"Due to the large surface-to-volume ratio of quantum dots, their surface conditions play a significant role in determining their electronic and optical properties. In this thesis, we show that the presence of surface states modifies the optical selection rules in quantum dots and enhances the rate of surface charge trapping. These surface-induced effects have profound impact on the measurement of multiexciton recombination and carrier multiplication processes. Specifically, in transient absorption studies, surface states result in additional decay timescales which may be misattributed to multiexciton recombination processes. Additionally, they lead to large "apparent" carrier multiplication yields even under conditions where it is forbidden by energy conservation. The surface-dependent transient absorption studies presented in this work suggest ways to identify and minimize the undesirable surface-induced signals. Interestingly, surface-induced processes also result in significant electrostatic effects. We show that due to the piezoelectric nature of wurtzite CdSe quantum dots, the strong electric field created by surface charge trapping can drive coherent acoustic phonons in these systems. We further show that the amplitude of this piezoelectric response can be controlled by altering the surface conditions of the quantum dot. Finally, we theoretically investigate the effect of multiple surface layers on carrier localization in nanostructures. We find that in a core/barrier/shell configuration, layered nanostructures offer independent control over electron and hole wave functions. These results suggest design principles for wave function engineering in potential quantum dot applications in light emitting devices, photovoltaics and optical amplification." --