Physics faculty receive awards from National Science Foundation

Mark Engebretson, physics professor, was awarded $243,000 to study Earth’s space environment, known as the magnetosphere. The award, Number 1142045 from the National Science Foundation (NSF), brings to more than $1.8 million the awards earned by Engebretson since mid-2008.

In addition to his teaching and research, Engebretson recently presented at a pre-launch meeting for NASA officials and members of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) science team. His ground-based space research will strengthen the work of the RBSP mission that launched in late August. Ground data gathered by Augsburg instruments in the Arctic will provide a large-scale picture of what is happening in the Earth’s environment to add to the data gathered by the RBSP satellite probes.

Associate Professor of Physics Ben Stottrup was awarded more than $157,000 by the NSF for investigation of pattern formation and morphology in two-dimensional, self-assembled model biomembranes. The work will allow Stottrup to continue research on how multicomponent lipid systems spontaneously assemble. The long-term goals of this work are to contribute to the development of new biomaterials and nanotechnology and to prepare undergraduates from diverse backgrounds for careers at the intersection of the physical sciences and biology. The funding is from NSF award Number 1207544.