PhD Student Named NSF Graduate Fellow

PhD candidate Ayobami Ogunmolasuyi has won support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program. “My research involves quantifying the mechanical and microstructural effects of impurities deposited from past volcanic events and fossil fuel combustion on polycrystalline-glacial ice,” says Ogunmolasuyi, who previously received NSF fellowships for his involvement in the Joint Science Education Project and Data Science Infused into the Undergraduate STEM Curriculum. “My next steps will include incorporating machine-learning techniques to understand and predict the mass balance of ice sheets. It is exciting to work on cutting-edge climate research.” He will receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000, a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct his own research. “Ayobami is an outstanding student who is making excellent progress on his experimental study on the effects of impurities and stress state on the creep of ice. I expect great things from him,” says faculty advisor and engineering professor Ian Baker.

DOE Grant Awarded to Revolutionize Quantum Computing

Funded by a $2.7-million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Professor Geoffroy Hautier will lead a three-year, multi-institutional effort to identify qbits, a basic unit of quantum information, in order to advance quantum computing. The team aims to build a database of viable qbits, which can store information in their spin, by analyzing defects in solids.

“This is an exciting time for quantum information science research. There has been compelling work in the last decade showing that defects in solids are viable qbits and could be the basic units for future quantum computers, but there is still not a perfect quantum defect. We are convinced that our approach will lead to important findings,” says Hautier.

It has been shown that quantum computers will be significantly faster than current computers at solving certain complex problems. However, major breakthroughs are needed to scale up and revolutionize the field. And the field of quantum computing is still looking for a quantum defect with several desired attributes, such as the ability to retain a quantum state for a long period of time and being easy to control.

Previously, quantum defects were identified on a case-by-case basis, but with the DOE funding, the researchers will use high-throughput computing to accelerate the search for these defects, build a database, and then experiment with and test the most promising materials. As the database grows, the researchers intend to use machine learning to quicken the screening process.

Hautier will work with a graduate student and two postdoctoral engineers at Dartmouth, as well as researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “Tightly combining theoretical and experimental work is key for this project, and I am extremely excited to start to work soon with such a strong and complementary team,” says Hautier.

AWARDED: A $3-million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will enable Thayer School and Guarini School to expand its PhD Innovation Programs by about 50 percent. “This program [emphasizes] the successful transfer of new technology to best benefit society,” says Professor Eric Fossum, program director. Fossum also won an Emmy at the 72nd Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards for inventing the intra-pixel charge transfer CMOS image sensor.

NAMED: The Irving Institute for Energy and Society has named Rose Mutiso ’08 Th’08, research director for the global Energy for Growth Hub, to its advisory board.

PUBLISHED: Research on 3-D printing fluorescent material for biomedical imaging by Professors Kimberley Samkoe and Brian Pogue; PhD candidates Alberto Ruiz, Samuel Streeter ’13 Th’14 Th’21, and Mia K. Giallorenzi ’23; and Ethan LaRochelle ’20 was published in Nature.

APPOINTED: Dartmouth trustees named Laura Ray the Myron Tribus Professor of Engineering Innovation and Charlie Sullivan the Sue and John Ballard ’55 TT’56 Professor of Engineering.

WON: The article “Digital Platforms and Antitrust,” coauthored by Professor Geoffrey Parker, won the 2021 Antitrust Writing Award for best academic article in the digital category.

HONORED: Professor Ron Lasky received the Technical Distinction Award from the Surface Mount Technology Association.

COAUTHORED: Professor Doug Van Citters ’99 Th’03 Th’06 and PhD candidate Hannah Grover Th’21 explained how to optimize manufacturing of joint implant materials in a recent article in the Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering.

SELECTED: Professor Lee Lynd is founding director of the new Advanced Second Generation Biofuel Laboratory in Brazil.

NAMED: Professor Jifeng Liu is now a fellow of the Optical Society, which recognizes members who advance optics and photonics.

AWARDED: Professor Colin Meyer has been awarded $500,000 from the Heising-Simons Foundation to develop mathematical models for the motion of water from the surface to the bed of the Helheim Glacier in Greenland.