Iowa State University graduate student receives SCGSR award to work at Ames National Laboratory

Gavin Nop, a graduate student at Iowa State University and Ames National Laboratory, received the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) award. Nop’s research focus is theoretical and computational magnetism and quantum dynamics. For his SCGSR project, he will collaborate with Durga Paudyal, a scientist at Ames Lab whose expertise includes rare earth magnetism and rare earth quantum information science.

The SCGSR program is designed to prepare graduate students for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics careers that are critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission. SCGSR award recipients are selected based on academic accomplishments and the merit of a proposed research project. Their proposed research needs to address priority research areas identified by the DOE Office of Science.

Nop’s project, “Predicting magnetism from ab initio, machine learning, and micromagnetic modeling,” will contribute to the effort to find a new champion permanent magnet material. He explained that his project “applies traditional ab initio and microstructural modeling together with modern machine learning based data science to determine the magnetic characteristics of new materials.”

“The machine learning developments that come from Nop’s proposed research will have a positive impact on materials discovery and properties optimization, one of the Ames National Laboratory’s research priorities,” said Paudyal.