Ofer grew up in Israel, and obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry at Tel-Aviv University (2007), followed by a M.Sc. (2009) and Ph.D. (2013) in Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

In graduate school, Ofer studied plasmonic nanoparticles in the group of Israel Rubinstein at the Department of Materials & Interfaces, Faculty of Chemistry. He explored the interaction of Au nanoparticles with dielectric materials in the context of bio-sensing; and the way the plasmonic particles modify the emission properties (intensity, lifetime and even emission wavelength) of fluorescent materials.

Ofer then started a postdoctoral position with Emily A. Weiss at Northwestern University’s Department of Chemistry and the Center for Bio-inspired Energy Science (CBES). He used experiments and simulations to study non-equilibrium transport powered by a ratcheting mechanism, which uses local asymmetric fields combined with an energy input to enable transport.

In August 2019, Ofer started as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Marquette University, where he guides research on advanced catalysts and photopatterning.

For more background, see Ofer’s personal website.