FMU Physics professor awarded National Science Foundation grant

Francis Marion University Assistant Professor of Physics Dr. Hunter Sims was recently named recipient of a $101,854 grant from the National Science Foundation. 

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Infrastructure Initiative grant will provide Sims with the opportunity to perform research in collaboration with prominent research institutions within the United States. 

The two-year grant will fund two, 10-week summer research visits to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. for Sims and one FMU student each summer beginning in 2021. The grant will additionally fund the purchase of research software and computer equipment to facility the technical requirements of the research.

Sims says the grant provides FMU’s Department of Physics and Engineering with a valuable opportunity to maintain itself as a leader in research and scholarship.

“It’s one of the most tantalizing goals in materials science,” Sims says. “As the most recent funded research project in the department, this grant helps keep the FMU name (in particular the Department of Physics and Engineering) in national announcements and on papers in international journals. It shows that our students get opportunities for real research experiences in addition to other departmental activities.”

The EPSCoR award focuses on increasing the level of collaborative research at universities in eligible states – states that receive less than 0.75% of yearly NSF funds. Approximately 20 projects are funded every year.

The research funded by the grant will focus on attaining superconductivity at everyday room temperature and pressure, and may suggest how to design more efficient and effective superconductors.