Faculty Awards

CU �鶹ӰԺ Physics Associate Professor Rahul Nandkishore Wins 2024 Anatoly Larkin Award

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:16:45 +0000

CU �鶹ӰԺ Physics Associate Professor Rahul Nandkishore Wins 2024 Anatoly Larkin Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/22/2024 - 14:16

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

Rahul Nandkishore, an Associate Professor of Physics at the �鶹ӰԺ, has been honored with the 2024 Anatoly Larkin Award from the William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute (FTPI) at the University of Minnesota. The award citation recognizes Nandkishore “for groundbreaking contributions to the physics of quantum nonequilibrium dynamics, disordered systems, and fracton matter.”

The Anatoly Larkin Award, named after the renowned theoretical physicist, celebrates outstanding achievements in theoretical physics. The accolade is given annually to two researchers—one senior and one junior—who have made exceptional contributions to advancing the field.

Nandkishore’s work, which spans various complex areas in theoretical physics, continues to shape our understanding of many-body quantum systems and their behavior in disordered environments. His recognition by the FTPI underscores the impact and significance of his research in the scientific community.

As part of the recognition, Nandkishore will be invited to present a colloquium at the University of Minnesota's School of Physics and Astronomy.

“I am honored and grateful to receive this award,” Nandkishore stated. “Being a theoretical physicist can be a lonely business – you work hard on problems that you think are important, but at the same time you can’t help but wonder if anyone cares. It’s nice to know that the community does care, and recognizes the importance of the work you’ve been doing. I am also grateful for the unflagging efforts of the students and postdocs who have worked with me, and who helped establish many of my results, to the senior scientists who mentored me, and to my colleagues at CU who created such a supportive environment for my research.”

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CU Physics Professor Jamie Nagle Awarded CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Distinguished Research Lectureship

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 20:19:25 +0000

CU Physics Professor Jamie Nagle Awarded CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Distinguished Research Lectureship Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/17/2024 - 14:19

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

�鶹ӰԺ Physics Professor Jamie Nagle has been awarded the prestigious Distinguished Research Lectureship by the university. This award is among the highest honors bestowed upon a faculty member by their peers, recognizing Nagle's distinguished body of work, academic achievements, and significant contributions to CU �鶹ӰԺ’s educational and service missions.

The Distinguished Research Lectureship is awarded annually to a tenured faculty member, Research Professor, or Adjoint Professor who has been with the university for at least five years. A faculty review panel evaluates nominees, and those selected are invited to present a public lecture highlighting their work. The award recipients receive a $2,000 honorarium and are celebrated for their contributions to CU �鶹ӰԺ and the broader academic community.

As a Professor of Physics, Nagle has spent much of his career investigating the early universe through high-energy nuclear physics. His research has focused on understanding the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter theorized to have existed just microseconds after the Big Bang.

“As you go back to about 6 microseconds after the universe started, the temperature was around two trillion Kelvin,” Nagle explained. “It was theorized that protons and neutrons inside of nuclei would melt away, creating a bath of more fundamental particles—quarks and gluons.”

Nagle's work involves recreating droplets of this quark-gluon plasma in a laboratory setting by colliding large nuclei at nearly the speed of light. These collisions occur at the world’s highest energy accelerators, including the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“In the world's highest energy accelerators, we can collide very large nuclei like gold, lead, or platinum at such high velocities that we create a tiny droplet of this 2 trillion Kelvin plasma,” he said.

Reflecting on the award, Nagle expressed deep gratitude and a sense of accomplishment: “It means a lot to me. You get to a certain middle age and are more self-confident, but this recognition feels rewarding. There's a lot of effort, and much of the hard work goes unnoticed. It’s nice to feel like the fruits of that labor are appreciated.”

The Distinguished Research Lectureship also emphasizes communicating complex scientific concepts to broader audiences. For Nagle, this is a vital part of his work: “This award is very meaningful to me because I often listen to the lectures of past recipients. It's about communicating the broader context of why this scientific research is important, not just within the microcosm of nuclear physics.”

