The University of Colorado at Boulder has received $830,000 to launch a national summer school for talented graduate students pursuing advanced studies in condensed matter and materials physics.
The institute will attract about 15 of the world's top scientists to teach about 50 of the best graduate students in the United States each year, said physics Professor Leo Radzihovsky, a co-founder of the new school. The institute is patterned after a similar summer school held in Boulder since 1989 for top graduate students in high-energy physics.
A $780,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will fund the new school for five years beginning in 2000. The National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder will contribute $50,000 and CU-Boulder will provide $80,000.
The new school, the only one of its kind in the United States, will meet on the CU-Boulder campus during July. Each four-week school will focus on a specific topic in condensed matter and materials physics, ranging from superconductivity -- this summer's topic -- to liquid crystals and other novel and technologically important materials.
"The aim is to expose students to a range of concepts, techniques and applications, which is much broader than any one department's Ph.D. program can provide," Radzihovsky said. "This is especially important in a field as broad as condensed matter physics, which in addition to its traditionally large scope of interests also has strong connections with fields ranging from particle physics to atomic physics and biophysics."
Radzihovsky co-founded the school with physics professors Steven Girvin at Indiana University, Andrew Millis at Rutgers University and Matthew Fisher at the University of California at Santa Barbara. An advisory board of 24 distinguished U.S. scientists will provide advice on topics the school will cover.
"Many of the most important and exciting scientific and technological advances have come from bringing concepts and techniques from one area to bear on issues arising in another," he said. "The summer school will put students in a better position to make those connections.
"Similar schools exist in Europe, Japan and Israel but there hasn't been an ongoing one in condensed matter physics in the United States until now."
Last year, 140 top graduate students applied for 60 spots in the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute, which is a summer program for graduate students in high-energy physics, said CU-Boulder physics Professor K.T. Mahanthappa, who coordinates the institute.
The physics department is part of the CU-Boulder College of Arts and Sciences.