THE 14th INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL ON CRYSTAL GROWTH

Peter G. Vekilov received his PhD in 1991 form the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Crystallography, under advice from A.A. Chernov. After postdoctoral stints in Sofia, Bulgaria, Tsukuba, Japan, and Huntsville, Alabama, he was Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University in Alabama in Huntsville. He is now Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and of Chemistry at the University of Houston. He is the recipient of the UH Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award, DuPont Research Award, UAH Foundation Research and Creative Achievement Award, International Union of Crystallography Young Scientist Award, Research Awards by the International Human Frontiers Science Program and the Science and Technology Agency of Japan, and the Shubnikov Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences, among others  He has served as Chair of the Gordon Conference on Thin Film and Crystal Growth Mechanisms, and as organizer of several MRS symposia and of numerous sessions at national and international meetings.  He is a member of the U.S. National Committee for Crystallography, of the Executive Committees of the American Association for Crystal Growth and of AACG-West.  He is Topic Editor of Crystal Growth and Design.  His main research interests are in the area of phase transitions in protein solutions. He has studied their thermodynamic aspects, including intermolecular interactions and phase diagrams and has demonstrated the existence of mesoscopic metastable phases. Nucleation kinetics and mechanisms have been a major focus of study, and a two-step mechanism, involving a metastable dense liquid precursor has been put forth. Molecular mechanisms of crystallization of protein and other materials form solution have been elucidated, highlighting the role of water structuring for the determination of the rate of the process. He has published ~ 90 peer-reviewed papers and ~20 invited chapters and reviews and given more than 140 invited, keynote, and plenary lectures, tutorials, and talks.  His results have been featured on the covers of Science, JMB and other publications, as well as on television and radio, and in the press.