Student at Argonne earns spot at prestigious Nobel conference

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ARGONNE, Ill. (June 23, 2008)—An Illinois Institute of Technology student working on her doctoral thesis at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory Materials Science Division has been accepted to participate in the 58th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany.

Cihan Kurter is one of a small number of students from around the world invited to attend the meeting to hear lectures by Nobel laureates and participate in discussions. Since 1953, a mere 500 to 700 top students and young researchers from all over the world attend the event each year, often as a reward for the quality of their performance and research work, according to the Lindau web site.

Kurter's work at Argonne has focused on creating sources of terahertz radiation by patterning high-temperature superconductors formed by intrinsic Josephson junctions. These sources of terahertz radiation may soon find their way into devices that could improve both security screening technology and medical diagnostics.

Born in Turkey, where she received both her bachelor's and master's degrees, Kurter is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in physics at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Kurter said she believes that the Lindau meeting will propel her burgeoning academic life. " I believe this meeting will be a great experience for my scientific career," she said.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Brock Cooper (630/252-5565 or media@anl.gov) at Argonne.