For release: May 21 , 2007

Contacts: 
Jörg Schmalian, Condensed Matter Physics, 515-294-4745
Breehan Gerleman Lucchesi , Public Affairs, 515-294-9750

AMES LABORATORY’S SCHMALIAN
RECEIVES ISU RESEARCH AWARD

AMES, Iowa—Jörg Schmalian, senior physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, has been named a recipient of a 2007 Iowa State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Mid-Career Award for Excellence in Research.  Schmalian, who is also an ISU professor of physics and astronomy, is one of only two LAS faculty members to receive the award this year.

The LAS Mid-Career Award for Excellence in Research recognizes faculty members who have a national or international reputation for contributions in research and who have influenced the research activities of students.  Schmalian will accept the award at the LAS convocation on Sept. 5.

Schmalian has been a physicist at Ames Lab and a member of the physics and astronomy faculty since 1999.  His research focus is theoretical condensed matter physics on a variety of complex systems, such as superconductors, quantum magnets and glasses.

Schmalian received his Ph.D. in physics from Freie University in Berlin, Germany in 1993. Before coming to Ames Lab, he was a research scientist at the Rutherford Laboratory in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, and a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College at Oxford University.

In 1994, Schmalian received the prestigious Carl Ramsauer Research Award for outstanding Ph.D. thesis from the Daimler Benz Corporation in Germany.  In 2003, he received an Iowa State Foundation Award for Early Achievement in Research.  In 2006, he was named Fellow of the American Physical Society. Currently, Schmalian serves on the Science Steering Committee of the University of California’s Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter and is the Scientific Secretary of the Aspen Center for Physics, a high-level venue for topical workshops on physics theory.

Ames Laboratory, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2007, is operated for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.

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