Among the recipients is CU Boulder Physics Professor Meredith Betterton, who, alongside collaborator Jeffrey Moore from CU Anschutz, received funding for their project on tubulinopathies, genetic diseases that disrupt brain and nervous system development due to mutated tubulin proteins.

“You can think of tubulin as being like a brick that is stacked next to other bricks to build a road (the microtubule),” Betterton explained. “One of the puzzles about tublinopathies is that the mutation usually occurs in one tubulin gene out of many, so it affects only a minority (usually 25% or less) of the subunits. We aim to understand how a mutation in one small part of a tubulin gene can cause catastrophic defects at the cell and tissue level, ultimately impacting patients.”

Betterton's and Moore’s research proposes that tubulin mutations influence structural changes in neighboring tubulins, amplifying the mutation's effects and creating serious health issues for individuals.

“This award is very exciting for my lab and me because it will provide seed funding for a new direction for our work,” Betterton added. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to potentially help people affected by these diseases.”

Highlighting the collaborative nature of the project, Betterton emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary research: “We will work with the Moore lab at CU Anschutz to conduct a combined experimental and theoretical study. This award is meaningful because it supports a new idea predicted by our theoretical work, now finding support in experiments. As a theoretical physicist, being able to predict an important new effect is something we all hope to do in our work.”

The AB Nexus program continues cultivating a culture of collaboration and innovation at the University of Colorado. Its vision is to tackle the toughest challenges in human health through teamwork across diverse fields.

As Vice Chancellor Thomas Flaig noted in the award announcement: “Solving the toughest challenges in human health requires teamwork across a wide range of fields, and we’re very proud of how this program has helped to inspire so many new interdisciplinary research projects across our campuses.”

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On April 12, a cohort of Quantum Scholars toured KMLabs, an industry leader in ultrafast laser and X-ray science and an Affiliate of the Quantum Scholars program. KMLabs was founded by Physics Professors and JILA Fellows Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane and began with technologies that were developed at their labs in JILA.

“KMLabs is one of many companies in Boulder and Colorado that is developing unique new quantum metrologies for next-generation nano-devices,” Kapteyn said. “KMLabs was happy to host the Quantum Scholars tour so that students can see how quantum technologies enable real-world applications.”

The students visited with Professors Kapteyn and Murnane—along with other leaders at KMLabs—to learn more about the company and to get a tour of the facilities and labs.

“Understanding the many career pathways that physics training enables is very valuable information," Murnane said. “The Quantum Scholars program is a wonderful resource that CU undergraduates can avail of to broaden their career choices.”

When entering the optics tables and research area, every student had to get dolled-up in cleanroom gear: booties, hair nets, and lab coats.

“Most students had never been inside of a cleanroom, so this was special,” Physics Graduate Student and Quantum Scholars Coordinator Sasha Novack said. “Viewing the optics tables and asking questions was also a high point, as students’ curiosities really went wild, and their questions were almost unending.”

Not only did the students tour the labs where technologies were developed, they learned more about the business and administrative aspects of running a company like KMLabs. Preparing for a career in industry means employing lots of different problem-solving skills, and a degree in physics or engineering means these students are uniquely positioned to solve many kinds of problems.

“We greatly appreciate that the leadership and researchers at KM Labs suspended their work to welcome the quantum scholars into their workspace,” Professor Michael Ritzwoller said. “This is the first time the program brought the scholars into a working quantum company. The ability to witness quantum research in an industrial setting is a mind-expanding experience for the quantum scholars, which will help guide their future professional development.”

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Congratulations to Dr. Zach Ulibarri, who was named a 2024 51 Pegasi b Fellow by the Heising-Simons Foundation. The 51 Pegasi b Fellowship provides postdoctoral scientists with the opportunity to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.

Dr. Ulibarri earned his PhD in physics from CU Boulder in Spring 2022. As part of his graduate work, he performed experiments at the , which contributed to the development of the ,  set to launch on NASA’s Europa Clipper in October 2024.

