In June, Professor Christopher Palmstrøm was chosen as a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow (NSSEFF), one of only seven distinguished faculty scientists and engineers, by the Department of Defense (DoD). Significant research support is granted to each fellow and Prof. Palmstrøm will use the grant to study a class of functional materials known as Heusler compounds.

Prof. Palmstrøm intends to develop Heusler compounds, a large group of intermetallic compounds with similar crystal structures having a vast array of tunable properties. His research will create new possibilities of engineering novel materials and heterostructures with superior properties for semiconductor technology. His goal is to develop a fundamental scientific understanding of coupling between different properties, such as semiconducting band gap, metallicity, magnetism, half-metallicity, superconductivity, shape memory, and, potentially, piezoelectricity. The Heusler compounds will also be integrated with other materials and heterostructures with additional multifunctional properties. Prof. Palmstrøm's ultimate goal is to develop a new field of multifunctional Heusler compound heterostructures and superlattices.

The NSSEFF program awards grants to top-tier researchers from U.S. universities to conduct long-term, unclassified, basic research of strategic importance to DoD. These grants engage the next generation of outstanding scientists and engineers in the most challenging technical issues facing the Department of Defense.

To learn more about Prof. Palmstrøm and the award, please click here.