NASA Announces Research Grants In Fundamental Physics

NASA has selected 41 researchers to receive grants totaling more than $15 million over four years to conduct fundamental physics research on Earth and in space. This research will seek knowledge that will expand understanding of space, time and
matter.
 
Sponsored by NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research, the research offers investigators the advantage of a low-gravity environment to enhance understanding of physical, biological and chemical processes associated with fundamental physics.
 
Researchers will use NASA’s microgravity research facilities such as drop-tubes, drop-towers, aircraft flying parabolic trajectories, and sounding rockets. Flight-definition investigators will work toward experiments on a space-flight test bed, such as the International Space Station and Space Shuttle.
 
Thirty-six of the grants are for ground-based research, while the remaining five are for flight-definition projects. Sixteen of these grants are to continue work currently being funded by NASA, but the majority (24) represent new research efforts.
 
NASA received 109 proposals in response to its research announcement in this area. These proposals were each peer reviewed by scientific and technical experts from academia and government.
 
A list of awardees (by state), their institutions, and research titles can be found on the Internet at:
 
    ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-183a.txt

Flight Definition Tasks

California
Professor David L. Goodstein

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, CA

The CQ Experiment: Enhanced Heat Capacity of Superfluid Helium

in a Heat Flux
Dr. Inseob Hahn

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA

Measurement of the Coexistence Curve in 3He near the Liquid-Gas

Critical Point in Microgravity
Connecticut
Dr. Mark A. Kasevich

Yale University

New Haven, CT

Atom Interferometer Test of the Equivalence Principle
Massachusetts
Dr. Irwin, I. Shapiro

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Cambridge, MA

Test of the Principle of Equivalence in an Einstein Elevator
Maryland
Dr. William D. Phillips

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD

Condensate Laboratory Aboard the Space Station (CLASS)
Ground-Based Tasks
Arizona
Professor Pierre Meystre

University of Arizona

Tucson, AZ

Atom Optics in Controlled and Microgravity Environments
California
Dr. Guenter Ahlers

The Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA

The Superfluid Transition of 4He Under Unusual Conditions
Dr. Talso C. Chui

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA

Heat Current, Q, Effects on the Superfluid Transition (QUEST)
Dr. Melora E. Larson

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA

Experiments Along Coexistence near Tricriticality (EXACT)
Dr. John Andrew Lipa

Leland Stanford Junior University

Stanford, CA

The Effects of Large-Scale One-Dimensional Confinement on the

Specific Heat of Helium Very Near the Lambda Line and Testing

the Renormalization Group Theory of Matter near the Superfluid

Transition of Helium on the Space Station
Dr. Yuanming Liu

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA

Effects of Heat Current on the Superfluid Transition in a Low-

Gravity Simulator
Professor Douglas Dean Osheroff

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Tests of Fundamental Physics through Studies of Superfluid

Helium Three
Dr. Adrian Ponce

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, CA

Biomimetic Self-Assembly of Mesostructures in Microgravity: The

Nature of the Capillary Bond
Dr. Fang Zhong

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA

Measurements of the Thermal Conductivity near the Liquid-Vapor

Critical Point of Helium-3 and Helium-4
Colorado
Dr. Leo W. Hollberg

NIST, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Boulder, CO

Advanced Optical Frequency Standard for Space
Florida
Dr. Efstratios Manousakis

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL

Predicting Static and Dynamic Critical Properties of Bulk and

Confined Helium
Georgia
Professor David P. Landau

University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.

Athens, GA

Computer Simulations of Confined Quantum Systems in

Microgravity
Illinois
Professor David M. Ceperley

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Urbana, IL

Prediction of the Properties of Liquid Helium from Computer

Simulation
Indiana
Professor V. Alan Kostelecky

Indiana University

Bloomington, IN

Theoretical Studies of Lorentz and CPT Symmetry
Massachusetts
Professor Wolfgang Ketterle

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA

Towards Precision Experiments with Boise-Einstein Condensates

II
Dr. Ronald L. Walsworth

Smithsonian Institution, Astrophysical Observatory

Cambridge, MA

Probing Planck Scale Physics with a 21Ne/3He Zeeman Maser
Professor Richard A. Ferrell

University of Maryland, College Park

College Park, MD

Theory of Phas Transitions and Simulations in Superfluid Helium

of Cosmological Phenomena
Montana
Dr. Kenneth L. Nordtvedt

Northwest Analysis

Bozeman, MT

Optimizing Science from a STEP Mission: Equivalence Principle

Violating Multipole Moments of the Non-Spherical Earth and

Mission Observation Schedules
New Mexico
Professor Alex V. Babkin

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM

Surface Physics with Helium Crystals in Microgravity
North Carolina
Professor John E. Thomas

Duke University

Durham, NC

Quantum Coherence in Ultracold Fermionic Vapors
New Jersey
Dr. Harry Kojima

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Piscataway, NJ

Stress Driven Instability on Helium-4 Crystals
New York
Professor Carl A. Batt

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

Biodegradable Polymers
Dr. Morris A. Benjaminson

NSR-Touro Collge Applied Bioscience Research Consortium

Bay Shore, NY

Gravity, Time Interactions and the Cycle of Life
Professor Lois Pollack

Cornell Univeristy

Ithaca, NY

Microscale Mixer for Protein Folding
Ohio
Professor Tin-Lun (Jason) Ho

The Ohio State University

Columbus, OH

Quantum Gases in Novel Environments: Optical Lattices and

Rapidly Rotating Potentials
Professor Charles S. Rosenblatt

Case Western Reserve University

Cleveland, OH

Simulated-Microgravity Measurement Techniques for the Study of

Dynamic Effects in Phospholipid Surfactants
Dr. Allen Wilkinson

Microgravity Fluid Physics Branch, NASA Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, OH

Measuring the Distribution Function Moments of Sub-Correlatin

Length Critical Fluid Fluctuations
Pennsylvania
Dr. Tauseef Butt

LifeSensors, Inc.

Malvern, PA

Microfabrication of a Cell-bases Estrogen Sensor Switch on a

Plastic Microchip
Professor Moses H.W. Chan

Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA

Critical Casimir Forces
Rhode Island
Professor Humphrey J. Maris

Brown University

Providence, RI

Coalescence of Superfluid Helium Drops in a Microgravity

Environment
Professor James M. Valles

Brown University

Providence, RI

Magnetic Field Gradient Levitation System for Physics and

Biophysics
Texas
Professor Daniel J. Heinzen

The University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX

Search for Time Reversal Symmetry Violation with Laser-Cooled

Atoms
Professor Randall G. Hulet

Rice University

Houston, TX

Superfluid Phase Transition in an Ultracold Fermi Gas
Washington
Professor Eric G. Adelberger

University of Washington

Seattle, WA

Feasibility Study for a Space-Based Test of the Strong

Equivalence Principle using Lunar Laser Ranging
Dr. Warren Nagourney

University of Washington

Seattle, WA

Ultrahigh Resolution Optical Frequency Standard Using

Individual Indium Ions
Wisconsin
Professor Thad G. Walker

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Madison, WI

All-Optical High Density Cold Atom Sources