Rate My Professor Lucas Platter

Lucas Platter is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he specializes in theoretical nuclear physics. He earned his Diploma in Physics from Bonn University, Germany, in 2002 and his Ph.D. from the same institution in 2005. His postdoctoral training included fellowships at Ohio University from 2005 to 2007 and Ohio State University from 2007 to 2009. He then held a Research Associate position at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, from 2009 to 2010, followed by an Assistant Professor role at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden from November 2010 to March 2012. From April 2012 to July 2014, he served as Assistant Physicist at Argonne National Laboratory and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since August 2014, Platter has been at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, progressing from Assistant Professor until July 2020, to Associate Professor since August 2020, and subsequently to full Professor.

Platter's research centers on low-energy nuclear theory, with a focus on effective field theory methods applied to few-body physics and ultracold atomic gases. His contributions include studies on uncertainty quantification in nuclear physics, the breakdown scales of pionless effective field theory, radiative corrections in nuclear reactions, and nuclear structure effects on hyperfine splittings. He received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award for his project on uncertainty estimates in low-energy nuclear physics. Notable publications include "Efimov States in Nuclear and Particle Physics" (Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, 2010), "Three-Body Halo States in Effective Field Theory" (Few-Body Systems, 2017), "Quantifying the breakdown scale of pionless effective field theory in the three-nucleon sector" (Physical Review C, 2025), "Radiative corrections to proton-proton fusion in pionless effective field theory" (Physical Review C, 2024), and "Nuclear Structure Effects on Hyperfine Splittings in Muonic Hydrogen" (Physical Review Letters, 2024). With over 3,700 citations, his work has advanced understanding of few-body systems and effective field theories in nuclear physics. Platter also serves as Co-Chair of the Faculty Senate Appeals Committee for 2025-2026 and organizes the department's Nuclear Seminar series.