Dean Eric Eastman

World-renowned expert on the electronic properties of materials and spectroscopy, Eastman is an American solid-state physicist and IBM manager. He conducted important research in the field of condensed matter physics, surface science, and photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation. He has been involved in many national science and engineering policy and advisory activities during his IBM career.

Born in Oxford, Wisconsin, he received his B.S. degree in 1962, his M.S. degree in 1963, and his Ph.D. in 1965, all in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1963, he joined IBM as a scientist, where he headed the Department of Surface Physics and Photo-Emission Spectroscopy in the Research Department from 1971 to 1981. In 1981–82 he led the Lithography, Packaging and Compound Semiconductors Department. From 1983 to 1985 he served as the Director of the Advanced Packaging Lab.

From 1986 to 1994, Eastman served as the Director of Product Development in the Systems Technology Division, Vice President, Logic Memory and Packaging, and Vice President and Director of Development in the Systems Technology Division. He headed the Department of Hardware Development and Reengineering from 1994 to 1996 at IBM headquarters. In 1996, he left IBM and became Director of the Argonne National Laboratory, where he remained until 1998.

In 1972–73 he served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and from 1998 onward he has served as Professor Emeritus and Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago, James Franck Institute. In 1974, he was named an IBM Fellow, and in 1980 he received the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize. Eastman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1982), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991), and the National Academy of Engineering (1988), and a fellow of the American Physical Society (1981) and of the IEEE.