Mag Lab Researcher Awarded Prestigious NSF Career Grant

Media Contact: Irinel Chiorescu, (850) 644-3347 - March 2, 2007

Irinel Chiorescu has received a $500,000 grant targeted
toward scientists early in their careers.

Irinel Chiorescu, an assistant professor of physics at Florida State University and a researcher at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, has been selected to receive a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The NSF offers the awards "in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization."

Chiorescu, an experimental physicist and leader of the Magnet Lab's Quantum Spin Dynamics group, will receive $100,000 a year over five years to support his research. He is also a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in 2006.

Chiorescu studies the quantum behavior of condensed matter at extremely low temperatures. His studies focus on quantum magnetic spins in interaction with probe photons and random environments. Greater knowledge of these phenomena could one day lead to breakthroughs in the area of quantum computing, which has the potential to create computers exponentially faster and more powerful than the ones in use today.

"I am honored to be entrusted with the CAREER Award, and am very grateful to the NSF, Magnet Lab, FSU and my students," said Chiorescu. "With this grant I can lead the research in my group with installments of Research Assistantships for graduate students. Educational-wise, it gives increased support for related activities in the physics department and for the newly established and Magnet Lab-led SuperNet program."