Three scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have been elected as fellows of the American Physical Society for their outstanding contributions and leadership in physics. The new fellows are: physicists Greg Fiete and Karol Lang, both in the College of Natural Sciences; and electrical engineer Emanuel Tutuc, in the Cockrell School of Engineering.
The American Physical Society awards the annual fellowships to scientists nominated and elected by the members of the society as a recognition of the fellow's work in physics, physics education, or leadership in physics.
Karol Lang, a professor in the Department of Physics, was recognized for his participation and leadership in various experiments, including those at FermiLab and superNEMO, that aim to understand neutrinos and potentially even measure their mass. This work could be instrumental in observing the neutrino acting as its own anti-particle, making it a so-called Majorana particle. Lang was also recognized for serving as one of the spokesmen for the large experiments in which he participated.
Greg Fiete, an associate professor in the Department of Physics, was elected as a fellow in recognition of his work in materials science, specifically in developing a theory which describes the quantum mechanical properties of certain liquids, called spin incoherent Luttinger liquids, previously not understood.
Emanuel Tutuc, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was cited for contributions to the physics of 2-D electron systems. He leads the Nanoelectronics Research Lab, where his group explores the growth and electronic properties of quantum confined systems, such as semiconductor nanowires and graphene, for novel high-speed, low-power electronic devices. Tutuc received a DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2008 and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2009.
The American Physical Society elects a cohort of select members, comprising less than 1 percent of the 50,000 members, to be fellows every year. Each fellow is nominated by a certain group of the members in the APS specializing in the area of physics which the nominee specialized in.
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