Lea F. Santos, professor of physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been named a 2026 fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), a highly selective honor in the field.
APS fellowships recognize excellence in physics and service to the physics community. Santos was one of 153 researchers elected by their peers to the 2026 class of fellows from a society with more than 50,000 members.
Santos was selected by the Division of Statistical and Nonlinear Physics for her outstanding contributions to the theory of many-body quantum phenomena, including quantum chaos in complex systems and its role in thermalization of systems with different statistics, as well as revealing new types of quantum phase transitions far from thermal equilibrium.
“Professor Santos was recently inducted into the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and now has become a fellow of the American Physical Society,” says George Gibson, professor and head of physics. “These are significant achievements that reflect her expertise in nonlinear dynamics and quantum science. Her work strengthens UConn’s broader vision for leadership in quantum technologies, and it is exciting to have such a talented researcher in the Department of Physics.”
Santos is a theoretical physicist who studies nonequilibrium many-body quantum physics, quantum chaos, and thermalization. Her research investigates how statistical behavior and thermal equilibrium emerge in isolated quantum systems with many interacting particles, as well as quantum phase transitions and related phenomena.
Santos joined the UConn faculty in 2022. She earned her Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of São Paulo and held positions at Yale University, Michigan State University, Dartmouth College, and Yeshiva University, where she served as chair of physics. She is currently the associate head of administration in UConn’s Department of Physics, a position she has held since 2023.
