Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Physics Dennis Killinger has been serving on panels of national prominence.
Prof. Killinger is one of five members of NASA's Active Optical Assessment and Recommendation Team, reviewing all active optical laser instrumentation and research programs within the agency's eleven centers (Goddard, Langley, JPL, etc.). Prof. Killinger is serving as a panel member for the National Academy of Science's review of physics programs within all the U.S. Army's research, development, and engineering centers. Prof. Killinger is co-chairing an Optical Society of America (OSA) conference to be held next year on the theme of Optics and Photonics for Sensing the Environment. Prof. Killinger's continued work not only contributes to the advancement of interdisciplinary laser science and to national security but also raises the profile of USF.
Research Prof. Manh-Huong Phan has just received a three-year research grant of $433,792
from the VICOSTONE-USA company.
This project aims to promote a collaborative cutting-edge research program on “Novel Low-Dimensional Nanomaterials for Next-Generation Devices”, which will greatly impact future technologies and the society. This is a collaborative project with Prof. Pham Thanh Huy (Co-PI) at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam. The fund will be used to support the faculty, postdocs and graduate students from both sides to perform the jointly designed experiments.
Prof. Jiangfeng Zhou in Physics and Prof. Lu Lu in Mathematics and Statistics have
just received a grant of $419K from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
The grant is titled "Reversibly Reconfigurable 3D Micro- and Nano-Photonic Devices by Magnetically Programmable Polymeric Composites." The project will develop reconfigurable metasurface photonic devices using magnetically programmable polymeric composites to actively control the phase, amplitude, and polarization of light. Statistical experimental design, analysis and machine learning methods will be used to understand the device structure, predict and optimize the metasurface performance. This grant involves interdisciplinary collaboration and will support graduate students from both departments.
Prof. Lilia Woods in Physics has received a three-year grant from the Department of
Energy.
The grant is titled "Materials with Nontrivial Topology as a Platform for Fluctuation-Induced Phenomena." This is a highly competitive area of research, and one of Prof. Woods' strengths has to be her well-established expertise in the detailed mechanism of interlayer coupling, as well as in intricate band-structure and optical calculations. This new grant comes on the heels of a grant she and Prof. George Nolas announced just a month ago and also several recent grants in the department on the general topic of two-dimensional materials. Along with Prof. Woods' Review of Modern Physics article from 2016, these development solidify USF's reputation as a major center in one of the hottest areas of solid-state physics.
Prof. Sarath Witanachchi in Physics has just been awarded a $299,969 NSF-IRES grant.
The grant, International Research Experiences for Students, is titled "USA-Botswana collaborative research towards portable power generation in rural Africa." The project is to develop a portable energy source for rural Africa. It will also be a great learning experience for students.