Physics and Astronomy graduate student completes prestigious fellowship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas graduate student is back in Lawrence after spending three months conducting nuclear science research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee as part of a highly competitive research fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Amrit Gautam, a KU graduate student in the physics doctoral program from Pokhara, Nepal, was among just 62 doctoral students nationwide selected for the DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship. He is one of only two students from Kansas and the only student chosen from KU this year.

The fellowship, which recognizes top doctoral students across fields like physics, chemistry, engineering and computational sciences, provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students so they can pursue part of their graduate thesis research at participating DOE labs and facilities in areas that address scientific challenges central to the department’s mission. This unique research experience helps advance the graduate students’ doctoral thesis and gives them access to the expertise, resources and capabilities available at DOE labs and facilities.

In Gautam’s case, he spent the fellowship conducting his thesis research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, developing and testing readout systems for pixel technologies used in nuclear physics experiments. This cutting-edge research will significantly contribute to advancements at the future Electron-Ion Collider, which is currently being built at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, and is expected to be operational within the next decade.

“It was a great opportunity to further develop my doctoral training in some advanced nuclear physics areas that complement the skills that I have developed at KU,” Gautam said.

This fellowship comes on the heels of Gautam receiving another prestigious fellowship. Last year, he was awarded a Summer Students Exchange Program fellowship, which is jointly sponsored by the DOE and Italy’s Institute for Nuclear Physics. That fellowship enabled him to conduct research at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Bologna, Italy.

One person who is well-aware of Gautam’s research excellence is Daniel Tapia Takaki, professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at KU. Not only is Takaki Gautam’s research adviser, he is also the chair of the ALICE-USA Council at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, which Gautam is a member of.

Takaki said the new technologies Gautam is developing for the Electron-Ion Collider will generate technological breakthroughs with far-reaching impacts on human health and national challenges.

“We are proud of Amrit’s commitment to pushing the frontiers of nuclear physics,” Takaki said. “His achievements underscore the significant research being conducted at KU in nuclear science, highlighting the university's dedication to academic excellence and innovation.”

The DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), in collaboration with the six Office of Science research programs and the DOE national laboratories/facilities.