Eva Y. Andrei, Distinguished Professor and Board of Governors Professor in the department of physics and astronomy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is one of three recipients of the 2026 Kavil Prize in Nanoscience.
Presented by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo, Norway, the Kavli Prize honors groundbreaking scientific discoveries that have transformed our understanding of how the world works. Along with Pablo Jarillo-Herrero of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Allan H. MacDonald of the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Andrei was honored for her foundational work that established the field of twistronics, an emerging scientific discipline based on the method of combining and twisting two or more atomically thin layers stacked on top of each other.
After the discovery of graphene, a key component in building electronic devices, Dr. Andrei discovered how geometric control of graphene bilayer could change material properties. Dr. Andrei’s work later led Dr. MacDonald and Dr. Jarillo-Herrero to uncover the ideal conditions for superconductivity. Going forward, twistronics has the potential to revolutionize electronics and optoelectronics.
Born in Romania, Dr. Andrei earned her undergraduate degree in physics from Tel Aviv University in Israel. After earning her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1982, she conducted research with Bell Labs and the French Atomic Energy Commission. She returned to Rutgers in 1987 as an assistant professor.