Winner and Finalists of the Justin Jankunas Doctoral Dissertation Award
The winner of the Justin Jankunas Doctoral Dissertation Award in Chemical Physics is Dr. Peter Kraus for his dissertation, “Studies of Electronic and Nuclear Structure and Dynamics by High Harmonic Spectroscopy,” which he wrote under the direction of Prof. Hans Jakob Wörner at ETH Zürich. Dr. Kraus was born in Marburg, Germany, where he attended the Philipps-University in Marburg from 2007 until 2010, earning his bachelor degree in chemistry working with Prof. Karl-Michael Weitzel. He subsequently moved to ETH Zürich, where he earned his master’s degree in 2011 with a thesis exploring the generation and characterization of few-cycle mid-infrared laser pulses for high-harmonic spectroscopy, working with Prof. Hans Jakob Wörner. Peter stayed in the group of Prof. Wörner at ETH Zürich for his PhD studies, during which he advanced the techniques of high harmonic-spectroscopy for investigations of electronic and nuclear structure and dynamics of molecular systems. These advances enabled the study of valence—shell electron currents in neutral molecules on the femtosecond time scale as well as the measurement and laser control of attosecond-time-scale electronic charge migration. Peter is currently working with Prof. Stephen Leone and Prof. Daniel Neumark at the University of California, Berkeley on the development of new experimental techniques for investigating attosecond phenomena in solid-state materials.
The two finalists for this award are Dr. Jenée D. Cyran, who wrote her dissertation, “Exploring Nanoaggregate Structures of Model Asphaltenes Using Two Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy” under the direction of Prof. Amber T. Krummel at Colorado State University, and Dr. Shi Liu, who wrote his dissertation, “Multiscale Simulations of Dynamics of Ferroelectric Domains" under the direction of Prof. Andrew M. Rappe at the University of Pennsylvania.
All three will present their work at the DCP Plyler and Jankunis Prize Session, to be held on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at 11:15 a.m. in the Hilton Inner Harbor Holiday Ballroom IV.