Nagle’s lecture is expected to take place in February 2025.

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CU Physics Professor Jun Ye is Awarded the Monroe Endowed Professorship

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:13:24 +0000

CU Physics Professor Jun Ye is Awarded the Monroe Endowed Professorship Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/15/2024 - 14:13

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

Jun Ye, a professor of physics and a JILA and NIST Fellow, has been named the inaugural holder of the Monroe Endowed Professorship in Physics. This prestigious new professorship, the result of a $1 million endowment from CU alumnus Chris Monroe, underscores the university’s growing prominence in quantum information science and applied quantum physics.

“I went to CU for graduate school simply because it looked like the best place for me to study atomic and quantum physics,” Monroe said. “Only later did I realize just how much better it was than high-drama places on the coasts. I cannot imagine a better preparation for the rest of my career having gone through CU and JILA.”

Chris Monroe, Circa 1990

Monroe, a pioneering physicist and co-founder of IonQ, Inc., established the Monroe Endowed Professorship in Physics to support CU �鶹ӰԺ’s leadership in the rapidly evolving field of quantum research. He graduated from CU �鶹ӰԺ in 1992 with a Ph.D. in Physics under the mentorship of Nobel Laureates Carl Wieman and Eric Cornell, then worked closely with Nobel Laureate David Wineland at nearby NIST-�鶹ӰԺ as they pioneered the use of individual atoms as quantum computer bits (qubits). His illustrious career has taken him to Duke University, where he is the Director of the Duke Quantum Center, and holds the Gilhuly Family Presidential Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at Duke. Monroe’s research has pioneered all aspects in designing and fabricating scalable quantum computers based on atomic qubits. His machines have been programmed for rudimentary quantum algorithms and simulations of complex quantum phenomena in nature. His company IonQ, the first public quantum computing company, aims to commercialize quantum computers according to a clear technology roadmap.

His vision for the CU Physics endowment, outlined in the fund agreement, is clear: “The purpose in establishing this Fund is to enable the University and JILA to expand its research and education capacity in quantum information science and applied quantum physics through an endowed professorship position that will retain current faculty or allow the University and JILA to hire the best and brightest researchers in this field.”

One of the leaders teaching the best and brightest researchers is Jun Ye, who is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in precision measurement, ultracold molecules, and ultra-high precision atomic clocks. His strontium lattice atomic clock, which uses laser-based technology, is currently the most accurate in the world. His very recent measurement of a nuclear transition using laser light could revolutionize clocks (and maybe even quantum computers) well into the future. Ye’s numerous accolades reflect his leadership in the field, including the 2022 Breakthrough Prize, the I.I. Rabi Prize, and the Niels Bohr Institute Medal of Honor.

Chris Monroe, Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman during the Nobel Ceremony in 2001.

“I certainly feel very honored to be a recipient of the Monroe Endowed Professorship,” Ye said. “I have known Chris for many years. It turns out that when I arrived in JILA and CU Physics as a fresh graduate student, the very first PhD defense I witnessed was Chris's work with Carl Wieman. I have regarded Chris a gold standard for JILA and CU Physics graduates ever since. He has made big impact to quantum information science, being an original practitioner, a visionary advocate, and a breakthrough technologist.”

The selection committee, led by CU �鶹ӰԺ Physics Professor Paul Beale and including a combination of Physics department faculty and JILA Fellows, unanimously chose Ye for the position

“Jun is internationally recognized as a leader in quantum science and technology with a specialty in precision measurement,” Beale said in a statement from the selection committee. “He is a world leader in frequency combs, ultracold molecules, and ultra-high precision atomic clocks,”

The Monroe Endowed Professorship joins a distinguished lineage of other endowed positions in CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Department of Physics. In 2021, alumnus Joseph Mitchell and his wife Cindy established the Jesse Lafayette Mitchell Endowed Chair in Experimental Physics. Alysia Marino currently holds this chair, where her research focuses on neutrino detection and the fundamental properties of these elusive particles. Additionally, the Waldo E. Rennie Endowed Professorship in Theoretical Physics, created in 2021 with funds from the trust of Waldo E. Rennie, supports Michael Hermele’s research in quantum phases of matter and strongly correlated systems.

