Alexander Glaser (right) with SGS researchers Tamara Patton, Moritz Kuett, Julien de Troullioud and Mike Hepler. Photo by Matt Stanley
By Alaina O'Regan
October 16, 2024
Alexander Glaser, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and international affairs, has won the American Physical Society’s (APS) 2025 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award for contributions to advance nuclear arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament verification, as well as for his leadership as co-director of Princeton’s Program in Science and Global Security (SGS).
Glaser’s research centers on technical and policy analysis of nuclear monitoring and verification, nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, and next-generation nuclear energy technologies including both fission and fusion systems. He bridges policy and technically driven research to reveal insights into issues regarding nuclear energy and nuclear weapon proliferation. Glaser was the first Princeton faculty to hold a joint appointment between the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering and international affairs.
The Leo Szilard Lectureship Award honors physicists who have made significant contributions to the use of physics for societal benefit. It was established in 1974 by the APS Forum on Physics and Society. In 1998, the award was further developed with an endowment to be presented as a lectureship, providing a platform for recipients to share their work and raise awareness about physics applied to social issues.
Glaser joined Princeton in 2005. Before joining Princeton, he was a research fellow in the Security Studies Program at MIT, and earned his doctorate in physics from Darmstadt University, Germany. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2014, Glaser was selected by Foreign Policy Magazine as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers. He won the Jury Award from the SXSW film festival for his role as executive producer of the documentary On the Morning You Wake (To the End of the World).
The American Physical Society also recognized Sébastien Philippe, lecturer in public and international affairs and research scholar with SGS, with the 2025 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award. Read the story here.