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
