The Troesh Family Distinguished Scholars Program
The Troesh Family Distinguished Scholars Program at Caltech was made possible by a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Troesh. The Troesh Family Distinguished Scholars fellowship is awarded annually to outstanding graduate students and/or postdoctoral researchers in the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy.
2016-17 Recipients
Alon Ron
During the last century the world has been revolutionized by advances in the semiconductor industry. In semiconductors, the electrons behave as individual particles which do not interact with one another. This makes them on one hand simple to understand but on the other hand does not allow the formation of exotic phases such as magnetism and superconductivity. It is crucial for electrons to interact in order for these rich physical phenomena to appear. In my research, I'm trying to go beyond the "natural" electron interactions in materials by inducing new phases of matter using very intense laser pulses.
Rachel Theios
I study the properties of young, star-forming galaxies 10-12 billion light-years away, which means that we're observing galaxies as they appeared 10-12 billion years ago. This is an important epoch for the study of galaxy formation and evolution, as the overall peak of star formation activity in the Universe occurred at this time. I study the physical properties of these galaxies, including the amount of dust in the galaxies, the chemical composition of their gas, the rate at which the galaxies are forming stars, and the total mass of stars in the galaxies, and how these properties relate to one another. My ultimate goal is to better understand how galaxies form over cosmic time.
I study the properties of young, star-forming galaxies 10-12 billion light-years away, which means that we're observing galaxies as they appeared 10-12 billion years ago. This is an important epoch for the study of galaxy formation and evolution, as the overall peak of star formation activity in the Universe occurred at this time. I study the physical properties of these galaxies, including the amount of dust in the galaxies, the chemical composition of their gas, the rate at which the galaxies are forming stars, and the total mass of stars in the galaxies, and how these properties relate to one another. My ultimate goal is to better understand how galaxies form over cosmic time.
Lev Spodyneiko
I am interested in string theory, non-perturbative effects in field theory and exactly solvable models. Currently, I am working on the stability of AdS compactifications of string theory. It was recently conjecture that all non-supersymmetric AdS compactifications of string theory must be unstable. One of the examples of such compactification is M-theory on AdS^5 x CP^3. It was showed that this model is stable perturbatively. The main aim of my work is to find non-perturbative instability of this model.
I am interested in string theory, non-perturbative effects in field theory and exactly solvable models. Currently, I am working on the stability of AdS compactifications of string theory. It was recently conjecture that all non-supersymmetric AdS compactifications of string theory must be unstable. One of the examples of such compactification is M-theory on AdS^5 x CP^3. It was showed that this model is stable perturbatively. The main aim of my work is to find non-perturbative instability of this model.