Daniel L. Stein


Daniel L. Stein, American physicist, is Professor of Physics and Mathematics at New York University. From 2006-2012 he served
as the NYU Dean of Science.
He has contributed to a wide range of scientific fields. His early
research covered diverse topics, including theoretical work on protein
biophysics, biological evolution, amorphous semiconductors, quantum
liquids, topology of order parameter spaces, liquid crystals, neutron stars, and the interface between particle physics and cosmology. His
primary focus, however, has been on quenched randomness in condensed matter
and on stochastic processes in both irreversible and extended systems. His
research on these topics was cited by the American Association for the Advancement of Science as "pioneering work on the statistical mechanics of
disordered and noisy systems".
He is best known for work on hierarchical dynamics ; for observing that
protein fluctuational conformations can be modeled using spin glass
techniques; for constructing a theory of fluctuation-driven transitions in
the absence of detailed balance ; for applying stochastic methods to determine lifetimes, stability, and decay of
nanowires and nanomagnets ; and for a
series of rigorous and analytical results on
short-range spin glasses, including the introduction of the Newman-Stein
metastate as a general mathematical tool for analyzing the thermodynamic
properties of disordered systems.

Education & early career

Stein graduated from Brown University in 1975 with degrees in both physics
and mathematics. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University in 1979, under the thesis supervision of Philip Warren Anderson. He
stayed on as a faculty member in the Princeton Physics Department until
1987, when he moved to the University of Arizona Physics Department, where
he served as Department Head from 1995-2005. During that period he also
served as the first Director of the Complex Systems Summer School in Santa
Fe. In 2005 he moved to New York University as Professor
of Physics and Mathematics and as Provost Faculty Fellow. He became the
NYU Dean of Science in September 2006, serving until 2012.

Honors

He currently serves as co-chair of the Santa Fe Institute Science Board and
is a General Member of the Aspen Center for Physics. From 2008 through 2012 he served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. His awards include a
Sloan Foundation Fellowship, election to Fellowship of the
American Physical Society, University of Arizona Commission on the
Status of Women Vision 2000 Award, election to Fellowship of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Exemplary Civilian Service Medal of the U.S. Air Force, and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

Personal life

He is married with two daughters and a step daughter, and lives in New York City.