The Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE) directorate at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has announced the awardees for the 2024 PSE Early Investigator Named Award program.

The program is designed to support exceptional early career researchers at Argonne as they break into their fields. Awardees receive funding, mentorship and additional support to conduct ground-breaking research aligned with Argonne’s strategic mission.

The PSE program will provide awardees with the opportunity to gather preliminary data for use in defining and clarifying compelling proposals, as well as mentorship and support within the laboratory community.

“It is critical that we support early career scientists,” said Kawtar Hafidi, associate laboratory director for Argonne’s Physical Sciences and Engineering directorate. ​“Investment in skilled and motivated people is essential to science and the nation.”

The 2024 cohort includes:

David Bross, Chemical Sciences and Engineering (CSE)

• Proposal title: ​“AI for Predictive Thermochemistry”
• Mentor: Branko Ruscic (CSE)

Afroditi Papadopoulou, High Energy Physics (HEP)

• Proposal title: ​“Exploring Nuclear Aspects of Neutrino Interactions with the Short Baseline Neutrino Detector”
• Mentor: Zelimir Djurcic (HEP)

Leslie Rogers, Physics (PHY)

• Proposal title: ​“Barium Ion Injection for Xenon Based Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Detectors”
• Mentor: Peter Mueller (PHY)

Soham Saha, Nanoscience and Technology (NST)

• Proposal title: ​“Time Reflection and Photonic Time Crystal Demonstration in the Terahertz Domain”
• Mentor: Richard Schaller (NST)