Email
gsiannac@wpi.edu
Office
Olin Hall 212A
Phone
+1 (508) 8315000 x5631
Education
BS, University of Akron, 1987
MS, University of Akron, 1990
PhD, Kent State University, 1993

Germano Iannacchione is a Professor in the Physics Department at WPI, joining the faculty in August 1998, with an area of expertise in thermo-physical property experimental research on order-disorder phenomena in condensed matter, with a focus on soft-matter materials, colloids/composites, and emergence far-from-equilibrium.  To date, there have been 11 Ph.D., 14 M.Sc., and 121 B.Sc. (senior thesis or MQP) physics students who have matured and graduated at WPI under his mentorship. 

He served as a Program Director of the Condensed Matter Physics Program (2017-2020), Biomaterials Program (2018-2019), and currently as an Expert (2020- now) in the Division of Materials Research under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation. He is currently a research member of the Interactive Materials Design Center (iMDC) at WPI (2015- now).  He was the founding Director of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Program between Physics, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering from 2012 to 2017.  He was involved with the founding of the STEM Education Center at WPI and the founding Director of the Master of Science in Physics for Educators Program (MPED) from 2012 to 2016.  While Head of Physics at WPI from 2006 to 2016, the department expanded from 13 to 20 full-time faculty, increased external research funding from $0.3M to over $2M under contract, and tripled the number of graduate students.  During the same period, he established various out-reach activities such as the annual R.H. Goddard Cup Water Rocket Competition, the first Physics summer camp (Physicspalooza) that has expanded to now four Physics summer camps for 5-12th graders and lead the Sigma Xi chapter of WPI as its secretary (2007- now).  Germano has incorporated undergraduate students undertaking research in his lab, both as individual research experiences and as teams through WPI’s Major Qualifying Projects (MQPs), equivalent to a senior honors thesis.  Undergraduate and graduate alumni have found careers in academia, industry, and government.  In addition, Germano has been involved in the establishment of the STEM Faculty Launch Workshop program in 2015 and again lead the effort in 2016, that provided mentoring for a diverse group of ABD graduate students and post-doctoral fellows seeking a career in academia. 

Scholarly Work

K. P. Sigdel and G. S. Iannacchione. “Effect of carbon nanotubes on the isotropic to nematic and the nematic to smectic-A phase transitions in liquid crystal and carbon nanotube composites,” European Physics Journal E 34, 34-43 (2011). 2011

K. P. Sigdel and G. S. Iannacchione. “Study of the isotropic to smectic-A phase transition in liquid crystal and acetone binary mixtures,” Journal of Chemical Physics 133, 174501-7 (2010). 2010

K. Sigdel and G. S. Iannacchione. “Evolution of the isotropic to nematic phase transition in binary mixtures of octylcyanobiphenyl and n-hexane,” Journal of Chemical Physics 133, 044513-7 (2010). 2010

A.R. Adhikari, Y.G. Georgiev, K. Sigdel, G.S. Iannacchione, K. Lozano, and M. Chipara. “Thermal behavior of poly(ethylene-co-propylene) containing carbon nanofibers,” Polymer Engineering and Science 52(2), 408-413 (2012). 2012

“Studies of Nanocomposites of Carbon Nanotubes and a Negative Dielectric Anisotropy Liquid Crystal”, P. Kalakonda, G.S. Iannacchione, Carbon Nanotubes: Recent Progress, Chap. 10, p. 188-206, edited by Abdullah Mohammed Asiri, Mohammed Rahman (IntechOpen, 2018). 2018

Professional Highlights & Honors
, 2001

, 2008