As the holder of the new Monroe Endowed Professorship, Jun Ye is poised to continue his transformative work in quantum physics, ensuring that CU �鶹ӰԺ remains at the forefront of quantum science research.

“I will continue to draw inspiration from Chris and help to advance the field of quantum science and precision measurement,” added Ye.

Header photo credit: R. Jacobson/NIST

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Professor Meredith Betterton Wins a 2024 AB Nexus Award

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 19:00:59 +0000

Professor Meredith Betterton Wins a 2024 AB Nexus Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/25/2024 - 13:00

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

Recently, the AB Nexus program announced its 2024 seed grant awards, recognizing interdisciplinary research teams from the �鶹ӰԺ and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The AB Nexus program fosters intercampus partnerships between scientists, engineers, and physicians to improve human health further. The 2024 AB Nexus awards include projects ranging from AI-optimized pacing for heart failure patients to investigating the health impacts of climate change on Colorado’s prison population. This year, seven teams received a total of $713,000 in funding for their projects.

Among the recipients is CU �鶹ӰԺ Physics Professor Meredith Betterton, who, alongside collaborator Jeffrey Moore from CU Anschutz, received funding for their project on tubulinopathies, genetic diseases that disrupt brain and nervous system development due to mutated tubulin proteins.

“You can think of tubulin as being like a brick that is stacked next to other bricks to build a road (the microtubule),” Betterton explained. “One of the puzzles about tublinopathies is that the mutation usually occurs in one tubulin gene out of many, so it affects only a minority (usually 25% or less) of the subunits. We aim to understand how a mutation in one small part of a tubulin gene can cause catastrophic defects at the cell and tissue level, ultimately impacting patients.”

Betterton's and Moore’s research proposes that tubulin mutations influence structural changes in neighboring tubulins, amplifying the mutation's effects and creating serious health issues for individuals.

“This award is very exciting for my lab and me because it will provide seed funding for a new direction for our work,” Betterton added. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to potentially help people affected by these diseases.”

Highlighting the collaborative nature of the project, Betterton emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary research: “We will work with the Moore lab at CU Anschutz to conduct a combined experimental and theoretical study. This award is meaningful because it supports a new idea predicted by our theoretical work, now finding support in experiments. As a theoretical physicist, being able to predict an important new effect is something we all hope to do in our work.”

The AB Nexus program continues cultivating a culture of collaboration and innovation at the University of Colorado. Its vision is to tackle the toughest challenges in human health through teamwork across diverse fields.

As Vice Chancellor Thomas Flaig noted in the award announcement: “Solving the toughest challenges in human health requires teamwork across a wide range of fields, and we’re very proud of how this program has helped to inspire so many new interdisciplinary research projects across our campuses.”

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CU Physics Professor Ivan Smalyukh and His Team Receive a Guinness Book of World Records Award for Most Transparent Material

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

CU Physics Professor Ivan Smalyukh and His Team Receive a Guinness Book of World Records Award for Most Transparent Material Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/15/2024 - 00:00

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

The Soft Matter Physics Smalyukh Research Group holding the Guinness World Record plaque.

Only a few individuals or teams are awarded by the Guinness Book of World Records for specific actions or research they’ve done. One of those teams is led by the �鶹ӰԺ Professor of Physics Ivan Smalyukh, who, with his research group, developed “the World’s Most Transparent Material.”

This material—a synthetic gel-derived material known as aerogel—is around 97-99% transparent, compared to glass, which is around 92% transparent. While many aerogels are being manufactured worldwide, the aerogel Smalyukh and his team have created involves fibers of cellulose, a protein derived from plants. Their aerogel, which has now been successfully patented, can be added to windows to boost thermal insulation, increasing the overall efficiency of a building.

