Our esteemed faculty currently include ten NSF Career award-winners. The department would like to congratulate these faculty members on their awards, and thank all of our faculty for their exceptional efforts.
Professor Andrea Markelz has received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award (2003 - 2009) from the National Science Foundation to develop a technique for measuring the elasticity ("bounciness") of biomolecules (such as proteins) using ultrafast optical methods.
ProfessorJohn Cerne has received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award (2005 - 2010) to probe the fundamental behavior of "strange metals," including materials related to high-temperature superconductors, as well as magnetic semiconductors.
ProfessorDoreen Wackeroth has received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award (2006 - 2011) to study higher order effects in quantum field theory (radiative corrections), and to improve theoretical predictions within the Standard Model and its supersymmetric extensions.
ProfessorIgor Zutic has received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award (2006 - 2011) and a three-year grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research for theoretical studies of spin transport and spintronic devices.
ProfessorHao Zeng has received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award (2006 - 2011) for studying nanoscale materials and devices, and to educate students in the interdisciplinary fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
ProfessorSambandamurthy Ganapathy has received the prestigious National Science Foundation's CAREER award (2009-2014) to explore the novel transport properties of superconducting nanodevices near quantum critical points.
ProfessorPeihong Zhang has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award (2010-2015) for the project entitled "CAREER: Excited States Properties of Semiconductors and Nanostructures – Methodology Developments, Practical Applications, and Education." The goals of the proposed projects are to develop a theoretical framework that enables accurate and efficient calculations of quasiparticle and optical properties of solids, and to promote physics education.
Professor Wenjun Zheng has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award (2010-2015) for the project entitled "CAREER: Multiscale Structural and Dynamic Modeling of Kinesin-Microtubule Motor System."
Professor Ciaran Williams has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award (2017-2022) for the project entitled "Exquisite Calculations for Colliders".
Professor Priya Banerjee has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award (2023-2028) for the project entitled "Dissecting Phase Behavior of Pioneer Transcription Factor Condensates and Their Role in Gene Regulation".