AFOSR has global impact on finding the best scientific talent

By Dr. William P. Roach , AFOSR Chief Scientist and Dr. Connemara Doran , AFOSR Science Historian?(Case Number: AFRL-2024-3257)

Over the past 73 years AFOSR, the basic research arm of the Department of the Air Force and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, has accomplished its mission through global investment in researchers at universities in support of advanced discovery research efforts in relevant scientific areas.

Some of those researchers supported by AFOSR go on to become The Nobel Prize Laureates. Who finds the talent and how is it managed? Here is a great example of how AFOSR’s mission supports this effort.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry October 4th, 2023, to Moungi Bawendi , Louis Brus, and Alexei Ekimov “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.” The Nobel Committee awarded the prize for “the discovery and development of quantum dots, nanoparticles so tiny that their size determines their properties. These smallest components of nanotechnology now spread their light from televisions and LED lamps and can also guide surgeons when they remove tumor tissue, among many other things.” (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2023/press-release/).?

In total AFOSR has contributed basic research funding to 84 Nobel laureates, to include support to Louis Brus. On average, these laureates receive AFOSR funding 17 years prior to winning their Nobel awards.

In 2014 Dr. Michael Berman, one of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) most senior and talented Program Officers at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), initiated a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), where Professor Louis Brus, 美国哥伦比亚大学 , was part of the MURI team on plasmonics. This MURI was titled “Shedding Light on Plasmon-based Photochemical and Photophysical Processes,”1 and was carried out under the leadership of Professor Naomi Halas , Rice University , as the Principal Investigator. As described by the Program Officer, Dr. Berman, “This MURI was exceptionally successful in utilizing engineered plasmonic nanostructures to efficiently employ light in chemical reactions, alleviating the need for high temperatures.” Further, Dr. Berman went on to say that “This technology has been commercialized by Syzygy Plasmonics2 which is producing hydrogen at below market costs in a more sustainable and portable way.”?

As the name implies, a MURI involves a host of related scientific disciplines and academic settings and the 2014 MURI Dr. Berman awarded was no exception, as one of the original Co-Principal Investigators was Professor Brus of Columbia University. Unfortunately, Professor Brus could not finish the MURI but remained connected to Dr. Berman’s efforts to seek out world class talent in Physical Chemistry. As an additional example, Dr. Berman was also funding an effort at Columbia University with Professor Colin P. Nuckolls entitled “Artificial Atoms, Molecules, and Solids Multiple Functions and Emergent Properties.”3 Here, Professor Nuckolls and Professor Brus co-authored a Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) paper entitled, “Ferromagnetic Ordering in Superatomic Solids.”4

Dr. Berman goes on to say that the JACS paper showed that “solids made from superatom building blocks could display novel behaviors, such as in this case, ferromagnetic phase transition at low temperatures.” Moreover, such “superatom-based materials are now being explored for other novel emergent properties such as superconductivity and ballistic phonon transport.”?

One of Dr. Berman’s contributions to science is his uncanny ability to recognizing scientific synergies and centers of scientific gravity, as witnessed by the way he selects scientific direction and talent on behalf of the Department of the Air Force. His work is diligent and always thoughtful, as highlighted in a recent tribute by the American Chemical Society in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B in June 2023.5 It cites among many talents the fact that Dr. Berman’s “…core university programs…have stimulated vanguard research in fields as diverse as molecular and ionic clusters and their reactions, cluster catalysis and photo/electrocatalysis, superatom chemistry, ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopy, ultrafast X-ray/extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy, attosecond science, plasmonics and its applications to chemical reactivity, ionic liquids, and new methodologies for electronic structure calculations.”?

Dr. Berman stands as the standard bearer both of AFRL/AFOSR national and international Program Officers and of how AFRL/AFOSR supports the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force, the Air Force Material Command, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and our Nation as a unique instrument of war.?

About AFOSR

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, or AFOSR, expands the horizon of scientific knowledge through its leadership and management of the Department of the Air Force's basic research program. As a vital component of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), AFOSR's mission is to discover, shape, champion, and transition high risk basic research to profoundly impact the future Air and Space Force. AFOSR accomplishes its mission through global investment in advanced discovery research efforts in relevant scientific areas. Central to AFOSR's strategy is the transfer of the fruits of basic research to industry, the supplier of Department of the Air Force acquisitions; to the academic community, which can lead the way to still more accomplishment; and to the other directorates of AFRL that carry the responsibility for applied research leading to acquisition.?

References:?

1. AFRL/AFOSR MURI Grant FA9550-15-1-0022, titled, “Shedding Light on Plasmon-based Photochemical and Photophysical Processes”, PI; Professor Naomi Halas, Rice University, Houston Texas, 2015 - 2023.?

2. Syzygy Plasmonics, https://plasmonics.tech/ .

3. AFRL/AFOSR Traditional Grant FA9550-14-1-0381, titled “Artificial Atoms, Molecules, and Solids Multiple Functions and Emergent Properties”, PI; Professor Colin Nuckolls, 2014 – 2017.?

4. Lee et.al., “Ferromagnetic Ordering in Superatomic Solids”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 48, 16926–16931.?

5. E.A. Carter, M. A. Johnson, and S.R. Leone, “A Tribute to Michael R. Berman”, J. Phys. Chem. B 2023, 127, 24, 5371–5373, June 22, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c03044 .?