What is an Aerogel?

Aerogels are often described as “frozen smoke” or “solid air” because they are incredibly light and porous. They are made by removing the liquid from a gel, leaving behind a mostly empty solid network.

“There are different ways people define aerogels, but it’s roughly one percent solid by volume and 99 percent air, so it’s mostly air,” explained Smalyukh.

Despite being extremely lightweight, aerogels are excellent thermal insulators, which means they can prevent heat from passing through them. This makes them useful in everything from space exploration to insulating homes.

“In the U.S., unfortunately, we still have almost 50 percent of single-pane windows,” added Smalyukh. “What that means is that you heat the building, especially during winter, but then a lot of that energy is actually lost through the windows.”

By retrofitting these windows with aerogel, the thermal efficiency of these windows can be increased as more heat is trapped inside.

The Challenge with Transparency

Traditional aerogels, however, despite being effective insulators, have drawbacks—they tend to scatter light, making them appear cloudy or opaque. This limits their use in applications where transparency is important, such as windows.

“They are so hazy because you have many tiny particles that are somehow connected to each other in a network. And the length of the pores between these particles ranges from a few nanometers to micrometers.”

That’s where the new aerogel Smalyukh and his team developed, called SiCellA, comes in. Instead of having various pore lengths and particle sizes like other aerogels, the researchers meticulously controlled the size of the particles, the cellulose fibers, within SiCellA, along with the distance between these particles.

“The cellulose fibers we use are typically under 6 nanometers in diameter. Because the particles themselves have a diameter much smaller than the wavelengths of light and the pores in between them are also much smaller, therefore, the scattering of light is very small.”

This produces a higher transparency percentage of the aerogel, allowing it to let through 97-99% of visible light while scattering and reflecting only 1% of the remaining light.

Boosting Energy Efficiency

Infrared thermal imaging photos of different types of treated and untreated window panes mounted into an insulated box. These boxes are designed to hold extreme hot and cold temperatures to test the thermal insulating properties of each window type. The double-paned Insulated Glass Unit (IGU) containing the SiCellA aerogel (Top Left) and the single window pane treated with the SiCellA aerogel film (Bottom Left) show markedly higher thermal insulation properties than a conventional double-paned IGU (Top Right), and a single pane of glass (Bottom Right).

To create comfortable indoor environments, buildings consume around 40% of the energy produced worldwide. Windows and skylights are often the weakest points in a building’s insulation, allowing heat to escape in the winter and letting it in during the summer.

“If we only could stop that heat loss, then we would not need to generate this much energy,” Smalyukh elaborated. “That means shutting down some coal-based power plants or using less fossil fuels.”

By using this SiCellA in windows, buildings could become much more energy-efficient, reducing the need for heating and cooling and lowering energy bills. Because SiCellA is so transparent, it can be used in windows without blocking the natural light that makes spaces bright and inviting. This means that homes and offices can stay comfortable all year round while using less energy, contributing to a more sustainable future.

A Guinness World Record

The incredible transparency of SiCellA hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Guinness Book of World Records has officially recognized it as the most transparent material ever created.

When Smalyukh & team presented their results at an ARPA-E project meeting, the program manager suggested submitting SiCellA to the Guinness Book of World Records to help disseminate the project's outcomes. While Smalyukh and his team did submit the record to Guinness back in 2019, the public release of this World Record wasn’t until much later, as the team was patenting SiCellA at the same time and had to wait for the patents and related publications in Nature Energy to be accepted before breaking the news.

“It was interesting and exciting to see the record entry in the Guinness Book of World Records,” Smalyukh added. “We were happy that everything went through.”

