Physicist Oskar Vafek receives NSF CAREER Award

Physicist Oskar Vafek has won a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation for research on graphene, a material that is very hot these days.

Vafek, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and a member of the condensed matter physics research group at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, will receive $84,000 per year for five years to study graphene and similar materials. Vafek plans to use theoretical physics to explore the properties and potential uses of graphene, a material for which two Russian-born physicists won the 2010 Nobel Prize.

Graphene, a naturally occurring material, is known for its incredible strength and its exceptional ability to conduct electricity. Moreover, it is very thin, transparent, and flexible, so scientists are predicting that it may have many applications in electronic devices.

A paper on graphene, co-authored by Vafek and FSU Professor Kun Yang, was chosen in January 2010 as an “editors' suggestion” and “physics spotlight” article by the American Physics Society. To see the article, go to http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v81/i4/e041401

Kirby Kemper, vice president for research at Florida State and himself a physicist, congratulated Vafek on his CAREER Award. “Florida State is developing a critical mass of talented young faculty members who will be leaders in their fields for decades to come,” Kemper said. “This is another tangible example of the scholarly rigor that Florida State is already known for and continues to emphasize.”

To read more about Vafek's award, including his planned outreach efforts, go to http://www.fsu.edu/news/2010/07/19/nsf.awards/