News – Page 10

Congratulations to Naomi Ginsberg for Receiving the Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award for Later-Career Faculty

The Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards are administered by the Graduate Division in collaboration with the Graduate Council of the Academic Senate, funded by a generous bequest from the estate of Carol Soc, a former employee of the Graduate Division. The mentoring awards were a part of the Sarlo Awards Teaching for Excellence program, established in 1997 to honor outstanding faculty at outstanding Northern California colleges and Universities.

The Prime Suspect: Hot Band Absorption

In a new paper published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Jimenez and his team report a new experimental setup to search for the cause of a mysterious fluorescent signal that appears to be from entangled photon excitation. According to Jimenez: “We built a setup where you could use either a classical laser or entangled photons to look for fluorescence. And the reason we built it is to ask: ‘What is it that other people were seeing when they were claiming to see entangled photon-excited fluorescence?’ We saw no signal in our previous work published a year ago, headed by Kristen Parzuchowski. So now, we’re wondering, people are seeing something, what could it possibly be? That was the detective work here.” The results of their new experiments suggested that hot-band absorption (HBA) by the subject molecules, could be the potential culprit for this mysterious fluorescent signal, making it the prime suspect.

Congratulations to Charlie Bevis for Receiving a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF)

The European Commission will support a total of 1156 experienced post-doctoral researchers with €242 million to work at top universities, research centres, private organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe and the rest of the world. The European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 8356 applications for this call. The Commission will award €206 million to 1025 researchers through European Postdoctoral Fellowships, allowing them to carry out their projects in the EU or countries associated to Horizon Europe. The action provides support to excellent individual researchers to implement an original and personalized research project, while developing their skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility.

Congratulations to Heather Lewandowski for Being Designated as a CU President’s Teaching Scholar

The University of Colorado President’s Teaching Scholars Program recognizes CU faculty who skillfully integrate teaching and research at an exceptional level. The title of President’s Teaching Scholar recognizes excellence in and commitment to learning and teaching, as well as active, substantial contributions to scholarly work. President Saliman solicits annual nominations of faculty across the four campuses for the designation, which is a lifetime appointment.

Congratulations to Quynh Nguyen for Being Awarded the Stanford Q-FARM Bloch Postdoc Fellowship

Q-FARM (Quantum Fundamentals, ARchitectures and Machines) is Stanford’s initiative in quantum science and engineering. The QFARM student fellowships are awarded to advanced graduate students working in quantum science and engineering. Fellowship criteria are excellence in their research, and demonstrated potential for building new links within the Stanford quantum community. Each awardee receives two years of funding.

Congratulations to Anne-Barrie Hunter for Being Promoted to Senior Research Associate in Ethnography & Evaluation Research at CU Boulder

Anne-Barrie Hunter has been promoted to Senior Research Associate within Ethnography & Evaluation Research at CU Boulder. Ethnography & Evaluation Research (E&ER) is an independent research unit at the University of Colorado Boulder. E&ER is skilled in conducting and disseminating research and evaluation that is useful for faculty and institutions seeking to improve their STEM education practices. Congratulations, Anne-Barrie!

Congratulations to Andy Minor for Being Elected President of the Microscopy Society of America

Andrew Minor has been elected as President of the Microscopy Society of America in 2022. The Microscopy Society of America (MSA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of techniques and applications of microscopy and microanalysis in all relevant scientific disciplines.

Congratulations to Brendan McBennett for winning a Best Student Presentation Award for Symposium EN03: Thermal Materials, Modeling and Technoeconomic Impacts for Thermal Management and Energy Application at the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting

Brendan McBennet’s oral presentation has been selected to win “Best Student Presentation Award for Symposium EN03: Thermal Materials, Modeling and Technoeconomic Impacts for Thermal Management and Energy Application at the 2021 MRS Fall Meeting”. Congratulations, Brendan!

Congratulations to Giulia Mancini for Receiving the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Young Scientist Prize in Optics from the International Commission of Optics

Congratulations to Giulia Mancini for receiving the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Optics! In 2005 the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) created the Young Scientist Prizes for its commissions. The international Commission of Optics (ICO), as an Affiliated Commission of IUPAP, decided in 2008 to adopt the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Optics. The IUPAP prize in optics will be awarded annually through ICO to a scientist who has made noteworthy contributions to applied optics and photonics during a maximum of 8 years of research experience after having earned a PhD degree. Career interruptions will not be counted as time of research experience.

Seeing with the “Nano” Eye

Understanding the chemical and physical properties of surfaces at the molecular level has become increasingly relevant in the fields of medicine, semiconductors, rechargeable batteries, etc. For example, when developing new medications, determining the chemical properties of a pill’s coating can help to better control how the pill is digested or dissolved. In semiconductors, precise atomic level control of interfaces determines performance of computer chips. And in batteries, capacity and lifetime is often limited by electrode surface degradation. These are just three examples of the many applications in which the understanding of surface coatings and molecular interactions are important.

The imaging of molecular surfaces has long been a complicated process within the field of physics. The images are often fuzzy, with limited spatial resolution, and researchers may not be able to distinguish different types of molecules, let alone how the molecules interact with each other. But it is precisely this–molecular interactions–which control the function and performance of molecular materials and surfaces. In a new paper published in Nano Letters, JILA Fellow Markus Raschke and graduate student Thomas Gray describe how they developed a way to image and visualize how surface molecules couple and interact with quantum precision. The team believes that their nanospectroscopy method could be used for molecular engineering to develop better molecular surfaces, with controlled properties for molecular electronic, photonic, or biomedical applications.