Texas State physics professor receives NSF CAREER Award

By Kristina Kenney
University News Service
March 8, 2013

Texas State University Department of Physics Assistant Professor Nikoleta Theodoropoulou has been awarded the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award for her work as a researcher, teacher and scholar.

Theodoropoulou’s research goal with the $500,000 award, which will extend over five years, is the exploration of new physical phenomena that emerge at the interfaces between different oxides. The successful implementation of the research findings could lay the foundation for a new technology platform based on the interfaces of hybrid materials. It can lead to a large-scale use of oxide technology and has the potential to usher in a new era of highly integrated oxide-based charge and spin electronics.

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a foundation-wide activity that offers the NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research.

The educational and outreach activities of the program impact and benefit society by engaging high school science teachers in materials science research through a "hands-on" summer workshop, recruiting and engaging high school and undergraduate students into research and training and retaining the next generation of physicists and materials scientists.

For more information about the award, please contact Nikoleta Theodoropoulou at ntheo@txstate.edu.