Vladimir Mandelshtam

Biography

Vladimir Mandelshtam, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at UC Irvine. He received a Ph.D. from the Institute of Spectroscopy, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in 1991, where his thesis focused on the physical properties of clusters through numerical simulations. Mandelshtam joined UC Irvine as Assistant Researcher in 1997, advancing to Assistant Professor in 1998, Associate Professor in 2003, and Professor in 2007. He was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship from 2002 to 2004.

Mandelshtam's research centers on developing computational and theoretical methods for quantum dynamics and statistical mechanics. He is mostly known for developing the Filter Diagonalization Method, a spectral analysis technique with applications to NMR data processing and quantum dynamics calculations. His work spans computational studies of thermodynamic properties of molecular and atomic clusters with a focus on nuclear quantum effects, numerical methods of spectral analysis, quantum scattering, and semiclassical methods. He has also developed approaches including the Variational Gaussian Wavepacket method and self-consistent phonons methods for studying many-body quantum systems. His most recent work involves the development of a novel coarse-graining approach in Statistical Mechanics.

Mandelshtam has been the sole principal investigator on multiple NSF grants totaling over $2.5 million from 1998 to 2024. He has supervised nine Ph.D. students to completion and mentored three postdoctoral researchers. His publications have received 8,067 citations with an h-index of 44 according to Google Scholar as of September 2026. He has contributed to the development of open-source software tools, including incorporating his methods into GMIN and DOSYToolbox programs used by the research community.

Education

• Ph.D. in Physical Properties of Clusters, Institute of Spectroscopy, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1991
• M.S. in Physical Chemistry, Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, 1987

Distinctions

• Churchill College By-Fellowship, 2008
• MSRI Research Professorship, 2003
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2002-2004
• Emerson Fellowship, 1997-1998
• Faculty Career Development Award, 1999, 2001