December 23, 2008

Tony's Contributor Wins National Honors

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Stefano on this Site

Stefano Curtarolo, an N scale model railroader who has posted articles on this website, has won Presidential Award From Department Of Defense. While Stefano's work is not associated with model railroading I felt that as a former contributor he deserves the recognition. All of us in model railroading can be proud that a modeling fellow is a nationally honored scientist. Here is an edited copy of the Duke news release:

Duke scientist wins feds' top honor

DURHAM -- In recognition of his discovery and characterization of novel combinations of elements, Duke University engineer and physicist Stefano Curtarolo has received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

The PECASE award, the highest honor given to young scientists by the federal government, carries $1 million in research support over five years. While many federal agencies participate in the PECASE program, Curtarolo was recommended by the Department of Defense's Office of Naval Research, which had granted him a Young Investigator Award in 2007.

Curtarolo received the award Dec. 19 during a ceremony at the White House

Curtarolo, who joined the Duke faculty in 2003, is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences and in the Department of Physics.

As a researcher, Curtarolo uses supercomputers to search for and test novel combinations of elements for specific purposes, or to better understand existing materials. He searches for such materials as novel titanium alloys for marine structures, ceramic materials for nuclear detection, metallic nanoparticles for growing nanotubes and fuel cell alloys for energy conversion.

Specifically, he searches for these combinations at the nano (billionth of a meter) scale, where the larger-scale laws of physics don't always apply. Because he works in such small systems, supercomputers are employed to calculate all the possible combinations of materials and their properties. For example, he used the supercomputer at the National Science Foundation-sponsored Texas Advanced Center at the University of Texas to discover thermodynamic instabilities in iron nano-catalysts governing the minimum size of nanotubes that can be grown.

"This grant will allow me and my team to extend our research in current areas as well as into exciting new avenues," Curtarolo said. "We expect to expand our investigations into such areas as titanium alloys, nano-catalysts for energy production and conversion, new materials for detecting radiation and strategies for reducing friction between quasi-crystalline surfaces."

Curtarolo also is involved in improving access to research for students with disabilities and from under-represented minorities.

For the PECASE award, the Office of Naval Research cited Curtarolo's research and his mentoring of minority graduate students.

After receiving his undergraduate training at the University of Padova, Italy, Curtarolo earned an M.S. degree in condensed matter physics from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003.