Vice Provost for Global Relations

Robert P. Lowndes

Robert Lowndes is a Professor of Physics and the Vice Provost for Global Relations at Northeastern University. As the Vice Provost for Global Relations, he has a primary responsibility for Northeastern’s global strategy and the development of partnerships between Northeastern and institutions located abroad.

During his time at Northeastern, Lowndes has served as the Interim Provost, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Chair of the Department of Physics, and Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Development of Research and Graduate Programs. He has been elected six times to be the Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate and Chair of the Senate Agenda Committee.

Lowndes received his BSc and PhD in Physics from the University of London and an MBA from Northeastern University. He held research positions at the University of London, the University of Cambridge, and M.I.T. before joining Northeastern. His area of research is the study of materials under extreme conditions, including high-pressure, low-temperature, audio- and radio-frequency dielectric, far infrared and laser-Raman spectroscopic studies of phonon interactions in weakly and strongly anharmonic systems, and in phase transitions in displacive and hydrogen-bonded ferroelectrics. Lowndes also worked on the lunar materials brought back in the NASA Apollo missions. His work has been published in numerous international journals and conferences.

Lowndes has been an American Council of Education Fellow, and a Science Research Council (U.K.) Senior Fellow.