Maissam Barkeshli Promoted to Associate Professor

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Published: Tuesday, June 30 2020 15:33

Maissam Barkeshli has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, effective July 1, 2020.Maissam Barkeshli Barkeshli received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Afterward, he was a Simons Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University and a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft's Station Q at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A theoretical condensed matter physicist interested in complex quantum many-body phenomena, Barkeshli explores the many ways that atoms and electrons—prototypical quantum particles—can combine in large numbers to produce a range of novel behaviors.  

Barkeshli is a member of the Condensed Matter Theory Center and a fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute.  While at UMD, he has won an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. He also received the Richard A. Ferrell Distinguished Faculty Fellowship from the UMD Department of Physics.

Ki-Yong Kim Promoted to Full Professor

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Published: Tuesday, June 30 2020 13:33

Ki-Yong Kim has been promoted to the rank of Professor, effective July 1, 2020. Kim earned his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland and received the Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award from the Ki-Yong KimAmerican Physical Society. After a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, he joined the UMD faculty in 2008. He has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, a Department of Energy Early Career Research Award and the Richard A. Ferrell Distinguished Faculty Fellowship from the UMD Department of Physics.

Kim uses ultrashort light pulses (<10^-13 seconds) in a broad spectral range (from terahertz to X-rays) to excite and probe phenomena occurring at the atomic and molecular level. Applications range from medical imaging to chemistry to national security. 

Hafezi Named Simons Investigator

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Published: Tuesday, June 30 2020 05:33

Associate Professor Mohammad Hafezi has been named a  2020 Simons Investigator in Physics by the New York-based Simons Foundation. Simons Investigator Awards in Mathematics, Physics, Astrophysics and Computer Science support outstanding theoretical scientists in their most productive years, Mohammad Hafeziwhen they are establishing creative new research directions, providing leadership to the field and effectively mentoring junior scientists. 

Hafezi holds appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Physics, is a fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute and is a member of the Institute for Research in Electronics & Applied Physics, and Quantum Technology Center. He is known for his contributions in a number of works to synthesize and characterize quantum many-body and topological physics beyond electronic systems. Examples of his contributions include cold atoms, and superconducting qubits and photons, which have helped shape the field of topological photonics. Some of his current interests include efficient characterization and probing of many-body properties in quantum simulators. His research group is currently exploring the application of quantum optics to create, probe and manipulate correlated electron systems.

Simons Investigators are appointed for an initial period of five years with the option for renewal for an additional five years, upon the evaluation of scientific impact of the Investigator. An Investigator receives research support of $100,000 per year, and an additional $10,000 per year is provided to the Investigator’s department.

Prof. Christopher Jarzynski was also named a 2020 Simons Fellow, as were Jacob Bedrossian of the Department of Mathematics and the Center for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling and Professor Leonid Koralov of the Department of Mathematics.

Phillip Warren Mange, 1925 - 2020

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Published: Wednesday, June 24 2020 07:32

Phillip W. Mange died June on 18, 2020 at the age of 95. Dr. Mange, who received his Ph.D. in physics from the Pennsylvania State University, was a Senior Scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) until his retirement in 1993. Afterwards, he served as a tutor in the Slawsky Clinic for 11 years until returning to his hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

In 2002-03, he discussed his career—which included work abroad as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58 and his ionospheric research for NRL—as part of the AIP Oral History program: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/31144-1

Hafezi Named Finalist for 2020 Blavatnik Award

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Published: Wednesday, June 17 2020 05:33

Associate Professor Mohammad Hafezi has been named a finalist for the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists for the second consecutive year. 

Hafezi is one of 11 finalists in the Physical Sciences and Engineering category.  Awards are also given in Chemistry and Life Sciences. Each of the three National Laureates will win $250,000—the world’s largest unrestricted prize for early-career scientists. The awards are sponsored by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Of the 11 Physical Sciences and Engineering finalists, three are from the University of Maryland: Hafezi, materials scientist Liangbing Hu and computer scientist Mohammad Hajiaghayi.

The Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists recognize the past accomplishments and the future promise of the most talented faculty-rank scientists and engineers aged 42 years and younger at America’s top academic and research institutions. This year, 305 nominations from 161 academic and research centers across 41 states were submitted. 

Inspired by the concept of topology in mathematics, Hafezi is making pioneering contributions in the fields of nanophotonics and quantum optics. His innovative research is tackling a common challenge that has hindered the miniaturization and use of devices that use light-based components for decades: nano-scale fabrication defects that lead to random variations in device performance. Hafezi’s topologically-inspired optical devices have proven to be incredibly robust against nano-scale fabrication defects and, together with his theoretical work, have spurred the entirely new field of “topological photonics.” Hafezi is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Physics, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics.He is also a fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute and Quantum Technology Center.