Dr. Marissa Weichman with her prize-winning poster.
NIST National Research Council postdoctoral fellow Dr. Marissa Weichman recently won the poster prize at the Dynamics of Molecular Collisions conference in Big Sky, Montana.
Weichman works with buckyballs, "molecular soccer balls" made up of 60 carbon atoms. They're huge, for a molecule, but they still play by quantum mechanics' rules. Using frequency comb spectroscopy Weichman and her team can observe buckyballs' rotational and vibrational quantum states to learn when they keep to the rules and when they break them.
"This is the first time anyone has done these kind of quantum-state-resolved measurements for a molecule that is either this large or this symmetric," Weichman explained.
Weichman won 200 dollars as prize money for the competition. Congratulations to Weichman and the Ye group!
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.