Following his Ph.D., Natelson worked as a postdoctoral researcher at
Bell Laboratories from 1998 to 2000, where he investigated nanoscale transport and device physics. In 2000, he joined the faculty at
Rice University as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and full professor in 2010. Natelson has held multiple leadership roles at Rice, including serving as Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 2016 to 2022. In 2022, he briefly served as Interim Vice President for Research at Rice. He currently holds the title of Harry Carothers Wiess Professor of Physics and serves as Associate Dean for Research in the Wiess School of Natural Sciences. Additionally, he has appointments in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Nanoengineering. His research focuses on nanoscale condensed matter physics, including electronic transport, plasmonics, strong electron correlations, and molecular electronics. Besides his academic and research contributions, Natelson has engaged in science communication through his blog,
Nanoscale Views, where he discusses nanoscience and physics topics. He is also the author of the textbook
Nanostructures and Nanotechnology. == Awards ==