DOE Early Career Award for James McIver

MPSD research group leader James McIver, who is also an Assistant Professor of Physics at Columbia University in New York, has been awarded the prestigious Early Career Award by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

James McIver is one of 93 researchers selected by the DOE for this highly sought-after award. His proposed research project, Ultrafast Control of Topological Transport in Quantum Materials, sets out to use ultrafast light-matter interaction to manipulate the topological character of materials. The results may reveal anomalous electrical behavior that could form the foundation of next-generation, energy efficient quantum technologies.

The McIver group is currently based at both the MPSD and Columbia University as part of the Max Planck—New York City for Nonequilibrium Quantum Phenomena, which was set up in 2019 as a partnership between the Max Planck Society, Columbia University and the Flatiron Institute. Its scientists are at the forefront of quantum materials research, with the central aim of tuning the properties of solids driven out of equilibrium by external stimuli, where quantum effects that have no equilibrium counterpart can emerge. Harnessing such phenomena could lead to applications in quantum computing, sensing and cryptography, and a wide range of other technologies. Nearly 100 publications have appeared with the support of the Center so far, including several highly cited papers.

The DOE Early Career Award is intended to boost researchers in the early stages of their scientific journey. Announcing this year’s award, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said the funding would give “the recipients the resources to find the answers to some of the most complex questions as they establish themselves as experts in their fields.”

Press release from MPSD Hamburg