Eva Y. Andrei, a Board of Governors Chaired Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, has been awarded a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation that will support experimental research into quantum materials.
Andrei is among 20 scientists nationwide to receive grants under the foundation’s Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) Initiative. Each investigator will receive $1.6 million of unrestricted support over the next five years to pursue innovative, risky research with a potential for significant advances in the concepts and methods used to investigate quantum materials, the foundation said.
“The Experimental Investigator awards are the largest grant portfolio within the EPiQS initiative,” said Amalia Fernandez-Pañella, program officer of the EPiQS Initiative. “We expect that such substantial, stable and flexible support will propel quantum materials research forward and unleash the creativity of the investigators.”
Andrei is an experimental condensed matter physicist recognized for her seminal work on the electronic properties of graphene. This one-atom thick membrane of crystalline carbon exhibits fascinating quantum phenomena and could one day dramatically reduce energy consumption by making power transmission and electronic devices more efficient.
"I am thrilled to become part of the Betty and Gordon Moore foundation EPiQS program,” Andrei said. “The flexible funding will allow me to conduct ambitious, high-risk, exploratory research into the foundations of complex quantum matter that would otherwise not be possible.”
Andrei
is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, American Physical Society (APS), and
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is the
recipient of the Medal of Physics from CEA, a French government research
organization, and of the 2010 Rutgers Board of Trustees Award for
Excellence in Research.
Since 2013, EPiQS has supported an integrated research program that includes materials synthesis, experiment and theory, and that crosses the boundaries between physics, chemistry and materials science. The second phase of the initiative was kicked off earlier this year with the launch of two major grant portfolios: Materials Synthesis Investigators and Theory Centers. The 20 newly inaugurated Experimental Investigators will join these grantees to form a vibrant, collaborative community that strives to push the entire field towards a new frontier.
“The first cohort of EPiQS Experimental Investigators made advances that changed the landscape of quantum materials, and I expect no less from this second cohort,” said Dušan Pejaković, director of the EPiQS Initiative.
Click here to read more about Andrei's research and learn about the other grantees.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit the website, or follow @MooreFound.
