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University of Oregon physicist Parthasarathy receives NSF career award
Raghuveer Parthasarathy, winner of a similar Sloan honor in 2007, will use National Science Foundation award for his research, undergraduate teaching and middle-school outreach programs
EUGENE, Ore. -- (Feb. 13, 2008) -- University of Oregon physicist Raghuveer Parthasarathy began the month with a five-year 2008 Career Award from the National Science Foundation.
NSF Career Awards recognize a researcher's early accomplishments and potential to be an international leader in a chosen field. The award to Parthasarathy came from the NSF's Biomaterials Program and provides just over $475,000 over the five years.
Just last year Parthasarathy was among 118 researchers at 52 universities to receive a 2007 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, which also recognizes career potential.
Parthasarathy, a member of UO’s Materials Science Institute and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), joined the physics department in June 2006. He earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago in 2002, after which he did postdoctoral research in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the material properties of biological membranes and membrane-associated molecules.
Under the NSF award, he will create composite materials composed of bio-membranes and inorganic microparticles that can self-organize into structurally complex forms, including crystals with useful optical properties. He also will help to develop a physics day camp to promote higher education in the sciences to middle-school-aged children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, he plans to design new undergraduate courses that examine the interplay between physics and biology that determines the properties of biomaterials.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.
Contact: Jim Barlow, 541-346-3481, jebarlow@uoregon.edu
Source: Raghuveer Parthasarathy, assistant professor of physics, 541-346-2933, raghu@uoregon.edu