Vida Jamali, assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has won a 2024 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.

The CAREER Award is the NSF’s most prestigious award in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Jamali, the Daniel B. Mowrey faculty fellow, will receive $744,338 over five years for "Imaging and Understanding the Motion and Interaction of Nanoparticles Near Surfaces." 

This project investigates the motion and interaction of nanoparticles with model systems of heterogeneous surfaces and with unprecedented resolution.

"By combining the emerging in situ liquid phase transmission electron microscopy, nanoscience, machine learning, and stochastic thermodynamics, we will develop a new single particle tracking technique that will enable probing the dynamics of single particles' motion and interaction at a length scale inaccessible before," Jamali explained.

In addition to funding research activities, the NSF CAREER Award also supports educational outreach plans. Jamali's team will develop a science board game inspired by the physics of nanoscale interactions and how nanoparticles move on heterogeneous energy landscapes for local science festivals to engage the public in scientific research.

Experimental and simulated educational modules will be developed in collaboration with a K-12 teacher to introduce high school students to the physics of diffusion and interaction.