Mele joined the faculty in 1981 and has spent most of his academic career at Penn. A condensed matter theorist whose pioneering research has resulted in predicting the existence of materials with non-trivial topological order, Mele’s research findings have influenced the course of quantum electronic phenomena research in solids. He is the recipient of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics from the Franklin Institute, and the 2010 Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His excellent teaching has been recognized by both the University’s Lindback Award and the highest Penn Arts & Sciences teaching honor, the Ira Abrams Award. Mele has served as a member of the Penn Arts & Sciences Personnel Committee, the Penn Arts & Sciences Committee on Undergraduate Academic Standing, and the Provost’s Council on Access and Academic Support.