UT professor with joint appointment at ORNL receives $1.7 million award

A materials science professor in the University of Tennessee’s Tickle College of Engineering has received a five-year $1.7 million award from a leading scientific foundation for research in the emerging field of quantum materials.

David Mandrus, the Jerry and Kay Henry Endowed Professor, has a joint appointment at UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Mandrus’s work has been cited thousands of times, and he has earned several notable accolades for his part in advancing materials science, a press release said. In recognition of his work, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has named him an Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems  (EPiQS) Materials Synthesis Investigator.

“I’m honored to have again been selected by the Moore Foundation as someone whose work they have chosen to recognize,” Mandrus said. “Their support will help me further explore ideas and concepts related to quantum materials and the opportunities they make possible.”

The acknowledgment comes as part of the foundation’s EPiQS initiative, which encourages and supports researchers in their efforts to synthesize new quantum materials and characterize their properties, the press release said.

Quantum materials have behaviors or properties that make them unique, typically involving exotic magnetism, superconductivity, or the topology of the material’s band structure.

“By better understanding such properties and learning how to harness and control them, scientists can make improvements across a vast number of fields, especially in electronics and information technology,” the press release said.

“This is a great testament to Dr. Mandrus and his thought leadership and many contributions to the field,” said Janis Terpenny, the Wayne T. Davis Endowed Dean of the Tickle College of Engineering. “Our sincere thanks to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for their support and recognition.”

Mandrus was selected by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for a five-year grant in 2014 as well, further demonstrating the importance of his work.

Gordon Moore was a pioneering computer expert and co-founder of Intel. He’s most famous in the scientific community for Moore’s Law, which states that the processing power of computers can be expected to double every two years or so.

Visit Moore.org to learn more about the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.