Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Ramamoorthy Ramesh, a condensed matter physicist and materials scientist, is vice president for research at Rice University. In his role, Ramesh oversees the institution’s internal and external research ventures. He has extensive experience in innovations in materials science and physics, and their applications to energy.

In his own academic research, Ramesh pursues key materials physics and technological problems in complex multifunctional oxides. He has pioneered research into manganites, coining the term Colossal Magnetoresistive Oxides. His work on multiferroics demonstrated electric field control of ferromagnetism, a critical step towards ultralow power memory and logic elements. 

Ramesh's roles beyond academia include serving as founding director of the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative, where he lead a $300 million-a-year initiative aimed at bringing the cost of solar electricity down to grid parity; and as deputy director of science and technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where oversaw one of the nation’s largest research and development programs in materials and physical sciences, energy and engineering, computational sciences, biological and environmental science, neutron science and global security.

Prior to starting at Rice in 2022, Ramesh served on the faculties of University of California, Berkeley, where he held numerous leadership positions, and University of Maryland, where he was distinguished University Professor in materials science and engineering.