Physics researchers Andrei V. Stanishevsky, Ph.D., and Yogesh K. Vohra, Ph.D., will use a $414,000 National Science Foundation award to support international collaboration in nanomaterials research.

Stanishevsky and Vohra are studying these materials that have wide-ranging applications because their smoothness and hardness offer promise for use in cutting and surgical tools and other biomedical devices. The award is provided through the Material World Network through the NSF Division of Materials Research.

“The funding is a first of its kind in physics for UAB, which will begin a closer collaboration with our partners in Europe,” says Stanishevsky, associate professor at UAB. “There is a large potential for our students’ and the university’s growth in global training and future collaborations.”

Scientists and students from the UAB Department of Physics’ Center for Nanoscale Materials and Bio-integration and their peers from Poland’s Technical University of Lodz and its European Union-supported Centre for Excellence.  The international component of the study makes it very unique, he says.

 “This is an exciting opportunity to expose Alabama’s undergraduate and graduate students to international research in nanoscience and nanotechnology and offer interdisciplinary research training,” says Vohra, who directs the UAB Center for Nanoscale Materials and Biointegration.

Approximately 20 UAB students will participate in the Material World Network project.  The work will be conducted during a three-year period.