystallization, thin film rheology, and dynamics at interfaces. He emphasizes rethinking structure in amorphous materials by analyzing statistical correlations between local structural elements rather than traditional geometrical descriptions. Key publications include 'Local symmetry predictors of mechanical stability in glasses' (Science Advances, 2022), 'A general structural order parameter for the amorphous solidification transition' (Journal of Chemical Physics, 2022), 'Structural diversity in condensed matter: A general characterization' (Journal of Chemical Physics, 2024), 'Favoured local structures in liquids and solids: a 3D lattice model' (Soft Matter, 2015), and 'The displacement field associated with the freezing of a melt and its relation to nucleation' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020). His work has advanced understanding of collective dynamics in supercooled liquids and the role of local symmetry in glass stability.

Professional Email: peter.harrowell@sydney.edu.au