Vesna Mitrovic, assistant professor of physics, is about to embark on a $45,000 research project on quantum physics.
Last spring, Mitrovic received a Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in physics. The fellowships, established in 1955 and designed to support scientists and scholars early in their careers, provide $45,000 for a two-year period to fund any project of the recipient's choosing. "It allows us to do a lot of risky exploratory research," Mitrovic told The Herald.
Mitrovic studies the quantum properties of materials at low temperatures and high magnetic fields. She also works with superconductivity - the ability of a substance to conduct electricity with zero resistance. She said she intends to use the grant money to further research these phenomena.
Mitrovic's research employs a technique called nuclear magnetic resonance. MRI scans are based on the same principle, but the word "nuclear" is omitted from the name commonly used in hospitals because it tends to scare people, she explained.
Mitrovic said she intends to start on the project within the next six months. She is currently working on two other projects about similar topics.
The length of the research project is currently open-ended. "If you're lucky, instead of concluding something, you discover something new, so the whole project can go on for years," Mitrovic said.
"What is going to come out of this, it is really hard to predict," Mitrovic said about her field of study. "Our main goal is to understand how things work and why."
