The University of Alabama at Birmingham

10/31/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/31/2024 08:46

UAB receives three-year U.S. Department of Education GAANN grant

Photography: Andrea MabryThe United States Department of Education has given a three-year training grant award to the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Department of Physics under the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need, or GAANN, program.

The GAANN program will support five Ph.D. students with an annual competitive stipend up to $37,000, along with an additional yearly educational allowance to cover graduate tuition and other costs. Yogesh Vohra, Ph.D., associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as the project director for the program and hopes graduates will fulfill the national need for the United States workforce in quantum information sciences.

"The recruitment of graduate students is limited by the ability to offer nationally competitive graduate stipends and support students who have demonstrated financial need to undertake a long-term commitment to finish a Ph.D. program," Vohra said. "This program offers full support to GAANN fellows that includes educational allowance for both tuition and research costs and would allow us to recruit top talent who would not otherwise consider graduate school due to affordability concerns."

Click here to apply for the UAB physics program.

GAANN student research projects will be focused on quantum materials whose special properties like superconductivity, optical and magnetic properties, and electrical conductivity are governed by laws of quantum mechanics. GAANN students will also develop computational models to explain the properties of quantum materials from first principles.

UAB GAANN graduates could have the opportunity to join national laboratories, industries developing quantum computers, and academic positions that require skills in teaching and research in quantum materials and computational physics.

This graduate training grant is affiliated with the UWIRC Center for Nanoscale Materials and Biointegration.