University of Northern Iowa technology research bolstered by grant funding

University of Northern Iowa physics faculty have received grants to study bioengineering, quantum information and computing, and more. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

University of Northern Iowa physics faculty have received national funding to support four projects focused on quantum information and computing, biomanufacturing and engineering.

The National Science Foundation has awarded the university three grants — the largest being a five-year, $20 million grant in which UNI will partner with the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Central College and Dordt University to use the state’s expertise in agriculture to strengthen the bioscience and advanced manufacturing industries.

According to a news release, UNI physics professor Tim Kidd will lead research efforts into fibers for flexible and rigid materials as principal investigator.

Kidd and fellow physics professor Andrew Stollenwerk received a three-year, $550,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to research how adding carbon to certain materials could impact their electrical and optical properties, the release stated. Texas Tech University professor Rui He will work with the UNI faculty on the project.

“These funds are not only helping to make Iowa more technologically competitive, but through extensive undergraduate research opportunities, students will learn practical skills that cannot be replicated in the classroom,” Stollenwerk said in the release.

ISU and UNI faculty will also work together to study materials involved in quantum information storage and processing, funded by a $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, of which UNI is among 20 universities in the country to receive. According to the release, Kidd will work as principal investigator with ISU associate professor Lin Zhou serving as co-principal investigator and UNI faculty members Pavel Lukashev, Paul Shand and Ali Tabei.

The U.S. Department of Energy also awarded Kidd, Stollenwerk, Lukashev and Shand a $500,000 grant to create “two-dimensional materials” to be used in quantum computing and future electronics. According to the release, UNI is the only undergraduate university to receive the funding with these goals.

Shand said in the release that the opportunities these projects create will be open for students studying physics or enrolling in the university’s new materials science and engineering program that launches in the fall.

“These awards are a sign of the consistent high quality research from the UNI physics faculty over the last decade that resulted in numerous publications in premier scientific journals,” Lukashev said in the release.

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