The Alexey Soluyanov Prize in Condensed Matter Physics was established in memory of Alexey Soluyanov, a condensed matter theorist whose outstanding contributions in computational materials theory were cut short by his untimely passing in 2019.
Alexey received his doctorate from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University in 2012. Subsequently, he was a postdoctoral fellow, then senior scientist at ETH Zürich. In 2018, he became a Swiss National Science Foundation professor at the University of Zürich, leading his own research group. Alexey's work was characterized by curiosity, originality, perseverance and above all, a deep love of physics.
The Soluyanov Prize is awarded annually to one graduate student who is judged to have published the best refereed journal article in condensed matter physics prior to completing his or her final year of graduate study.
We are happy to announce that the prize fund was established with a generous gift of $6,000 from an anonymous donor.
If you wish to contribute, go to the physics "SUPPORT US" page and click on the last red item "Best Paper Prize in Condensed Matter Physics". (On the Rutgers Foundation pages this appears simply as the "Prize in Condensed Matter Physics.")The nominee must be a student in the Rutgers PhD program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, working in either condensed matter theory or condensed matter experiment. The student must either be the first author of the paper, or in the case of alphabetical ordering, should have made the most significant contribution to the paper.
The prize is intended for PhD students who are moderately senior but not on the verge of graduating. Specifically, preference will be given to students who do not expect to graduate in the same calendar year as the year of nomination. Students in the sixth or later year of PhD study, and those who have already graduated, are not eligible.
The nomination need only consist of the URL to the published article. No reference letter is necessary. The graduate student must be the lead author (typically first author, unless the author list was alphabetical, in which case please provide evidence that the graduate student led the work). The article must be published or in press.
The prize is awarded at the annual departmental awards banquet, usually in April of each year.
The Graduate Program Director, acting as chair of the Graduate Studies and Life Committee, is responsible each year for reminding faculty to nominate students for the Soluyanov Prize, and for appointing an ad-hoc committee to select the winner. The committee normally consists of three members of the graduate faculty, consisting of two theorists and one experimentalist in even years and the reverse in odd years, with three-year terms.
The prize is set at $1,000 annually. However, this is subject to change depending on the amount raised and considerations of parity with respect to other departmental prizes.
The award is funded out of an account especially set up for this purpose by the Rutgers Foundation and administered by the Department of Physics and Astronomy. This fund is not an endowment; it is awarded annually until such time as the donated funds are exhausted.
Click here to see a list of recipients of the Soluyanov Prize.
