\u201cOur research centers on a basic question: what laws emerge when many such agents interact?\u201d writes the Vitelli Group<\/a>, a theoretical physics research group Vitelli leads at the University of Chicago.<\/p>\n In his grant announcement video, Vitelli said he \u201cbuilds mathematical models that attempt to describe unusual systems, like swarms of robots, biological tissues, neural networks.\u201d <\/p>\n Vitelli is considered a pioneer in multiple physics subfields, including metamaterials, active matter and non-reciprocal systems, according to UChicago News<\/a>. For example, his lab last year demonstrated how \u201codd objects\u201d can travel across terrain<\/a> remarkably well, despite having \u201cno centralized control or brain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been pursuing venues that are a bit more unusual. For example, studying a collection of robots or collection of cells,\u201d Vitelli said in his grant announcement video. \u201cThe peculiar feature of the systems I study is that they are out of equilibrium. The building blocks of which these materials are made of harvest energy from the environment. And they can translate that energy into motion or performing some functions.\u201d<\/p>\n His work is often intangible and imaginative, and that\u2019s what draws Vitelli to the field.<\/p>\n \u201cMy natural propensity is often to think about things that do not necessarily exist yet,\u201d Vitelli said in his video. \u201cIn the world of metamaterial, if you come up with something that doesn\u2019t exist but could be built, then it can be accepted and in fact just as available as modeling or describing something that exists in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Vitelli, who grew up in southern Italy, lets his mind wander while living in the city \u2014 whether\u2019s he\u2019s commuting from his South Loop home to Hyde Park or with his wife and 5-month-old son, he told WBEZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vitelli has been a professor at the University of Chicago since 2017. He\u2019s also affiliated with the university\u2019s James Franck Institute, the Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics, the Data Science Institute and the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, according to UChicago News.<\/p>\n Before that, he served as a member of the faculty at Instituut-Lorentz for Theoretical Physics at Leiden University in the Netherlands from 2010-17, according to the MacArthur Foundation. Vitelli obtained a theoretical physics degree from Imperial College London in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 2006.<\/p>\n \u201cHis insights allow for deeper understanding of real-world biological and engineering systems and lay the groundwork for entirely new classes of materials,\u201d according to the MacArthur Foundation. \u201cVitelli\u2019s research is inspiring new metamaterials in mechanical engineering, robotics, and biophysics, and he is opening up new research directions into how non-reciprocal physics principles could apply to biology, human behavior, and artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n Multiple University of Chicago colleagues have previously received the MacArthur fellowship, including writer Ling Ma in 2024<\/a>; statistician Rina Foygel Barber in 2023<\/a>; sociologist, criminologist and social worker Reuben Jonathan Miller in 2022<\/a>; and film scholar, archivist and curator Jacqueline Stewart in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2025, the MacArthur Foundation selected South Side social justice artist Tonika Lewis Johnson<\/a> for the grant.<\/p>\n ______________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Support Local News!<\/p>\n Subscribe to Block Club Chicago<\/a>,\u00a0an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago\u2019s neighborhoods. Already subscribe?\u00a0Click here to gift a subscription<\/a>, or you can\u00a0support Block Club with a\u00a0tax-deductible donation.<\/a><\/p>\n Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HYDE PARK \u2014 Physicist Vincenzo Vitelli works on abstract, mind-bending concepts every day in Chicago. Now, he\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[228,199,79],"class_list":["post-865221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-physics","tag-arts","tag-physics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Youtube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790722690_301_hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Vincenzo-Vitelli-2.jpg\")
Physicist Vincenzo Vitelli building mechanical metamaterials out of LEGO blocks. Credit: Provided\/Vitelli Group<\/a><\/p>\n