Eva Zurek

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Eva Dagmara Zurek (born 1976) is a Polish-born theoretical chemist, solid‑state physicist, and materials scientist who works as a professor of chemistry at the University at Buffalo. She uses quantum calculations to study the electronic structure, properties, and reactions of materials, especially under high pressure. Her goal is to discover new materials such as superconductors and superhard substances, and to explore quantum and planetary materials. She also develops computer tools to predict crystal structures and connects them with machine learning to speed up materials discovery.

Zurek earned her BSc (2000) and MSc (2002) at the University of Calgary, where she worked with Tom Ziegler. She completed her PhD in 2006 at the University of Stuttgart, doing research with Ole Krogh Andersen at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research. She then did a postdoctoral stint at Cornell University with Roald Hoffmann before joining the University at Buffalo in 2009.

Her notable work includes predicting that LiH6 could become metallic under extreme pressure, and creating the XtalOpt algorithm to find hydrogen‑rich compounds that might become superconductors under high pressure. She and her team have studied which phosphorus–hydrogen compounds are stable up to very high pressures and investigated the origin of phosphine’s superconductivity under pressure. In 2019 her group identified 43 previously unknown forms of carbon that could be stable and superhard.

In 2021, Zurek was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society for advancing computational methods to study large molecules and nanostructures, for designing hydride superconductors, and for educational innovations in computational science. She also received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in 2021 and served as Vice Chair of the APS Division of Computational Physics for 2022–23.