NMSU-UCSB Partnership for Research and Education on Quantum Materials and Processes

With nearly 15,000 students (over 60% Hispanic or Native American), New Mexico State University (NMSU) is one of the largest minority-serving institutions in the US, located in one of its poorest regions with a household income 32% below the US median. This Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) will build significant capacity and infrastructure for research and education in materials at NMSU, complementing an existing pathway towards careers in national nuclear security.

Through targeted recruiting and retention activities at all levels, enrollment, graduation rates, and graduate school transfers of underrepresented minority (URM) students in materials-related fields will increase significantly. By engaging undergraduate students in specially designed research projects, the loss of talent at the transition to graduate school will be narrowed.

The outcome will be a highly skilled diverse workforce to tackle regional, national, and global materials problems in industry, academia, or government, especially related to advanced semiconductor manufacturing or clean energy solutions. The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) partner institution will benefit from access to a talented pool of graduate applicants and an inclusive culture.

The research results obtained in this partnership will be published in joint peer-reviewed journal articles and presented at conferences, with authors from both institutions, including students. Data will be published or shared with other researchers. The public will benefit from novel devices built on quantum materials and processes.

Regional public and private employers will see an increasingly skilled labor pool, which will contribute to the economic development in New Mexico. This project is partially supported with co-funding from the Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

NMSU in Las Cruces, New Mexico, proposes to enter into a partnership with the Quantum Foundry at UCSB, supported by Division of Materials Research. This Partnership for Research and Education on Quantum Materials and Processes (PREQ) will focus on materials research in two cohesive interdisciplinary thrusts with eleven faculty members at both institutions related to (1) the superconductivity of ruthenates and their heterostructures and (2) the infrared optical response of topological insulators and semimetals.

Joint research at both partner institutions will advance knowledge in feedback loops involving materials synthesis, device fabrication, quantum transport, optical characterization, and density functional theory, enabling novel electronic and photonic devices and applications. Engineered Cooper pair/polaron heterostructures will be grown by pulsed laser deposition and laser molecular beam epitaxy to control ruthenate supercon¬¬ductivity.

The infrared and quantum transport response of semimetals and topological insulators will be documented, using strained α-tin alloyed with Ge as an example. This PREM will broaden participation of URM students in materials research and education through targeted high school and community college recruiting and outreach followed by social and academic integration activities, including research of PREM faculty members with URM undergraduate and graduate students, and exchange of students and faculty researchers between both institutions.

The PREM activities will be assessed by an external advisory board consisting of senior materials researchers, employers, and academic administrators.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.