About

A physicist by training, Hideo explores a nexus of conventional scientific research, craft (as a dedicated ceramist and occasional weaver), applied philosophy, and integrative education.

Hideo teaches and directs a research laboratory at Stanford University as a Professor of Applied Physics. His group’s sponsored research focuses mainly on quantum optics and physics of computation; his personal research further extends to the science of traditional craft materials and processes. Hideo teaches undergraduate courses that center craft and student making, bridging STEM fields with the arts and humanities. He currently serves on the Committee in Charge of the Program in Modern Thought and Literature and as Denning Family Director of the Stanford Arts Institute.

Hideo (he/him) was born and raised in Massachusetts, received formal degrees from Princeton (A.B. in Physics, 1992) and Caltech (Ph.D. in Physics, 1998), and served on the Caltech faculty for nine years before moving to Stanford in 2007. In 2000 he received a Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which brought him into community with invaluable new mentors and role models.

Speaking

Materiality, Materials Science, and Material Agency, 2018
Stanford Archaeology Center

Function and Metaphor, 2021
NCECA Annual Meeting

Japanese Functional Objects, 2022
Stanford News video production

Art & Podcast, 2025
Stanford Arts (with Ellen Oh)

Second Nature Podcast, 2025
Cantor Arts Center (with Megan Riepenhoff)