Title Image: Senior Research Associates Vladyslav Cherpak and Bohdan Senyuk hold SiCellA aerogel film, suspended in plastic wrap, in front of the foothills. Image courtesy of the Smalyukh Group

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Joe Berry, Michael McGehee, Michael Toney, and Jun Ye named highly cited researchers

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 14:59:24 +0000

Joe Berry, Michael McGehee, Michael Toney, and Jun Ye named highly cited researchers Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/16/2023 - 07:59

Kirsten Apodaca

Professors Joe Berry, Michael McGehee, Michael Toney, and Jun Ye

Physics professors Joseph Berry, Michael McGehee, Michael Toney, and Jun Ye have been named by Clarivate as highly cited researchers in 2023. Researchers earning the designation have “demonstrated significant and broad influence in their field(s) of research” according to the Clarivate announcement. Recipients rank in the top 1% by citations in their field.

Associate Professor Joe Berry is also a Fellow of RASEI and a Senior Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Professor Berry investigates perovskite solar cell technology, transport at semiconductor interfaces, and next generation photoconversion technologies.

Professor Michael McGehee has a primary appointment in Chemical and Biological Engineering and a courtesy appointment in Physics. He is a Fellow of RASEI and the Materials Science and Engineering Program. McGehee studies perovskite solar cells and dynamic windows with adjustable tinting.

Professor Michael Toney has a primary appointment in Chemical and Biological Engineering and a courtesy appointment in Physics. His research focuses on the underlying physics and chemistry of sustainable energy materials.

Professor Adjoint Jun Ye is a Fellow of JILA and NIST. His research explores the frontier of light-matter interactions through ultracold strontium, precision measurement and ultrafast science, and ultracold molecules.

A total of 13 faculty and researchers affiliated with the �鶹ӰԺ were recognized with the designation this year.

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Professor Ivan Smalyukh selected as Optica Fellow

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 14:28:00 +0000

Professor Ivan Smalyukh selected as Optica Fellow Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/03/2023 - 08:28

Kirsten Apodaca

Professor Ivan Smalyukh has been named a Fellow of Optica (formerly OSA) for his innovative research in soft condensed matter and optical physics.

The election to Fellow is reserved for Optica members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. According to Optica, the distinction is awarded to less than 10 percent of the society’s membership, resulting in a highly competitive selection process.

Smalyukh was elected for his development of biaxial and plasmonic colloidal liquid crystals, light-powered micro-motors, and light control by topologically nontrivial structures of optical axis.

In the announcement of this year’s Fellows, Optica President Michal Lipson remarked “It is a pleasure to honor these members who are advancing our field and society. We are grateful for their exceptional work and dedication.”

Professor Smalyukh received his PhD in Chemical Physics from Kent State University. He was a postdoctoral research associate and visiting scientist before joining the Department of Physics faculty in 2007. Smalyukh has also previously been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).

Smalyukh joins a growing list of physics and affiliated faculty that have been named Fellows of Optica including Dana Anderson, Andreas Becker, Eric Cornell, Scott Diddams, Juliet Gopinath, John Hall, Henry Kapteyn, Margaret Murnane, Markus Raschke, Thomas Schibli, Carl Wieman, David Wineland, and Jun Ye.

Professor Ivan Smalyukh has been named a Fellow of Optica (formerly OSA) for his innovative research in soft condensed matter and optical physics.

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Professor Nuris Figueroa named a 2023 Boettcher Investigator

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 19:15:14 +0000

Professor Nuris Figueroa named a 2023 Boettcher Investigator Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/08/2023 - 13:15

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Dana Anderson Wins Willis E. Lamb Award

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 18:09:02 +0000

Dana Anderson Wins Willis E. Lamb Award Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/07/2021 - 12:09

Congratulations to Physics Professor Dana Anderson for winning the 2021 Willis E Lamb award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics.

The award recognizes Dana's, "excellent contributions to quantum optics and electronics". The Anderson Group is currently involved in state of the art ultracold atom research with applications in atomtronics, atom interferometry and neutral atom quantum computing.

The Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics is presented annually for outstanding contributions to the field. The award honors Willis E. Lamb, Jr., famous laser scientist and 1955 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, who gave us many seminal insights and served as our guide in so many areas of physics and technology.

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