“Most people don't really think about dust, but it’s incredibly important in space,” Ulibarri said. “You can use it to sample the chemistry of planetary objects without landing. You can fly by and scoop up those dust grains without the expense and difficulty of landing on the object.”

Dr. Ulibarri’s experiments determined the speed limit for the breakup of complex organic molecules undergoing hypervelocity impacts, which instruments such as SUDA rely on as they attempt to detect such molecules from orbit.

“Let’s say you’re trying to fly by a planetary object, and it has some sign of life on it,” he said. “If the spacecraft smacks into this thing at five kilometers a second, does it break up that organic biomolecule and destroy the information you’re trying to get? That’s what I studied, and the answer is around seven kilometers a second.”

Zach is now a Postdoctoral Researcher in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University, where he is working on adapting an instrument called the electrospray ionization mass spectrometer (ESI-MS) for use in space. This instrument currently studies biomolecules on Earth, but during his new fellowship, Dr. Ulibarri hopes to adapt its functionality to work outside of Earth’s parameters, so that delicate extraterrestrial biomolecules can be studied in orbit or on lander spacecraft.

“Electrospray ionization mass spectrometers are fantastically useful instruments and they’re very good at studying organic biomolecules,” he said. “The trouble is they’re massive cubes as tall as I am. They weigh a ton, maybe two. They cost a couple hundred thousand dollars and they’re incredibly complex. The challenge is to put one of these on a spacecraft and have it survive launch and get all the way to a planetary object without breaking.”

Established in 2017, the Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellowship is named for the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star. In the growing field of planetary astronomy, scientists study objects both within and beyond our solar system, bridging planetary science and astronomy. From improving our understanding of planetary system formation and evolution, to advancing new technologies for detecting other worlds, 51 Pegasi b Fellows make a unique contribution to the field.

In addition to monetary support of up to $430,000, 51 Pegasi b Fellows will receive networking and mentorship opportunities to help advance their work in this crucial field of astrophysical science.

The Heising-Simons Foundation is a family foundation based in Los Altos and San Francisco, California. The Foundation works with its many partners to advance sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enable groundbreaking research in science, enhance the education of our youngest learners, and support human rights for all people. Learn more at .

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Congratulations to the Fall 2023 winners of the Student and Postdoc Awards for Teaching and Service!

Teaching Awards

• Roman Marcarelli: For outstanding contributions to the Physics 2010 and 2020 teaching teams both in labs and in the helproom, over multiple semesters.
• Donna dePolo: For outstanding contributions to the Physics 1230 (Physics of light and color) teaching team, including designing and managing a new photography assignment. 
• Trevor Geerdts: For outstanding contributions to the 1110 teaching teams over the past year, including helping to establish the new academic support room in Will Vill East. 

Service awards

• Wes Johnson: For outstanding contributions to CU-Prime as an organizer and facilitator on the Talks Team.
• Trevor Wright: For sustained and valuable contributions to the Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) program over many years
• Jesse Kruse: For outstanding leadership within the Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) program
• Aaron Barrios: For outstanding leadership of the Community of Support for Marginalized �鶹��Ժ (COSMOS) group within the Physics Department, including developing a ‘Dean’s Innovation Fund Proposal’ to support undergraduate research.
• John Wilson: For outstanding service work including founding and leading the Q-SEnSE student council for several years and also participating in the Physics Frontier Center student group at JILA.

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The workshop was designed to address the critical need for communication and collaboration as scientists work to tackle quantum materials challenges. Professor Gang Cao commented “Quantum materials synthesis is a rapidly growing, extraordinarily active community, especially in recent years. To a large extent, quantum materials synthesis is at the heart of quantum technologies.” Describing the importance of QMS, Professor Cao added “no clear-cut material realizations of many long sought-after novel quantum states are a stark reminder that daunting material challenges will inevitably hinder advances in quantum technologies, such as realistic quantum computers.” 

Professor Robert Cava of Princeton University stated, “This Workshop is a historic event.” To promote further collaborations, plans are underway to publish the QMS 2023 Workshop proceedings with World Scientific, and Prof. R. Ramesh, Vice President for Research at Rice University, plans to host the next QMS Workshop at Rice University.

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