Si Named Cottrell Scholar; Awarded $50,000 to Support Teaching, Research

Si Named Cottrell Scholar; Awarded $50,000 to Support Teaching, Research

BY LIA UNRAU
Rice News Staff
July 30, 1998

Qimiao Si, an assistant professor of physics, likes to study the strong interactions
of electrons–lots of them. The more complex their behavior the better. And
teaching others about it makes it even more interesting.

The Research Corp. honored Si’s work and teaching by naming him a 1998 Cottrell
Scholar; Si is one of just 13 scholars named this year. The award carries with
it $50,000 for support of his research and teaching.

The awards recognize beginning university faculty in the sciences who excel
in both research and teaching.

"I was particularly happy that this award is partly related to teaching,"
Si said. "The fact that the Research Corp. seems to find some of my ideas
about teaching interesting is something I feel good about."

The Cottrell Scholars awards are named for Frederick Gardner Cottrell, a chemist,
inventor and philanthropist who, in 1912, founded Research Corp., a foundation
for the advancement of science and technology.

Si, an expert in theoretical condensed matter physics, submitted a proposal
titled "Theoretical studies of non-Fermi liquid behavior in mixed valence
systems," which outlined both research and teaching projects.

Theoretical condensed matter physics covers a broad range of topics related
to predicting and designing properties of materials such as solids, polymers
and liquids. Some interest is in structural properties, while other interest
is in electronic, optical, magnetic and other responses.

Through his research, Si is seeking the answer to a key theoretical question
about how electron correlations, when strong enough, break the assumptions made
in the conventional theory of metal–the so-called Fermi liquid theory–and
lead to a non-Fermi liquid. The Fermi liquid theory assumes that a system with
many electrons behaves like a collection of essentially independent electrons.

A non-Fermi liquid, on the other hand, describes a new state of matter; here
one has to introduce novel, collective "particles" as elementary entities
to properly describe the electronic properties of a many-electron system. Materials
affected by these systems include high-temperature superconductors and man-made
nanoscale structures.

Si expects to gain insights into how electron interactions lead to non-Fermi
liquid behavior by studying simplified theoretical models. These insights, Si
says, should be important for gaining understanding of the electronic structure
of strongly correlated materials–materials that are potentially significant
for far-reaching technological applications in nano-technology as well as high-temperature
superconductors.

The objective of his teaching proposal is to maximize the exposure of undergraduates
and beginning graduate students–as well as the public–to the frontiers of
physics research. Si has proposed offering a seminar course for freshmen and
sophomores, incorporating undergraduates into his research projects, updating
the introductory solid-state physics course to include modern conceptual developments
in condensed matter physics, and initiating a public lecture series in physics.

He has already begun work on updating the introductory solid-state physics
course.

"When I first taught [the course] in the fall of 1996," Si said,
"we were using textbooks that were written in the 1960s and ’70s. There
have been many fundamental developments since then in solid-state physics. For
instance, one thing that came out of modern condensed matter research is the
notion that new physical laws emerge at different levels of complexity. I feel
strongly that it is important for students to be exposed to these modern concepts
and topics of condensed matter physics."

Si came to Rice as a part of the nano-technology initiative. He is a member
of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and a fellow of the Rice
Quantum Institute.

Si, who in addition to being named a Cottrell Scholar, has received a Sloan
Fellowship for beginning faculty. He also credits the university.

"Rice has been really supportive of junior faculty members, and I certainly
appreciate that," he said. "In the three years since I came to Rice,
I feel I have had tremendous help in getting started."

For related information visit the following Web site:
Physics Department: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~ricephys/