Nemanich attended Northern Illinois University, where he obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in physics, then continued studying the subject at the University of Chicago.[1] After completing his doctorate in 1977,[1] Nemanich began his teaching career at North Carolina State University,[1][2] then moved to Arizona State University.[1] He was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1993 "[f]or his contributions to the application of Raman spectroscopy to the study of atomic structure in semiconducting thin films and interfaces."[3] In 2016, Arizona State University awarded Nemanich a Regents' Professorship.[4]
